2018 Samoa Soiree

More than 300 guests packed the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside hotel to celebrate the tenth annual Samoa Soiree on March 17. Chefs from restaurants and catering companies competed to walk away with awards for best savory or best dessert. 

Hosted by Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, this annual event raises funds to support Girl Scouting in our area. 

This year, Chef Kyle Fowlkes from the Cyprus Grille at Embassy Suites Hampton won the Judges' Best in Presentation Award and the People’s Choice Award for Best Savory. His savory dish was gnocchi and veal topped with spinach and a cherry cream sauce. He used the Girl Scout Do-si-Dos Cookie and Girl Scout Toffee-tastic Cookie as magical ingredients! Chef Chris McLeod from The Dirty Buffalo won the People’s Choice for Best Dessert for his Mini Samoa Pudding Cake. His recipe was even published in Coastal Virginia Magazine. All the chefs used a Girl Scout Cookie variety as a key ingredient in their creation.

Best Dessert: Handsome Biscuit, Flan with Thin Mints and a touch of Wildflower Honey

Best Savory: Mixxer’s Kitchen, Lemony fried crab cake with Savannah Smiles Cookie

Best Presentation: Cyprus Grille, Sous Vide Veal with Toffee-tastic and Do-si-Dos Cookies

Most Creative Use of a Girl Scout Cookie: Spirit Cruises, Thai Veggie Bite

People’s Choice for Best Dessert: The Dirty Buffalo, Mini Samoa pudding cake made with Thin Mint Cookie

People’s Choice for Best Savory: Cyprus Grille, Sous Vide Veal

Best in Show: Sysco of Hampton Roads, Pork Belly Girl Scout Do-si-Do Cookie

The culinary delights were judged by local celebrities and foodies, including Patrick Evans-Hylton, publisher of Virginia Eats + Drinks Magazine; Grace Silipigni, online content editor of Coastal Virginia Magazine; Don London, vice president of operations at Entercom Communications Corporation; Carolyn Pittman with Newport News Shipbuilding; Toiya Sosa with GEICO; Xerxes Nabong, Yelp community director; Ashley Smith, 13News Now anchor and Peggy Sijswerda, editor and publisher of Tidewater Family Magazine and Tidewater Women Magazine.

This year’s participating restaurants included: Cyprus Grille at Embassy Suites Hampton, Handsome Biscuit, Hilton Norfolk The Main, II Giardino Ristorante, Mixxer’s Kitchen, RJ’s Café at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, Sheraton Norfolk Waterside, The Dirty Buffalo, The Skinny Dip Frozen Yogurt Bar, Spirit Cruises and Sysco Hampton Roads.

The event was generously sponsored by GEICO, Enspyr, Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer P.C. and Newport News Shipbuilding. Many thanks to our media partners who supported the event and helped us spread the word about this unique event: 2WD 101.3, 13News Now, Coastal Virginia Magazine, Tidewater Women Magazine, VEER Magazine, Yelp and Virginia Eats + Drinks.

To view more photos, click here.

Gold Award Girl Scout Krysta's Forgotten Horses

An avid horse lover, Krysta Rutherford, recently completed her Girl Scout Gold Award project, “The Forgotten Horses.” She documented through video the need to save the critically endangered breed of horse: the Colonial Spanish Mustang. The video engages people of all ages and brings awareness to the story and heritage of the animal.

Her self-proclaimed love for the breed started in 2013 when Krysta adopted Katalina, a Corolla Spanish Mustang. Her horse had to be removed from the wild and it got Krysta thinking about horses on the critically endangered breed list. She recognized the enormous benefits the horses brought to her community, including their ability to help people with disabilities, diseases or other special conditions.

For more than a year, Krysta traveled thousands of miles in her quest to assemble the story of the Colonial Spanish Mustang. She visited places in Virginia, North and South Carolina and even Texas!  Through her Girl Scout Gold Award project, she was able to meet and visit experts in the field of conservation that added their voices to the video.  

"This project has continued to reinforce what my career may be in the future,” she said. “I am planning to focus on environmental science/studies with a focus on wildlife and/or marine life conservation."

The film has reached thousands of people through event showings, articles, presentations and other postings. The project continues to be sustained with the help of several organizations in a number of ways, including links to the film on their website. 

As a result of her project, a number of individuals have asked how they can help the cause.  Krysta has even received an email from someone in France who has asked for a copy of the film!

Visit the website Krysta made for her project The Forgotten Horses 

Click here to watch Krysta's Gold Award video.

Little Library - Chesapeake Health Department

Thanks to Girl Scout Cadette Ashlina Keller from Troop 805 in Chesapeake, the Chesapeake Health Department has a Little Free Library! The new addition that is situated in the lobby of the Chesapeake Health Department supports the mission of the No Hit Zone, an initiative of Champions For Children - Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads - as a means to encourage reading and positive parenting.

Kimi Stevens, the public relations representative for the Chesapeake Health Department, says the library, designed in the fashion of produce cart, has really been successful since being placed. The colorful cart made by Ashlina holds dozens of free books she and friends collected. The books are directed to young clients in both English and Spanish.

" Before we installed the library, the main source of client/child interaction came from mobile devices," Kimi said. "This type of interaction sometimes left the children agitated and disengaged. The Little Free Library has made a huge impact on our clients, their families and our staff. The children love it! We love it!  We can't keep new reader books in stock, but we can count on Girl Scouts and friends in the community to continue to donate books and keep it stocked."

During Ashlina's presentation at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, she said as a young child she visited the Chesapeake Health Department and wished there had been a book cart like this for her use.

" I love reading,"she said. "This project was very meaning to me and I hope it helps more children and parents find enjoyment out of reading and sharing the reading experience together."

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was done on Read Across America Day, a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually on March 2 - Dr. Seuss's birthday. Ashlina brought one of her long-time favorite books by Dr. Seuss to the ceremony and read a quote, "You have brains in your head, You have feet in your shoes, You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

 We are grateful Ashlina's feet were pointed towards the Chesapeake Health Department!

It's almost time for camp! Where are you going?

It's still winter for a few more weeks, but camp season is coming!

Why should Girl Scouts go to camp? Because girls shine in an environment where they can run things their way and collaborate on projects!

Studies show that girls feel less competent, less popular and more afraid to succeed than boys do, and 41 percent of preteens say being made fun of is their number one fear. In the supportive setting of Girl Scout camp, girls develop self-esteem and determination in themselves that will last well after summer camp ends.

Spending time in nature has been shown to improve concentration and creative reasoning. The outdoors provides novelty and challenge which enhance leadership, and often places girls in new physical, psychological and social situations that motivate curiosity and foster a sense of discovery.

Did you know that registration for summer camps is already open? You can check out this year's resident and day camp offerings in the camp guide book online.

There's a couple of additions this year to be excited about: a third week of resident camp has been added at Camp Darden, and there are now two climbing walls to scale! We have an outdoor climbing at Camp Darden and an indoor climbing wall at Camp Skimino.

Want to go horseback riding? Head for Camp Darden! Camp Skimino has a high-ropes course if you want to challenge yourself in the air. Camp Outback has wooded nature trails and canoeing. Archers can head to Camp Apasus, Camp Skimino and Camp Darden.

If you want to train alongside a team of firefighters and law enforcement professionals, you're in luck—Camp Fury is back, too! Camp Fury sessions will be held in Norfolk, Williamsburg and Chesapeake this summer.

So, after you check out this year's camp guide, register your Girl Scout for her favorite camp! You can register online.

There are several camp open houses to check out, too, including;

• Camp Apasus - Saturday, April 21, 2-4 p.m.
• Camp Darden - Saturday, April 28, 2-4 p.m.
• Camp Outback - Saturday May 12, 2-4 p.m.
• Camp Skimino - Saturday, May 19, 2-4 p.m.

Girl Scout Tara has earned her Gold Award

Girl Scout Tara of Suffolk's Troop 431 has earned her Gold Award. Tara has been a Girl scout for nine years and is a student at Nansemond River High School.

For her project, Tara created a Tourette Syndrome awareness campaign to teach her classmates and community members about the disorder. Tara was inspired to create the campaign because she lives with Tourette syndrome and had experienced some difficulties at school when some teachers did not understand her educational needs.

Tara's project, called "What Makes Me TIC," aimed to create a better understanding and acceptance of Tourette syndrome.

"I did this by conducting presentations for faculty at multiple schools," Tara said. "By educating teachers, not only am I impacting how they see the disorder, but I am able to reach all of the students they have in their classrooms going forward."

Tara hopes that by reaching out to teachers, other students living with the disorder would get the assistance they needed at school. She also hoped that by teaching other students, those who lived with the disorder would not be bullied by their classmates because of their tics.

Tara traveled throughout her school district to give the presentations. She also created an online support community called Teens that Tic. Tara's support community already has nearly 200 members in states and countries across five continents!

Tara's project will be sustained by the teachers she presented to, but after she graduates from Nansemond River High, another student has agreed to keep Teens that Tic online and active.

Click here to learn more about her project. 

Smithfield Girl Scout Katherine has earned her Gold Award

Girl Scout Katherine from Smithfield's Troop 5292 has earned her Gold Award!

Katherine has been a Girl Scout for 13 years. She currently attends Smithfield High School. She's been accepted into Virginia Tech's College of Engineering this fall.

For Katherine's project, she set out to teach local kids about STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts and math—fields. To do that, Katherine created and educational program called "It's a STEAM Party." 

Through the hands-on activities and programs she designed, Katherine taught students at schools that don't currently have STEAM-related programs.

"Many opportunities to explore S.T.E.A.M. are available for upper and middle class families in my community," Katherine said. "The same opportunities were not available for children of less fortunate families." 

To teach students about STEAM fields and careers, Katherine designed activities such as launching balloon rockets, buildings structures out of various materials and building and launching catapults. Katherine said it made her happy and proud when she could see kids getting excited about learning the science behind each activity. 

After Katherine graduates from Smithfield High, her program will be sustained by a local YMCA afterschool program at Hardy Elementary School. The school has committed to continue using Katherine's program for weekly activities. 

Girl Scout Shannon helped immigrant families to earn her Gold Award

Girl Scout Shannon from Virginia Beach has earned her Gold Award! Shannon graduated from Kellam High School in 2017 and has been a Girl Scout for 11 years.

For Shannon's Gold Award project, she created a resource website for new immigrant families settling in the Virginia Beach area. The project is called H.I.F.I.V.E.: Helping Immigrant Families Integrate, Venture and Excel.

To create the website, Shannon completed hours of research and dozens of interviews to understand what information would be most helpful to immigrants.

Shannon's website includes a handbook with tips for families, information on free public services, a list of educational opportunities, materials to learn English and much more. The resources are even available in multiple languages—spanish, mandarin and english!

Shannon wanted to help immigrant families because of her own familial experience.

"I know the immigrant experience firsthand," Shannon said. "I moved to the United States from Taiwan when I was seven. I remember the challenges of adjusting to a new culture and living with a language barrier. I am passionate about helping new immigrants."

Shannon also created promotional brochures for her website and made many community connects to ensure that her website reaches the families who need it most.

Shannon hopes that through her online resource, immigrant families will be able to create better community ties and feel more welcome in Virginia Beach.