First Day Patch Design Contest

Let your creative side shine by designing our Council's 2020 first day renewal patch! Your masterpiece could be featured on Girl Scouts' vests all over southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina when they renew their membership on April 1.

Submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 22. GSCCC staff will select the top 10 designs by Friday, March 1. Then, voting will take place on our Facebook and Instagram starting at noon on Monday, March 4 through noon on Monday, March 18. The winner will be determined based on cumulative likes and shares of the original GSCCC post on both social platforms. When sharing your post, please encourage your friends and followers to go to our Facebook and Instagram to share or like the picture from there so that the votes will count.

Click here to access the design contest package, which includes your design submission form.

Girl Scout Week 2019

Celebrate the G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ in you this year during Girl Scout Week! To get the party started, consider using this guide throughout the week.

Sunday, March 10: Girl Scout Sunday

Earn your My Promise, My Faith Award. Work with your family and faith leaders to earn the pin to celebrate the connection between the Girl Scout Promise and Law and your faith.

Monday, March 11:  Wear your favorite Girl Scout swag

Show off your Girl Scout pride by wearing your favorite Girl Scout branded clothing and accessories! This is the perfect day to also tell all of your friends about the cool stuff Girl Scouts get to do!

Tuesday, March 12: Girl Scout Birthday

Create a themed birthday party with your troop or group and invite friends! Introduce them to the fun of Girl Scouts. This is a perfect time to hold a rededication ceremony.

Wednesday, March 13: Act of Kindness Day

Spend all day doing random acts of kindness for others to celebrate what Girl Scouts is all about! Smile at a stranger, help your parents bring in the groceries, leave a kind note for someone, buy a stranger’s coffee or meal, rake leaves for a neighbor or take their trashcan to the road for pickup. No matter how big or small the acts of kindness are, you know you’ll be spreading the best part of Girl Scouts—making the world a better place!

Thursday, March 14: Volunteer Day

Pick a charity or organization in your community that needs help and use today to donate your time. Help stock a food pantry, volunteer at a local animal shelter, or even volunteer to help someone close to you complete a difficult task. Every Girl Scout knows how important it is to give back to her community. This is the day to show others just how much girls can change the world!

Friday, March 15: Wear your Girl Scout uniform to school

Show off your enthusiasm to be a G.I.R.L. by displaying your achievements proudly at school! Share what you have learned as a Girl Scout with your peers and encourage them to join Girl Scouts.

Saturday, March 16: Girl Scout Sabbath

Find a problem no matter how big or small in your community. Think of a way you and others can solve it and let your voice be heard!

Other ideas 
。Learn what WAGGGS stands for.
。Read or re-read the Juliette Gordon Low story.
。Take part in a Girl Scout flag ceremony. 
。Learn about Girl Scout history.
。Make a friendship bracelet for a Girl Scout friend.

Gold Award Spotlight: Sheltering Native Bees

Girl Scout Ariel has earned her Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouts.

For Ariel’s project, “Sheltering Native Bees,” she focused on promoting native pollinators, in particular, the Mason bee. Ariel made 12 bee shelters and placed them around the community. According to Ariel, the Mason bee is a great one to support because they barely sting and when they do, it is barely noticeable- it is comparable to a mosquito bite. The Mason bees are three-times more efficient pollinators than non-native honeybees. There is no upkeep for the shelters because the bees are independent and do not make honey to harvest.

“This project is important because it helps support a healthy ecosystem,” she said. “Native pollinators represent a significant portion of pollination for food in the United States that help feed our world’s growing population.”

In addition to the shelters, Ariel made signs to explain what the bee shelters are, how they work, their importance and how locals can make a simplified version for their yards. Ariel targeted people of all ages, genders and socio-economic levels. She wanted to capture the attention of those who visit state parks or take walks in their neighborhoods.

Ariel overcame several obstacles throughout the course of her project, including gathering enough volunteers to assist her. She found that even though people offered to help, when it came time to assist, only few were committed. New to her area, Ariel realized the importance of cultivating strong relationships.

Throughout her project, Ariel discovered that she had the ability to lead despite being a quiet person. She learned that being flexible and being able to problem solve is just one part of being a good leader.

“To be a good leader, I needed to have a solid plan that I can be confident in and follow through with. I learned that when I’m excited about an idea I can inspire and empower others through my strength and leadership,” she said.

Gold Award Spotlight: Break the Stigma

Girl Scout Kaylee has earned her Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouts.

For her project, “Break the Stigma,” Kaylee addressed the lack of education and readily available resources surrounding mental health issues. She was determined to find a way to help others achieve positive mental health status.

Kaylee created visibly labeled bookshelves filled with informational pamphlets on mental health for students to bring home to their families in order to start a conversation about the subject. She wanted to erase the stigma surrounding mental health so that more students could become more confident in asking for help. Kaylee also created a public service announcement to be played on the morning announcements at her school to inform the student body of the resources that were in the library.

“Mental health is an issue that impacts my friends and me. Some suffer from anxiety and others from depression,” she said.

Kaylee used her project to inspire others by posting on her social media accounts to start a discussion on mental health with her friends. She also posted the PSA on her YouTube channel for the public to view and posters were placed in participating high schools.

According to Kaylee, the most successful aspect of her project was when she got to help many students who struggled with mental health.

Her project was recognized by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) with requests to implement in the Virginia Beach Schools.

In addition, Kaylee was honored in April 2019 as Scout of the Year by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 4809 for the work she has done in her community. 

2019 Cookie Classic Run

More than 400 runners and walkers cookie crawled their way through the 5^th annual Girl Scout Cookie Classic Run on January 19 at the Great Dismal Swamp Canal Trail. The race, which included a 1-mile Samoa Stroll, 5K Trefoil Trek and 10K Tagalong run (new this year), was organized by Girl Scout volunteers from Community 3, a membership area within Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast that includes Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk and surrounding cities.

The 5K and 10K races kicked off the morning’s festivities at 8:30 a.m. Runners celebrated sweet success along the path as they were the first people in Hampton Roads to enjoy Girl Scout Cookies.

As participants crossed the finish line, they were greeted with medals to show off their victory!

The fun continued as the top finishers from different age groups were recognized for their win. The awards ceremony was followed by a costume contest which featured a blue-bearded and tutu-adorned Cookie Monster couple- the winners of this year’s contest, Rosie the Riveter duo, and Girl Scout Cookie pair.

Girl Scouts who participated in the races completed requirements toward earning a badge for their age level, including the My Best Self badge for Girl Scout Brownies and the Staying Fit badge for Girl Scout Juniors.

Proceeds from the annual race help provide programs for Girl Scouts, learning opportunities and training for Girl Scout volunteers, and financial assistance for girls who otherwise would not be able to participate in Girl Scouts.

Thank you to our 2019 sponsors and supporters.

Click here to view more photos from the race!

Welcome to the Gold Award family!

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) recently announced that Girl Scouts is officially bringing all Girl Scout alums who have earned the highest award in Girl Scouts- formerly referred to as the First Class, the Curved Bar, and the Golden Eaglet and now called the Girl Scout Gold Award- into the Gold Award Girl Scout family. GSUSA invites all highest award recipients to refer to themselves as Gold Award Girl Scouts.

GSUSA is offering these alums an official Gold Award digital credential to place on their social media profiles to show that they’ve earned Girl Scouts’ highest award, as well as a Gold Award pin and access to the Girl Scout Alum Newsletter launching in February. The newsletter will enable alums to connect with the Girl Scout Movement and keep up with all of the incredible things their fellow Girl Scout alums are doing across the country and around the world.

Recipients of Girl Scouts’ highest honor are part of an elite group of Girl Scouts who have truly distinguished themselves as prominent leaders in their communities and as true change-makers. Nationally, less than 6% of girls earn the Gold Award. Gold Award Girl Scouts provide sustainable solutions to society’s biggest challenges. These visionary leaders have tackled prominent issues by cleaning up our oceans, creating self-defense programs to battle violence against women, getting state laws changed to end forced child marriage, developing suicide prevention programs, and so much more. Recipients earn college scholarships, enter the armed forces one rank higher than other recruits, and demonstrate higher educational and career outcomes than their peers. Click here to learn more about the Gold Award.

Gold Award Spotlight: Kid2Kid

Girl Scout Jenna has earned the Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouts. 

For her Gold Award, “Kid2Kid,” Jenna wanted to build upon a program at St. Mary’s Home that was founded in 2009 by her family by making it an organization that would be sustainable.  In order to become an organization Jenna assisted Kid2Kid in producing bylaws, running elections for youth officer positions, creating organization goals and more. There is now an official Kid2Kid board that will help run the organization when Jenna graduates and starts working on her college education.

Because of her Gold Award project, Jenna was able to demonstrate and improve upon her leadership skills while developing a plan to create a successful organization.

“Legacy was important to me in doing this because I did not want Kid2Kid to disappear when I go off to college,” she said.