Poquoson Girl Scouts Earn God and Family Recognition

In Girl Scouts, everything that girls do is based on the Girl Scout Promise and Law— a pledge that includes many of the values and principles common to most faiths. Since Girl Scouts was founded in 1912, the organization has encouraged girls to take spiritual journeys by earning recognitions created by national religious organizations. Recently, Girl Scout Juniors Emily and Hailey from Poquoson earned the God and Family recognition at Emmaus Baptist Church.

The God and Family program that Emily and Hailey participated in focused providing an opportunity for them to explore their faith with their family. The girls learned about different families in the Bible and about strengthening relationships in their family. Each week, the girls had certain scriptures to read at home and activities to complete with their family members. The program also helped Emily and Hailey learn and understand the Ten Commandments. After completing the program, the girls were awarded with a God and Family medallion during a church service.

Emily and Hailey earned the God and Family recognition through Programs of Religious Activities with Youth (P.R.A.Y.). P.R.A.Y. is a nonprofit organization focused on connecting youth with their faiths through the adult ministry at their church and through youth-serving organizations, such as Girl Scouts.

For more information about joining Girl Scouts or earning a religious recognition through Girl Scouts, visit www.gsccc.org.

Scout of the Year

Girl Scout Ambassador Maya from Poquoson has been selected as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Virginia, Scout of the Year for 2015. She has received a $1,000 college scholarship and will represent Virginia at the VFW national competition in June.

Maya has been a Girl Scout for 11 years and is a member of Troop 1172. She earned the Girl Scout Gold Award in 2012 for her project that brought a music program to children living in low-income families. She created an interactive, nonjudgmental environment where children could be introduced to various musical instruments and encouraged the children to join a music group at their school or church. Maya also served a term on the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast board of directors and travelled to Mexico to be a staff member at the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts World Center, Our Cabaña. In addition to Girl Scouts, Maya is a member of Venturing Crew 28.

The VFW Scout of the Year program is open to youth who have earned the highest honor and achievement in their organization, including the Girl Scout Gold Award. Maya was selected for the award from a judging of eight district finalists in Virginia.

Maya is a senior at Peninsula Catholic High School and will be attending Virginia Tech in the fall.

Also recognized as Scout of the Year by VFW Post 960, Yorktown, Virginia, was Girl Scout Ambassador Liza who continued on in the competition and placed second at the Virginia, Division I level.

Gold Award Spotlight: Heart Healthy Habitat

Girl Scout Ambassador Brooke from Poquoson has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

Being healthy and fit is a big part of Brooke’s life, so for her Gold Award project, she decided to address the importance of daily exercise by developing a fitness trail at the new and developing Paradise Creek Nature Park in Portsmouth. She installed signs around the park that give instructions about a different exercise that people can do while walking and running on the trails. She also created a fitness map that is available at the park entrance for people to use on the trail and also provides information about fitness.

Brooke installing fitness information at
Paradise Creek Nature Park.

After she added the fitness information to the park, Brooke started a fitness group that meets regularly at the park to exercise. Members of the group set fitness goals and work together to achieve them.

“Through my project, I did my best to influence the younger generation to start a healthy life early on,” Brooke said. “In the process of my project, I saw changes in kids’ outlooks on the meaning of health and how fun it can be to exercise outside in such a beautiful place.”

Brooke also used her project to help bring attention and attract visitors to the new Paradise Creek Nature Park. She advertised her improvements to the park and invited community members to join the fitness group so that more people could learn about and enjoy the park.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in the 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 Brooke to an elite group of females across the country with the honor.

Cookies are here!

Over the weekend, more than one million boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas, and six other varieties of Girl Scout Cookies arrived in the region. On Saturday, over 2,200 cases—that’s over 26,000 boxes of cookies— were delivered to the home of Girl Scout volunteer Cathy French, who will be responsible for helping York County Girl Scouts fill their cookie orders.

Cookie coordinator Cathy French takes a well-deserved
Thin Mints break after receiving over 26,000 boxes of
Girl Scout Cookies on Saturday.

French, who has already placed an additional order to restock her inventory of cookies, got involved with the Girl Scout Cookie Program over 30 years ago when her daughter first joined Girl Scouts. As a military spouse, French moved all over the world and she helped out with the cookie program wherever she went. It was the early 1990s when she first started to help organize the cookie shipments in Poquoson and just a few years later, she took on the volunteer role of cookie coordinator. Throughout cookie season, she is responsible for helping to track the cookie inventory and move cookies around to make sure girls have what they need to meet their sales goals.

“I do this for the girls,” French said. “Being a cookie coordinator takes a lot of flexibility, but I am committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure that girls have the cookies they need all season long.”

By 2000, French also opened up her home to be a cookie cupboard—a place where troop leaders and other Girl Scout volunteers could come to pick up cookies for girls to sell.

French works with fellow cookie coordinators on the Peninsula to shuffle cookies around and help fill orders. She is a dedicated volunteer who makes sure that girls get what they need when they need it. French knows firsthand that troops are dependent on their cookie proceeds in order have fun and educational experiences all year long, and she makes it a point to ensure girls never run out of cookies to sell.

Girl Scouts will be selling cookies at booths across the region through March 22. Cookie customers can use the Cookie Finder app or visit www.girlscoutcookies.org to enter their zip code to find cookie booths nearby. Members of the public can also enjoy Girl Scout Cookies at the upcoming Samoa Soiree, an adult-only tasting event where top chefs in Hampton Roads use Girl Scout Cookies to make unique desserts and appetizers. More information can be found at www.gsccc.org.


View photos from the Virginia Beach cookie delivery here.

Gold Award Spotlight: Skills and Drills

Girl Scout Ambassador Poppy from Poquoson has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Poppy organized a seven-week basketball skills and drills camp that she hosted for 74 students at Sanford Elementary School in Newport News. She chose to run a camp at Sanford because the school has very few afterschool activities, and she wanted to provide an outlet for children to release stress, learn, play and be active.

During the camp, Poppy and a team of volunteers that she organized, taught the children basketball skills, including dribbling, passing and shooting. They also played games to help work on their skills and ended the camp with a basketball game tournament.

“Playing sports has given me amazing opportunities and made me the confident person I am today,” Poppy said. “I wanted to share my love for sports and make all the kids who participated feel how amazing it is to be a part of a team.”

After the camp, Poppy donated the basketballs that she purchased for the camp to Sanford Elementary Schools so that the students would continue to have access to them. She also gave her lesson plans for the camp to the physical education teacher at Sanford so that she can continue to help the students develop basketball skills.

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 Poppy to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Gold Award Spotlight: Environmental Education

Megan, a Girl Scout Ambassador from Poquoson, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, which is the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Megan focused on educating preschool and elementary school children about life and environmental sciences through a partnership with the Poquoson Public Library Butterfly Garden.

Megan worked with Girl Scout Junior Troop 1010 to help them paint shadow boxes depicting the life cycle of a butterfly that she placed in the garden as an informational resource for visitors. She also led the butterfly-themed week during the Poquoson Public Library summer reading program, where read stories, made crafts and sang songs with the children who attended.

Megan purchased live caterpillars that she placed in a net cage near the entrance of the library so that children visiting the library could watch them grow. When they emerged as butterflies, she and a group of children released them into the garden, which was a new learning experience for many of the children. She also created educational materials pertaining to the life cycle of a butterfly that are available as a community resource at the library’s circulation desk. 

Megan releases butterflies into the
garden at the Poquoson Public Library
with the help of local youth.

“Through my project, I introduced young children to the natural world and fostered in them a respect and curiosity for science, an appreciation for the environment and hopefully the desire to pursue careers in science,” Megan said.

Following her educational programs, Megan organized a fall and a winter clean up in the butterfly garden, and volunteers trimmed bushes, weeded and raked to help maintain the space for everyone to enjoy.

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 Megan to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.