Gold Award Spotlight: Barrett Boutique

Dana, a Girl Scout Ambassador from Virginia Beach, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Dana worked at the Barrett Haven Transitional Home, a shelter in Norfolk, to transform an outdoor storage room into a clothing boutique for residents. The Barrett House often receives clothing donations from department stores and other organizations, but there was no place to properly store them. When women needed an outfit for a job interview or work, they would have to go through boxes and bags to find something appropriate to wear.

To transform the outdoor storage room, Dana put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, replaced the flooring and added shelving units and closet rods. Then, she organized the donated clothing, shoes and handbags so that women staying at Barrett Haven could have a boutique shopping experience when they needed something to wear. With a new organization system in place, residents and staff will be able to sort new donations and restock the racks in the boutique as needed.

“I wanted to give the women at Barrett Haven a place where they could feel good about picking out clothes for work and interviews instead of having to dig through boxes and bags,” Dana said. “Through my project, I hoped to boost the women’s self-esteem and build their confidence.”

Dana hosted a grand opening for her boutique, during which she even had a hairstylist donate her services to makeover the women at Barrett Haven.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Dana to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Meet Samantha, Cookie Entrepreneur Officer

Meet Samantha. She's a Girl Scout Junior and a CEO—Cookie Entrepreneur Officer. She may only be in the fourth grade, but last cookie season, she sold 1,800 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies! That made her the top cookie seller in Virginia Beach. Read on to learn more about this top seller.

She gives back. Thanks to the success of Samantha and her fellow members of Troop 78 during cookie season, the girls used money they earned to purchase Christmas gifts for two families in need.

She has business skills. Samantha works hard all cookie season long and does it with a smile on her face. She knows that it's important to be polite and say "please" and "thank you" to her cookie customers.

She has a secret to her success. Once cookies have arrived in February, Samantha fills her wagon and goes from door to door in her neighborhood with cookies in tow. This, she says, really helps to boost her sales numbers.

Cookies aren't the only thing keeping her busy. In addition to selling cookies this winter, Samantha is also working on a project to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the top award that Girl Scout Juniors can earn and the third highest honor in Girl Scouts. For her project, Samantha is working to collect books to donate to the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.

She thinks big! For the upcoming cookie season, her goal is to sell 2,000 boxes of cookies. That's 200 more boxes than last season!

Get all of the details about the Girl Scout Cookie Program in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina here.

Gold Award Spotlight: The Magic of Music

Emma, a Girl Scout Ambassador from Virginia Beach, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

Music has always been an important part of Emma’s life. Knowing that exposure to music can have a positive effect on brain development, Emma focused her Gold Award project on teaching children the foundation of music theory and giving them the experience of performing in a choir.

Emma created two choirs at Virginia Beach Community Chapel—a children’s choir and a youth praise team. After developing curricula, she held weekly meetings of the groups, during which she taught the children about rhythm and tempo of different songs. She worked with the older children to teach them how to read time signatures and sheet music. Under Emma’s direction, the children’s choir and youth praise team performed multiple times for holidays and special occasions at the church.

“Music education in school is limited, and outside of that there are not many options for children looking to get involved in music,” Emma said. “My project made it easy for kids to work music into their lives.”

Emma also created a curriculum for beginning choirs and placed it on a website that she created so it can be shared with others to use.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Emma to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Colonial Coast Cavers

If high adventure is what you seek, you can find it in Girl Scouts. Just ask the Colonial Coast Cavers, a group of local Girl Scout teens and volunteers who make a bi-annual trek to the hills of West Virginia to explore the underground world at Organ Cave. For some, it may be daunting to even enter a cave, but for the Colonial Coast Cavers, it’s a fun and challenging adventure.

In early October, the group of cavers met at Girl Scout Camp Skimino in Williamsburg to take part in activities on the ropes course. Through this experience, they built trust, cooperation and teamwork before testing their physical, and sometimes mental, limits in the cave. Two weeks later, the caravan of cavers left Chesapeake on a Thursday afternoon and made their five hour journey west. After arriving in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, they spent the night in an old schoolhouse near the entrance of Organ Cave. On Friday and Saturday, the caving group spent most of their time on a spelunking adventure.

Inside the cave, girls experienced narrow, winding passageways and muddy trails. They crawled over and under rocks and squeezed through small gaps with only their headlamps lighting the way.

“Caving provides a unique set of challenges for the girls,” Theresa Wiggs, a Girl Scout volunteer who leads the caving trips, said. “It is very rewarding to see the girls come together and overcome those challenges. They help each other and go beyond what they think they are capable of doing on their own.”

This trip was no exception. The group came upon a tall wall that reached just a foot or so below the ceiling of the cave. There was a narrow opening to the side, but it was not large enough for people to pass through. Determined, several of the girls worked together to figure out how to climb over the wall and found the passage that continued through the cave. Then, they helped the rest of the group navigate the passage.

“On the way back out of the cave, the girl who experienced the hardest time going over the wall the first time was the one who helped me navigate back out over the wall,” Wiggs said. “She showed so much confidence. I couldn’t have been more proud of these girls.”

Organ Cave is a National Natural Landmark and inside, girls saw geological wonders, including stalactites and stalagmites, and learned about how they formed. The cave is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the girls learned about the fossils that have been discovered in the cave, as well as the important role that the cave played in the Civil War as soldiers mined the gave for saltpeter to make gunpowder.

The Colonial Coast Cavers have been taking girls to explore caves in West Virginia since 1977. In January, the group will be hosting Cracks, Crevices and Crawlways, an indoor caving event, at Girl Scout Camp Skimino. They will also be taking a spring trip to Organ Cave. 

For more information about the Colonial Coast Cavers or joining Girl Scouts, visit www.gsccc.org.

Gold Award Spotlight: Teens Care About Cancer

Smithfield Girl Scout Meghan has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

When Meghan was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. While she was going through treatment, she was astonished about how little people knew about leukemia and other types of cancer. For her Gold Award project, Meghan created a club, Teens Care about Cancer, at her high school in inform students and staff about cancer, its symptoms and ways to treat and prevent it.

Under Meghan’s leadership, the members of Teens Care about Cancer made posters about a different type of cancer each month in order to raise awareness in the school. They also built a reflection area at Smithfield High School to honor all of the lives touched by cancer.

“Many teenagers do not know much about cancer and how some decisions that they make can increase their risk of getting cancer,” Meghan said. “By increasing their knowledge, I hoped to decrease some of their high-risk behaviors, such as not wearing sunscreen.”

Before Meghan graduated from Smithfield High School, she arranged for students and a faculty advisor to continue running Teens Care about Cancer so that teens at her school will continue to be educated about preventing cancer.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Meghan to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

2015 Wreath Laying Ceremony

On Saturday, December 12, thousands of people gathered at the Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Suffolk to lay evergreen wreaths at each gravestone. This year, more than 400 Girl Scouts were among the volunteers who helped lay more than 7,000 wreaths. The event, which the Horton Wreath Society has been organizing since 2006, is an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the sacrifices made by military personnel and their families, pay respect to veterans and educate future generations about those who sacrificed to protect their freedoms.

On Saturday, following the ceremonial placement of the first row of wreaths and the opportunity for family members to place wreaths on the graves of their loved ones, Girl Scouts took one wreath at a time, visited a grave, offered their respect and placed a wreath against the headstone. Girl Scouts and their leaders took the time to read the headstones, learn about the deceased’s service to the country and understand the meaning of the ranks and symbols on the headstone.

Once all the wreaths were placed, a formal closing ceremony with taps and bagpipes took place at the back of the cemetery.

The week prior to the ceremony in Suffolk, 100 Girl Scouts attended an educational event hosted by the Horton Wreath Society to learn about the history of the cemetery, how to lay the wreaths and why it is important to honor veterans. Girl Scouts also baked cookies that were handed out to volunteers during the ceremony on December 12.

For more information about serving the community as a member of Girl Scouts, visit www.gsccc.org.

Hour of Code

Across the country, only one in four schools teach computer programming, while 67 percent of all new jobs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields are in computing. Even more startling is the fact that only 18 percent of computer science graduates are women. In today’s world, where the top-paying jobs for college graduates are in the fields of computer science and engineering, it is important to give girls the knowledge and the confidence they need to discover and pursue their interests in STEM and narrow the gender gap in these fields.

This is why the leaders of Girl Scout Troop 45, which meets at St. Patrick Catholic School in Norfolk, arranged for the 55 girls in the troop to participate in Hour of Code, an introduction to computer science designed to demystify coding and show that anybody can learn the basics of coding. Girl Scout Troop 45 participated in Hour of Code on December 10, during Computer Science Education Week, a national program dedicated to inspiring students to take interest in computer science.

Saint Patrick Catholic School was eager to support the Girl Scouts in providing this opportunity for the girls. They allowed the girls to borrow the school’s iPads and Ashley Costanza, a teacher at St. Patrick Catholic School, offered to help plan the Hour of Code. She spent months preparing for the day, researching apps, figuring out how to use them and teaching the leaders of the troop how to be able to help girls learn through the apps.

Through the apps, girls learned the fundamentals of coding through engaging puzzles and a series of exciting, game-like adventures. They learned algorithmic thinking, sequencing, pattern recognition, conditionals and debugging by making video games and programming interactive stories. The apps also reinforce logic and critical thinking skills for the girls.

Kelly Willette, one of leaders in Troop 45, excitedly moved from table to table during Hour of Code to help the youngest girls in the group—the kindergartners and first graders—navigate the apps. As the hour went on, and the girls got the hang of how to use the app, they became more independent and started helping one another.

“Girls can do anything,” Willette said. “Unfortunately, as they grow older, girls tend to shy away from taking STEM classes, which can preclude them from a STEM career in the future and they don’t even realize it. This is a way for us to show them that STEM can be fun and encourage them to explore the world of STEM.”

Studies have shown just how important it is for girls to have an educational background in STEM. In fact, girls who take AP Computer Science in high school are ten times more likely to major in computer science in college. However, only 94 schools in Virginia currently offer this course and, of the nearly 2,400 high school students who took computer science, only 23 percent were female. This is why it is important for extracurricular programs, such as Girl Scouts, to teach coding.

Girl Scouts provides and fun and informal environment for girls to explore their interests in STEM. One of the latest STEM tools that Girl Scouts has introduced for girls is Digital Cookie, an online platform for girls to sell cookies through their own, personalized websites. The e-commerce experience of Digital Cookie helps to connect girls to the world of technology and shows them how it is an integral part of business in today’s society.

“Digital Cookie brings our traditional cookie program into the 21st century and provides our girls with fun and engaging ways to learn the skills they need to drive our future economy,” Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast CEO Tracy Keller said.

Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast also offers STEM events throughout the year for girls to work with and learn from women who work in STEM, including the Society of Women Engineers. The next event, STEMagination Expo, will take place on January 24 at A Place for Girls, the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast regional program center and headquarters in Chesapeake. Find more information about attending this event or joining Girl Scouts at www.gsccc.org.

Gold Award Spotlight: Champion Kickers

Poquoson Girl Scout Camille Freeman  has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Camille organized and led a soccer camp for children in the Poquoson community who have special needs. Her goal was to introduce children to soccer, a sport she has been playing for 14 years, and help the children at the camp work on developing their communication skills.

At the camp, Camille taught the children important stretches and warm up activities to reduce the risk of injury during soccer practice, led them in drills to learn dribbling, passing and shooting and led activities to help the children build their agility and teamwork skills.

“I had worked in a soccer development program for children with special needs outside of my community for a couple of years,” Camille said. “I saw the impact that it made on their mobility, happiness and overall daily lives so I wanted to bring this sort of program to a place that desperately needed it—my community.”

In order to run the camp, Camille recruited and trained a group of volunteers, mostly fellow high school students, to help facilitate the activities. Before the soccer camp started, she taught the volunteers important tips and information about how to best work with children who have disabilities.

Camille has coordinated her efforts with Poquoson Parks and Recreation to ensure that she can continue to run the camp each summer.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Camille to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Gold Award Spotlight: The Edenton Tea Party

Edenton Girl Scout Tessa has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

When Tessa was a sophomore in high school, she had the opportunity of a lifetime to visit Denmark during spring break. While there, she sat in on a history class where the teacher did a lesson to teach Tessa and her fellow travelers about something from their hometown. The teacher talked about the Edenton Tea Party, which involved 51 women signing a petition to support political freedom of the colonies, is considered to be one of the first political actions by women in the United States.

During the lesson, Tessa was shocked to see how little her peers knew about the event, and more importantly, about the significant events in women’s history that happened in Chowan County. After returning from Denmark, Tessa decided to take action and educate fellow Chowan County students about the Edenton Tea Party for her Girl Scout Gold Award project. 

After conducting further research about the historical event, Tessa wrote curricula about the Edenton Tea Party and its significance for the second, fourth, eighth and eleventh grade history classes in the Edenton-Chowan Public School System. She then donated a book about the Edenton Tea Party to each elementary school library for teachers to use along with the lesson. Tessa also visited a second grade classroom to teach the lesson she had written to see her project come to life.

“I think it is very important for the young people in my community to know about this major event in women’s history,” Tessa said.

Tessa created a website where all of the teaching materials are available for people to download and use. She also took photographs around Edenton and created a virtual field trip on the website for people who are unable to visit Edenton.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Tessa to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Juliette Gordon Low Society

In November, GSCCC staff recognized a special member of our Girl Scout family during a staff meeting. Tesi Strickland has been a Girl Scout, volunteer and employee as a  lifetime member of Girl Scouts. She started her journey working for the Council 16 years ago and rejoined the GSCCC staff two years ago. She now serves as our outdoor adventures  manager, where she can challenge girls to boost their courage, confidence and character in the outdoors. Tesi wants every girl to have the opportunity to develop strong values, social conscience and know their own potential and self-worth to be the best that they can be.

Now, GSCCC thanks Tesi for one more thing. Tesi has done something extraordinary for our Council and for girls right here in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. She has generously provided for Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast in her estate plan and has decided to pave the way for girls to have a Girl Scout experience much like the one she had.

GSCCC CEO Tracy Keller recognized Tesi for her continued dedication to Girl Scouts by presenting her with the Juliette Gordon Low Society pin. By receiving this pin, Tesi will be a part of an exclusive group that was started by Juliette Gordon Low herself.

Juliette's vision and commitment to create an organization that serves girls was perpetuated when she converted the carriage house of her home into the first Girl Scout national headquarters and gifted the property to Girl Scouts in her will. Juliette's bequest was the beginning of planned giving to Girl Scouts. In her memory, the Juliette Gordon Low Society was established to thank and honor friends of Girl Scouting who choose to make Girl Scotus part of their legacies and a beneficiary of their estate plans.

Learn more about planned giving here.