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.

Girl Scout Voices Count

At Girl Scouts, we care about your experience, and we want to hear from you!

In April, Girl Scouts of the USA will be conducting a national survey with girls, parents/guardians and troop volunteers called Girl Scout Voices Count to find out what’s working, and what’s not, in Girl Scouts. We will use your feedback to improve our services and programs.

The survey will be open between April 3 and 30, and you will receive an email invitation to participate. As a Thank You, everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a raffle to win one of 20 $50 gift cards!

Please check your email inbox for your personal invitation to the Girl Scout Voices Count survey and share your thoughts.

Girl Scouts Retire the Colors aboard the USS Whidbey Island

Commander Mariah Rule, a Girl Scout Brownie leader of Troop 45 that meets at Saint Patrick Catholic School in Norfolk, arranged to have her troop retire the colors aboard the USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) as part of earning their Celebrating Community badge. Commander Rule was recognized last November as a Girl Scout Famous Former by the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast. She actively connects with other formers in the US Navy and welcomes them into the Girl Scout alumnae network.

Commander Rule helped prepare the girls at a few troop meetings - practice sessions on how to properly retire a flag.

“Truthfully, I have never performed the flag ceremony aboard a ship, but I felt comfortable enough to guide the girls,” Commander Rule said. “We asked the duty section leader ask if there were any former Girl Scouts who would like to help the troop properly perform this ceremony. Six women immediately came forward. It was amazing. I was so excited for our girls to meet these exceptional formers!”

The Celebrating Community badge engages girls in activities that teach them about the community they live in and the celebrations they have, such as flag ceremonies and parades. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute Report Girl Scouting Works: The Alumnae Impact Study, Girl Scout alumnae are more civically engaged and likely to vote than their non-Girl Scout peers. And, the longer women were Girl Scouts, the higher their level of civic participation. Girl Scouts has a longstanding commitment to encourage girls to take the lead in their communities, the government, public policy and the democratic process.

Mad Science at Spring Break Camp

In Girl Scouts, girls are always counting down to the next adventure they will go on together. With summer camp still a couple of months away, nearly 60 Girl Scouts are spending the week getting a taste of the fun to come when school lets out during Spring Break Day Camp at A Place for Girls, the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast regional program center in Chesapeake.

The action-packed week has been full of activities for girls to spend time outside, take part in science experiments, let their creativity flow through art projects and make new friends. On Tuesday, the girls enjoyed an interactive workshop with Mad Science of Hampton Roads all about fire and ice. Foggy dry ice storms and playground balls floating in the air amazed the Girl Scouts as they learned about chemical reactions, air pressure and the states of matter.

“Our goal is to spark the imagination and curiosity of children,” Jen Marcus, owner and marketing director of Mad Science of Hampton Roads, said. “It’s really important to introduce girls to science, since there remains an issue of girls taking advanced science classes and pursuing science focused careers. That’s why I love to partner with Girl Scouts – we’re on the same page with this. I weave in stories about women scientists into the presentations and make a special effort to give them more hands-on experiences. When children learn that science is fun, they don’t see it as difficult or complicated.”

Mad Science of Hampton Roads offers programs for Girl Scouts all year long. They will be at Girl Fest on April 29 at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach with fun activities for the whole family to enjoy. Registration closes for Girl Fest on April 15 and can be completed online here.

Still to come this week, Girl Scouts will be practicing their aim on the archery range, making slime, exploring the world of engineering through LEGOs with BrickHeadZ, putting their culinary skills to the test during a cooking class and so much more. The girls are looking forward to Thursday night, when they will sleepover at A Place for Girls and have an up-close look at the sky with the Back Bay Astronomers.

Dorothy Morrison, a senior in the recreation management department at Old Dominion University, has been interning with Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast since January to plan and organize the spring break camp. Her goal was to plan a week of fun and adventure for the Girl Scouts, full of time in the outdoors and opportunities to take part in engaging STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities.

Similar to the spring break camp, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast will be hosting Camp Outback, a summer day camp, at A Place for Girls from July 31 through August 25. All girls in grades one through eight are welcome to attend, and registration is open now.

Cookies on Ice

Nearly 400 Girl Scouts took part in Cookies on Ice, an annual celebration of the wrap-up of the Girl Scout Cookie Program, during the Norfolk Admirals final home game of the season on April 8.

Each year at Cookies on Ice, the top cookie seller for Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, which covers southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, gets to drop the ceremonial puck to kick off the game. Danielle, a member of Girl Scout Troop 5 in Newport News, earned the honor this year. She sold 4,158 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.

In addition to Danielle's role at the start of the game, Girl Scout Troop 308 from Virginia Beach conducted the flag ceremony and Girl Scout Senior Isabella from Moyock sang the national anthem. The girls who took part in the opening ceremonies then joined their fellow Girl Scouts in the stands and enjoyed watching the Norfolk Admirals take on the Reading Royals.

This year, local Girl Scouts sold more than 1.47 million boxes of cookies. The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the world’s largest girl-led business and the nation’s leading financial literacy and entrepreneurial program for girls. Through the program, girls learn skills that will last them a lifetime, including goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

View more photos from the night here.

Take a Girl Scout to Work at Jefferson Lab

This month, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast is working with Girl Scout alumnae in a variety of careers to place Girl Scouts in work shadowing positions during Take a Girl Scout to Work Day. Take a Girl Scout to Work Day is modeled after the national Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® (TODASTW) where each year more than 3.5 million American workplaces open their doors to over 39 million employees and their children on TODASTW Day.

Tatyana, Girl Scout Leader Tamika Butler, Shannon, Rahwa
and Christine Wheeler of Jefferson Lab

On Thursday, April 6, three Peninsula Girl Scouts, Shannon, Tatyana and Rahwa, spent the day at Jefferson Lab, where they met with women working in a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Shannon, a high school junior who has been a Girl Scout for 11 years, has an interest in pursuing a career in computer science. She has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a girl can earn in Girl Scouting, and is a member of the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast board of directors. In school, she takes advanced science classes and recently placed at the Great Computer Challenge. She attributes much of her interest in STEM to experiences that she has had as a Girl Scout.

Rahwa, who is also a high school junior, has an interested in biology and has considered a career in the medical field. As she learns more about different careers, she is hoping to study biomedical engineering in college. Tatyana is a high school freshman and has a wide range of interests in STEM. By visiting Jefferson Lab and taking part in other activities with Girl Scouts, Tatyana hopes to explore many career options during her next few years in high school.

The day started in the Support Service Center, where Christine Wheeler, a science education administrator, welcomed Girl Scouts to Jefferson Lab by sharing what scientists are studying there and talking about important safety guidelines to follow while visiting.

Mechanical Engineer Celia Whitlatch shows a flow sensor
she designed as part of a new cooling system at Jefferson Lab.

The girls then visited Celia Whitlatch, a mechanical engineer, in her office and learned about what her job is like. Whitlatch was excited to share with the girls that she had been a Girl Scout while growing up in Arizona. She showed the girls photos from a cooling system project that she worked on, displayed sample pieces that she has designed, including a flow sensor, and talked about her role as a supervisor on construction projects. She then talked about the education she needed to obtain her job, and showed the girls some of her college textbooks, which she still references today when working on projects. Whitlatch also shared that she sometimes faces challenges as a woman in a male-dominated career, especially when it comes to managing a construction site.

“I have never had a female mechanical engineer colleague here at Jefferson Lab in the 22 years that I have worked here,” Whitlatch told the girls. “I used to be shy, but being a female engineer has made me more outspoken. Sometimes have to defend my projects and designs.”

Tatyana, Rahwa and Shannon with Health Physicist Maya Keller
in the Radioanalytical Lab at Jefferson Lab.

The girls then walked to the Applied Research Center, where they met with Maya Keller, who is a health physicist working in the radiation control department at Jefferson Lab. Keller showed the girls a training space used to simulate dealing with radioactive materials. She also talked about the responsibilities she has in her job, including training people about safety around radioactive materials, running the radioanalytical lab and managing the dosimetry program, which monitors levels of radioactivity for individuals working at Jefferson Lab. Keller brought the girls into the radioanalytical lab and discussed how technicians use the different types of machines to measure levels of radiation.

Later in the morning, the girls visited the offices of Michele Joyce, a computer scientist, and Fay Hannon, a physicist, to learn about their careers as well. After lunch in the cafeteria at Jefferson Lab, the girls had the chance to take a tour of the campus and learn more about the research projects conducted there.

Take a Girl Scout to Work Day at Jefferson Lab was designed to give teen Girl Scouts the opportunity to learn more about the wide range of careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. In today’s world, women hold only approximately 25 percent of STEM careers. And, in some STEM fields, women are even more underrepresented than others. According to the American Physical Society, in 2015, less than 20 percent of bachelor’s degrees in physics were earned by women.

Girl Scouts is committed to providing opportunities for girls to explore and discover in a wide variety of STEM fields. Through opportunities, including Take a Girl Scout to Work Day at Jefferson Lab, Girl Scouts is able to introduce girls women in STEM careers, who show girls that they can be whatever they want to be.

Girl Scouts Explore Art in the Outdoors

Nearly 100 Girl Scouts spent the afternoon of Sunday, April 2 exploring art in the outdoors at Norfolk Botanical Garden during a workshop hosted for Girl Scout Brownies and Juniors. During the workshop, girls worked on earning the requirements for the Outdoor Creator and Outdoor Explorer badges, which were among the five badges added to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience last spring after girls from all over the country voted for Girl Scouts to add a badge category for arts in the outdoors. The badges are designed to inspire Girl Scouts to explore the art that exists all around them.

The workshop took place in the World of Wonders Children’s Adventure Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden, where the Girl Scouts went on a nature scavenger hunt, looking at different shapes and designs of flowers, trees, rocks and more. They also made leaf rubbings and imprinted leaves into clay. Making rain sticks and using a clay flowerpot to make wind chimes were among the favorite activities for the day, and girls also enjoyed using sticks, flower petals, pinecones and other found objects to construct “elf houses,” which are small, whimsical fortresses.

The Girl Scout Research Institute has found that girls who participate in outdoor activities in Girl Scouts on a monthly basis are stronger challenge seekers and problem solvers. Outdoor experiences help girls develop a strong sense of self and many outdoor activities promote cooperation and team building. Girl Scouts is committed to providing girls with opportunities to explore and discover in the outdoors. Working with community partners, such as Norfolk Botanical Garden, is just one of the many ways that Girl Scouts creates opportunities for girls to try new things, discover the great outdoors and connect with the environment.