April is Military Child Month- Special Contest

Spring is here and so is April, a time for many celebrations, including Month of the Military Child. It is a time to honor the sacrifices made by military families worldwide, with an emphasis on the experience of the dependent children of military members serving at home and overseas. 

 Did you know...

 - Approximately 2 million military children have experienced a parental deployment since 9/11.

- There are currently 1.2 million military children of active duty members worldwide.

- Nearly 80% of military children attend public schools throughout the United States.

- The average military family moves three times more often than their civilian counterpart.

- There are nearly two million “total-force dependent children” including more than 900 thousand Army dependents, 400,000 Air Force dependents, nearly 300,000 Navy and approximately 118,000 Marine dependents.

Here in the Greater Hampton Roads area we have many military families ( nearly 1/3 of our population). 

That's one reason GSCCC developed Explore Military patches for each of the branches, to help all our Girl Scout community learn about the different branches and connect with them locally. 


Click here to learn more about the Explore Military patches. 


 This month, we would like to introduce you to one of our military Girl Scouts and spotlight her as a new Gold Award Girl Scout.

 Girl Scout Morgan Harvey loves to read. She knows from personal experience that when children develop strong reading skills early, they perform better in school, have healthy self- images and become lifelong learners. That’s why she chose to support a reading program for her Gold Award project, “Fort Story Summer Reading Program.” 

 Morgan addressed military children falling behind in reading level by providing reading time and material at Fort Story Youth Center.  She assisted John B. Dey Elementary School in sorting and providing books to military and socioeconomically challenged students for the summer.  Students received two books each month during the summer and received six books overall during the program, along with providing assisted reading time to the students at the Fort Story Youth Center twice a week.  During this time, parents would drop off their children at the center and could have Morgan and her Literacy Mentors Club members read to the students or assist with tutoring. Her project is being sustained by the Literacy Mentors Club at Frank W. Cox High School. Well done, Morgan, thanks for taking action! 

This month you can take action, too. We're asking all GSCCC Girl Scouts who are military family dependents to submit an entry to win a Girl Scout gift certificate worth $20 that can be used in one of our GSCCC shops when they reopen to the public. We'll choose one winner from each age group for two winners total! Winners will also be spotlighted on our social media. 

Girl Scout Daisies, Brownies & Juniors  - Create a drawing or other piece of art that portrays parent (s) at work, as you know it. Juniors, do the same but add a paragraph detailing what is taking place in the drawing/art. 


Cadettes and up - Write at least a 600 word essay about an experience you had as a military child - perhaps overseas, participating in a special program or why you are proud to be a military child. 

 If you are submitting a drawing or piece of art, take a photo and send to marcomm@gsccc.org. Essays can also be sent to marcomm@gsccc.org.

Deadline to submit is April 30, 2020.