Chesapeake Girl Scout Katie has earned her Silver Award

Katie La Londe has earned her Girl Scout Silver Award. Katie is an eighth grader at St. Matthews Catholic School in Troop 4161, a troop that has done several community service projects!

For her project, Katie built a food donation box for her church, St. Matthews Catholic Church. Her goal was to not only be able to collect more food for the pantry, but to also make it easier to transport. The church had an old shopping cart they used to collect donations and then take to the church office. It did not hold a lot of food and since the cart was old, the wheels did not move very well.

Katie purchased a flat cart and attached two large rubbermaid bins to it. She then had a cabinet built around the cart for donations. The front of the cart has two holes carved out and below the holes, she put boxes and cans. On the left side of the cabinet is a place to donate paper bags and on the right side is a door so people can remove the cart and push it to the main church office to be unloaded. A corkboard was attached to the top of the cabinet for flyers and announcements on food pantry needs. The new cart separates the boxes and cans so items are not damaged. It also helps save time for the people in the pantry so they don’t have to sort. It’s also much easier to maneuver. The cart not only helps the St. Vincent DePaul Society volunteers, but it also helps those in the community who come in for food.

Katie joined Troop 4161 in first grade. Since then, she has earned the Bronze Award, Junior Summit Award, Cadette Safety Award, Cadette My Promise, My Faith Year 1 & 2 Award, Cadette Community Service Bar and now, the Silver Award.

Her troop of nine girls is very active. They have done many community service projects, including helping the SPCA with a food drive and cleaning the church's library.

The girls are also very smart with their Girl Scout Cookie money! They have saved for the last three years in order to take a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Good job, girls!

The adventures for the troop don’t stop there. Most of the girls are also planning to go to camp- something Katie loves!

Katie continues to help with the food collection at her church which is also where her troop has meetings. She dedicates her time to taking food out of the container and getting it to the pantry.  

Newport News Girl Scout Paula-Ann Robertson has earned her Gold Award

Paula-Ann Robertson has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, “Clothes for a Cause,” Paula-Ann created a clothes closet aimed at helping less fortunate people in the area find suitable garments to wear to a job interview. She ran her closet out of First Christian Church in Hampton, Virginia. Paula-Ann was able to reach a large audience with the help of a free meal program the church runs every Tuesday night. After the guests enjoyed a hot meal, they were given the option to get clothes from the closet with the help of volunteers.

Before the closet was available to the public, Paula-Ann put in a lot of hard work to make sure everything would run smoothly and efficiently. She made the racks and shelves the clothes would be stored on, recruited volunteers and made sure they were informed and gathered plenty of clothes, all before the grand opening of the closet.

Paula-Ann’s project drew attention to groups in the community who did not have access to the resources they needed to live a better life. “Clothes for a Cause” also allowed her to enhance her leadership, communication and critical thinking skills.

“Having completed the journey of this project, I have learned more about myself and the world around me,” Paula-Ann explained. “This project taught me how to lead a group of adults and not let age hold me back.”

With the help of her project, she was able to help several people in the community and work to bring attention to the issue of homelessness in Hampton Roads and the lack of resources available to those people. Paula-Ann got to see, fairly quickly, just how rewarding it was to have done the project.

“One of the happiest moments during my project was when she (a guest of the clothes closet), got a new job using the resources and skills that we provided her. I learned that little things like this during the long project process make the hard work worth it,” she said.

To help keep the closet up and running, Paula-Ann created and delivered operating procedures for members of the church and other volunteers. She also made a website with tips on how to start a clothes closet in other areas of need. Click here to visit the page.

Summer Camp Theme Contest

Girls are the heart of Girl Scouts — and their voices are vital to who we are and what we do. That’s why Girl Scouts is girl-focused, girl-led and only for girls.

This year, girls have one more way to use their voices in Girl Scouts. It’s their chance to speak up! Girls and/or troops can submit their ideas in GSCCC’s first-ever Summer Camp Theme Contest. The winner will receive that week - the winning session name - of camp for free! Entries will be accepted online or on paper applications available at summer camp or Council offices in Summer 2018. 

Click here to view the flyer and print a hard copy application. Or, click here to enter online.

Have fun and be creative! 

Contest Rules:

• Contest runs June 1 – September 15, 2018
• Winner will be announced November 1, 2018
• Eligibility: current, second-year Daisy who will bridge to Brownies by Summer 2019 through Ambassador
• Multiple entries per girl/troop will be accepted
• One winner (girl or troop) will be selected
• Prize:
• Individual girl – That week of camp free in 2019
• Troop – The cost of one week of camp for one girl to be shared by all age eligible troop members towards their registrations
• Prize applies to the winning theme week only (non-transferrable)
• Questions? Contact customercare@gsccc.org or call 757-547-4405

Chalk it up to Girl Scouts Sidewalk Art Contest

Let your inner artist shine and help get the message out about Girl Scouts with the Chalk it up to Girl Scouts contest! 

Throughout June – the Great Outdoors Month – we’re asking Girl Scouts to get outside and use sidewalk chalk to create awesome art. To help spread the word that Girl Scouts is the best organization for girls, we want you to add our website and include "Be a Girl Scout" somewhere in your creation! 

What a fun way to lead more girls and volunteers to Girl Scouts! For a full list of contest entry guidelines, see below. The photo with the most likes and shares wins!

Contest Rules:

• Contest runs June 1 – June 30
• Photo must be posted to Facebook using the hashtag #chalkitup2girlscouts
• Art must include gsccc.org and "Be a Girl Scout"
• All girls in the photo must have a signed photo permission form (click here to download the form)
• Two winners will be announced July 3, 2018 on our Facebook page
• Eligibility: current registered member
• One entry per person
• Troop entries are encouraged; only one entry from each troop will be accepted
• Prizes:
• First place- $50 Walmart Gift Card
• Second place- 6ft Troop Banner

Check out the Outback!

It’s finally warm outside, which means it’s almost camp season!

As you are preparing for your outdoor adventures this summer, consider visiting the Outback at A Place for Girls in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The Outback, an 8.5-acre natural area behind A Place for Girls, is part of the South Chesapeake Loop of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. Visitors may encounter birds ranging from nuthatches and warblers to stealthy great blue herons hunting in the shallows of Bell Mill Creek that runs through the property. In the summer, look for warblers, flycatchers and other woodland birds.

Boardwalks over the creek's brackish waters provide views of estuarine species such as killifish, fiddler and blue crabs. The elevated platform overlooking the creek is an excellent place to scan for large wading birds and provides eye-level views of the ospreys that nest nearby. The trail continues to meander past a canoe launch, picnic areas and a fitness trail.

Did you know the Outback is an official designated Lou Henry Hoover Memorial Sanctuary? It’s named after one of our country’s past first Ladies who was also a Girl Scout and outdoor enthusiast!

There are tons of patch activities girls and their families can do while visiting the outback. Walk nature trails, meander on the boardwalk to view birds and surrounding, climb the observation tower and more.

There are four picnic pavilions as well!

There’s also a Health and Fitness Trail patch you can earn while in the Outback! Challenge yourself on our fitness trail while enjoying the outdoors. You can find requirements for both patches on our website’s Patch Programs Page.

Be sure to check out our day camp options available for girls this summer at Camp Outback! Click here to register.

Hammock camping with Girl Scouts

If you’re wondering what it’s like to camp in a hammock, just ask one of the several girls who tried it last month at Newport News City Park Campground.

The trip, just one of several put on by The Wild Things, allowed most of the girls to go hammock camping for the first time. They also held a cook off that took the camp ranger by surprise!

Why hammock camping? Well, not only is it tons of fun, by hammocks take away a lot of the challenging parts of camp. You don’t take up a lot of space, affect the ground or need a large plot of land. Just pick a spot that has some trees, make sure you have sturdy straps to tie your hammock to the tree and you’re good to go!

“All I can say is try it,” Bonnie Taylor, creator of The Wild Things, expressed.

It was such as success that Bonnie received nothing but positive feedback. Many of the hammock campers said they would do it again on their backpacking adventure!

Try out camping in a hammock this summer at our Camp Darden location! They are nap-tested and girl-approved. Share your experience with us and you may be featured on this blog!

Strong Girls Visit EVMS

Girl Scouts learned first-hand what it takes to work in the medical field from professionals and got to apply their knowledge of STEM during some engaging activities on Saturday, May 5 at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Teen Girl Scouts took part in small group simulations. Girls used computers to test their skills at virtual laparoscopy, a surgical procedure that requires both patience and a steady hand. They also got a hands-on tutorial on how to do an ultrasound and learn how to react in emergency situations.

Sasha Edwards, a senior simulation specialist at EVMS and former Girl Scout, taught the girls CPR techniques and how to respond in emergency situations.

“Saturday was amazing! I love seeing the girls engaged and working together on CPR mock code,” Sasha explained. “We didn’t have this kind of technology when I was a Girl Scout back in the early-mid-eighties.”

As Girl Scouts, girls are exposed to activities in the STEM field which allows them to see that they too can have a future in that career field. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, 77% of girls say that because of Girl Scouts, they are considering a career in technology. Girls in STEM are interested in many careers, chiefly among them being careers in the medical/health care field.

Girls attribute their increased interest in STEM activities, classes, and careers to the STEM programs they engage in through Girl Scouts, and say that these programs have made more of an impact than other programs in which they have been involved.

“The STEM field is evolving, but is still very male dominated (only about 29% of women are involved in the science and engineering workforce). Exposing young women to careers in the STEM fields hopefully gets them more interested, and will allow them to think outside the box of traditional women’s careers,” Sasha said.

Emilee Bohle and Ashleigh Mann, Girl Scout Cadettes, both agreed that their time at EVMS on Saturday made them want to learn more about careers in the medical field. The girls were intrigued by the resources available to them at EVMS.

Younger Girl Scouts were also able to learn about health and wellness with special events catered to them throughout the morning and early afternoon. The girls participated in stations facilitated by Love Ur Healthy.

The girls worked on their Strong Girls Patch while completing a relay obstacle, playing fitness Tic Tac Toe and learning more about healthy snacks, drinks and activities.

Thank you to EVMS, Love Ur Healthy and the instructors who volunteered their time to teach Girl Scouts more about STEM on Saturday.