Troop 1120 Food Drive

Girl Scout Cadette Troop 1120 held their eighth annual food drive on April 22 to benefit the Parish Thrift Food Pantry in Poquoson. The troop chose a theme— The Great Food Raise— for this year’s event. The troop members challenged on another to collect at least 25 pounds of food prior to April 22. On the day of the food drive, the girls brought all of the food that they had collected and then went door-to-door in the community to collect non-perishable food items.

After collecting donations, the girls returned to the Parish Thrift Food Pantry, where they sorted the food. They then organized it on the shelves at the food pantry so that it would be ready to serve people in need.

During this year’s food drive, the troop members collected more than 560 pounds of food, an increase of nearly 60 pounds from last year’s collection.

Community service has been a cornerstone of Girl Scouting since the organization was founded 105 years ago. Girl Scout Troop 1120’s food drive is just one of the many ways that Girl Scouts are making a positive impact on their community.

Yorktown Girl Scouts Give Back to Camp Burke’s Mill Pond

Members of Girl Scout Troop 1381 from Yorktown recently spent the weekend at Camp Burke’s Mill Pond in Gloucester making an improvement to the camp. The girls put their sewing skills to the test as they made new sets of curtains for all of the windows in Treakle Cabin, the main cabin used by visitors to the camp. The troop members have camped at Burke’s Mill Pond for the past five years, and wanted to make the curtains as a way to give back to a place they have enjoyed so many times. Although much of their time at the camp was spent working on the curtains, the girls also had the chance to enjoy some traditional camp activities and time in the great outdoors.

Sydney, Harper, Zaria, Grace, Isabella, Aubrey and Hayden

In addition to their outdoor adventures, the members of Troop 1381 are active earning badges and giving back to the community. They have most recently completed the requirements to earn the Photography and Dinner Party badges. They also baked cookies that they delivered to first responders at a local fire station. The girls also enjoy activities. This year, they have been ice skating, rock climbing and even tried glassblowing. Before summer comes, the girls are planning to try a yoga class together and make appreciation gifts for Girl Scout leaders in the Yorktown area.

The troop members used proceeds from their cookie sale to purchase supplies to make the curtains. Fellow York County Girl Scouts, Troops 1084, 1097, 1306, 1443 and 4053, also donated help Troop 1381 offset the cost of making the curtains.

Meet Claire: Cookie Entrepreneur Officer

At just 13 years old, Yorktown resident Claire Pittman has already proven herself as an ambitious entrepreneur. For the past three years, she has held the position of top Girl Scout Cookie seller in York County, a position earned with her go-getter attitude, innovative ideas and plenty of hard work. She plans to continue that legacy in 2017 and has set a hefty goal of selling 1,350 boxes this year – exceeding last year’s sale by 149 boxes.

“I kept my order list from last year so that I can call my customers,” Claire said. "I already know what they like, and I can ask them if they want to reorder their favorite flavors. Of course, I can’t wait to tell them about the new S’mores cookie!"

Claire also uses traditional selling techniques used by millions of girls to sell Girl Scout Cookies, going door to door to take orders from neighbors. This year, she is planning to take her sales to the next level by using Digital Cookie, a platform that allows her to set up her own online cookie store and send email invitations to friends and family for them to place orders online.

For Claire and fellow members of Girl Scout Troop 1659, the cookie program is important. It funds activities, projects and special trips. Last year, the troop visited The Adventure Park at the Virginia Aquarium for challenging, teambuilding experiences in the outdoors. They also took a fun trip to Great Wolf Lodge. In addition, the troop completed community service projects that included stuffing bags for Thanksgiving at the Poquoson Food Pantry and helping with an Earth Day cleanup at Mt. Vernon Elementary School.

The troop also took part in Gift of Caring, a community service activity that is part of the annual Girl Scout Cookie Program. Customers have an option to purchase cookies that are donated to a worthy cause.

“We donated cookies to the food bank and sent some to a troop member’s parent who was deployed on a Navy ship,” Claire said. “Our troop likes the personal connection of donating cookies to members of the military who we know. We’re planning on doing that again.”

Where will the troop’s cookie dough go this year? The troop has plans to take a big camping trip and do more community service projects. Claire, president of the troop who is also working on the Girl Scout Silver Award, the second highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting, says the funds will be used wisely.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the nation’s leaning financial literacy and entrepreneurial program for girls. Girl Scout Cookies not only help girls earn money for fun, educational activities and community projects, but also play a huge role in teaching girls how to be go-getters, innovators, risk-takers and leaders as they learn essential life and business skills.

Girl Scouts in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina are currently taking orders for cookies. Cookies will arrive to the region on February 18, and cookie booth sales will begin the following day. For more information, visit www.gsccc.org.

Gold Award Spotlight: Girls Who Code- Yes We Can!

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

For her project, Macallan started a club at Poquoson Elementary School where she taught girls basic computer programming techniques. Using a variety of software programs, Macallan developed activities to make learning fun for the girls in the club. She started teaching them using a “drag and drop” method, and then moved to a program where girls learned to type commands.

Macallan also used other activities to engage the girls in skills need for computer programming. They learned binary code through a bracelet-making activity and learned the importance of being overly specific while writing commands during a sandwich-making scenario.

“Many girls drop out of higher level classes around middle school so that they are not labeled as a nerd by their peers,” Macallan said. “The girls I have worked with see me as a role model, and they see that dropping out of high level classes is not their only option. They love coding, and I believe that this club will influence their career choices in the future.”

Macallan’s club will be sustained by teachers at Poquoson Elementary School with support from the principal. Many of the girls who took part in the club last year are planning to join again to continue developing their coding skills.

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Macallan to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor. In 2016, Girl Scouts are celebrating 100 years of girls changing the world during the centennial year of the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Gold Award Spotlight: Crohn's and Colitis Community Connection

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

For her project, Samantha focused on raising awareness about inflammatory bowel disease and creating a support network in her community for people with the condition. This project was especially important to Samantha since she has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract.

Samantha founded a support group that meets monthly at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News. At the support group meetings, inflammatory bowel disease patients and their family members have the opportunity to socialize with others enduring similar health challenges, find answers to questions and seek emotional support. Once Samantha heads off to college, the support group will continue to meet under the leadership of Anita Petit, the nurse at Grafton High School, who also served as Samantha’s advisor for her Gold Award project.

To raise awareness about inflammatory bowel disease, Samantha hosted a table at a local health and wellness fair, where she handed out information from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and a scavenger hunt that she created to engage children in information about the disease.

“I think it is important for people suffering from this disease to feel like they have support from others affected,” Samantha said. “Also, it is important that people not affected are aware of the disease. This disease affects a lot of people, but does not get public attention, which is why I wanted to help get the word out.”

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Samantha to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor. In 2016, Girl Scouts are celebrating 100 years of girls changing the world during the centennial year of the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Gold Award Spotlight: Teen Dating Violence Awareness

Savannah, a Girl Scout Senior from Yorktown, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Savannah focused raising awareness about teen dating violence. She wanted to educate people in the community about the prevalence of the issue, ways to recognize signs of dating violence and how to get help. In order to do this, Savannah created an informational brochure for Transitions Family Violence Services (TVFS) in Hampton. Savannah partnered with Sanu Dieng from TVFS and Michelle Nicole, a local artist and advocate, to host educational sessions across the Peninsula. At each session, Savannah distributed her brochure, shared facts about teen dating violence with Dieng and helped Nicole share her story about her personal experiences with teen dating violence.

“Teen dating violence is a local and national problem,” Savannah said. “I became aware of the problem in middle school when a friend was in an unhealthy relationship. It is important for teens to recognize the signs of dating violence and know how and where to get help.”

In February, which is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, Savannah held an awareness event at her school. Savannah also gave copies of her brochure to the school, where they are given to students who seek counseling.

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Savannah to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor. In 2016, Girl Scouts are celebrating 100 years of girls changing the world during the centennial year of the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Gold Award Spotlight: Skin Sun Safety

Anna, a Girl Scout Senior from Yorktown, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Anna addressed the issue of sun exposure and the rising number cases of skin cancer. Anna began her project by doing research about skin cancer and the best ways for people to protect themselves from harmful sun rays. She then made a display board and video that she presented around the community, including four presentations at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church movie nights, five presentations at Ken Matthews Garden Center, four presentations at swim clinics and a presentation for the Grafton cross country team. She also partnered with the Kiln Creek Swim Team, where she made a presentation to the team, and during home meets, she distributed sunscreen samples and made announcements about sun safety.

“I have pale skin, and I have to use sunscreen often,” Anna said. “I wanted to spread awareness to people who do not use sunscreen as much as they should.”

Anna also placed her video online so that people around the world can use it as a sun safety resource.

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Anna to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Gold Award Spotlight: TEAM (Teens Educating and Mentoring)

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

For her project, Kaylee developed a tutoring program for students at Coventry Elementary School by organizing a group of high school students to tutor and mentor the children. The program, which focused on reading comprehension skills, was designed for fourth grade students whose teachers recommended the extra help for them. For each tutoring session, Kaylee prepared lessons for her fellow high school students to use with their mentees. The lessons focused on reaching the children reading comprehension strategies to use while reading at home and in the classroom, as well as while taking tests.

“I chose this project because I have wonderful teachers and have always wanted to teach,” Kaylee said. “I mentored students at Coventry Elementary School last year and saw struggling students. I know tutoring has helped me, and I thought that high school students would be an excellent choice for working with younger children.”

Kaylee presented her project to the Youth Volunteer Corps and shared a detailed overview about how to set up a tutoring program between high schools and elementary schools in any school district. She also created a video about how to set up this program that she placed online as a resource for teens anywhere.

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Kaylee to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Gold Award Spotlight: My F.A.N. Club (Fitness and Nutrition)

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

For her project, Alexandra focused on this issue of childhood obesity and inactivity. She developed a 12-course fitness and nutrition program that she taught to children in the afterschool program at the Newport News Family YMCA. Through the lessons that she created, Alexandra taught the children about food labels, healthy snacks, healthy food substitutions and portion sizes. She also introduced the children to different types of exercises, including yoga, Zumba and interval training, as well as outdoor games to keep them active.

“Childhood obesity has been on the rise since the 1990s,” Alexandra said. “I wanted to provide younger children with a healthy start in life. I introduced them to good, healthy habits and fun options to exercise that they can share with family and friends.”

Alexandra put all of her lesson plans and activities into a program book that she donated to the Newport News Family YMCA so that they can continue to teach fitness and nutrition in the afterschool program.

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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Alexandra to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

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: Small Stitch, Big Step

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

For her project, Melina worked with the NATASHA House, a safe home for women and children to live in while rebuilding their lives and transitioning to permanent housing. She developed a program to teach mothers at the house how to sew. Melina hosted 20 workshops, during which she taught the mothers how to follow a pattern to make wallets, placemats, gift bags and other items. She also hosted a family workshop for the mothers to be able to share their skills and make scarves with their children.

“After every class, the mothers were astonished at what they had accomplished,” Melina said. “Sewing is one of my favorite hobbies, and I enjoy teaching this life skill to others.”

Another benefit of Melina’s project is that the mothers at the NATASHA House were able to make items to sell and support the house, which does not receive government assistance to operate. With the help of the Peninsula Piecemakers Quilt Guild, Melina was able to donate five sewing machines, fabric and supplies for the mothers at the NATASHA House to continue to sew.

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

Gold Award Spotlight: Spreading the Green Thumb

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

Trysta learned that some trees that had been cut down illegally by a local resident in an attempt to widen a pathway on York County Parks and Recreation land along Colonial Parkway. After hearing about this, Trysta decided that she wanted to help minimize the impact that this would have on the environment by replanting trees on the property. With the help of a volunteer team that she organized, Trysta replanted eight trees that are expected to grow to be at least 30 feet tall.

In addition to replacing the trees, Trysta also set out to teach elementary school students about her project and why trees are important. She visited local schools to share tips with children on how they can make a difference on the environment by recycling, picking up trash and conserving energy and water. She also engaged the children in conversations about why it is important to protect the environment.

“I chose to do this project because I wanted to show the younger generation that they can do little things, or even big things, each day to help make the world a better place for everyone,” Trysta said.

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

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.

Gold Award Spotlight: Preschool Educational Program for The Watermen's Museum

Girl Scout Ambassador Evelyn from Yorktown has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Evelyn developed an educational program to prepare preschoolers for a field trip to The Watermen’s Museum. Each year, the students from Chestnut Memorial Preschool take a field trip to the museum, but the students were unprepared for the amount of information they’d be learning in once day. To address this issue, Evelyn developed hands-on educational activities to engage the children in information about the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay before heading to The Watermen’s Museum.

Before she started creating her program, Evelyn decided it would be a good idea to get experience working with preschoolers. She spent some time volunteering with young children at Vacation Bible School. She then spent time researching teaching styles and learning more about Chesapeake Bay wildlife.

With this experience and knowledge, Evelyn developed six activities to help prepare the children for their annual trip to the museum. Her activities included creating a habitat song to help the children learn about what is necessary for survival, teaching them about the parts of the blue crab, showing them how to identify the difference between clam and oyster shells and familiarizing the preschoolers with the map of the Chesapeake Bay. She also taught them about the animals that are native to the area and helped them compare and contrast the fish species in the bay.

Evelyn teaches preschoolers about the animals in the Chesapeake Bay

“I chose this project because I knew I could use my teaching and leadership skills to make a difference,” Evelyn said. “I was once a student at Chestnut Memorial Preschool, and I wanted to give back to the children who are students there today.”

One week after Evelyn’s final lesson with the preschoolers, they went to The Waterman’s Museum and had a fun day of learning and exploration. The teachers noted that that since the students were well-prepared and because of that, they gained a lot from their time there. The teachers plan to use Evelyn’s lesson plans to continue to prepare their students for this field trip in the future.

Evelyn and students from Chestnut Memorial Preschool look at fish from the
Chesapeake Bay during the school's annual field trip to The Watermen's Museum

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 Evelyn to an elite group of female leaders 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: Butterflies and Books

Girl Scout Senior Emilia from Seaford has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement. Emilia learned that children who are independent readers perform better academically and are more successful in life than their peers who do not read independently. For her project, Emilia focused on encouraging students at Seaford Elementary School to become lifelong readers with the hope that it would also lead them to success in the future.

To begin her project, Emilia surveyed the students at Seaford Elementary School to learn about what books they enjoy reading. Using this information, she developed a mural design, and since the school has a butterfly garden, also included butterflies in the design. During the summer, Emilia painted the mural inside the school and finished it in time for school to start this fall.

“I chose this project because I have always loved art and saw it as a way for me to spread word about the importance of literacy,” Emilia said. “Through my project I showed the students at Seaford Elementary School the possibilities that reading can offer them.”

Once the school year started, Emilia made presentations about the mural and its message of universal literacy to students, teachers and administrators at the school. She also talked about the process of transforming a sketch and mural design into a large mural.

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