Camp Fury Norfolk

This summer, for the first time ever, Norfolk Fire-Rescue and Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast partnered to host Camp Fury Norfolk, a week-long firefighting and emergency preparedness experience. The goal of Camp Fury is to introduce girls to firefighting as a career, give girls the chance to meet women in fields typically dominated by men and provide experiences for girls to try new things and build self-confidence and teamwork skills.

The camp kicked off on Monday, where girls were issued turnout gear and helmets for the week. They jumped right into firefighter training, climbing an aerial ladder on a firetruck, taking part in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) orientation, learning how to properly carry ladders and trying their hand at forcible entry. A highlight of the activities for the week was rappelling inside Chrysler Hall. The girls harnessed up and rappelled from the front of the stage into the orchestra pit. They also climbed up onto the catwalk and rappelled down onto the stage.

"Many of the girls at Camp Fury had not considered firefighting as a career for them before coming to camp," Norfolk Firefighter Paramedic Darlene Braun said. "We're showing them that they can be anything that they want to be."

In addition to learning about firefighting, the girls were also introduced to other public safety careers. They spent an afternoon with the Norfolk Police Department, where they watched a police canine unit demonstration, learned about a bomb robot and took part in physical training alongside female police officers. A tour of the emergency departments at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters were also on the schedule for the week, as well as a stop at Naval Station Norfolk, where the girls met with Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14 (HM-14).

Camp Fury Norfolk is the third Camp Fury offered by Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast. Camp Fury will also be hosted with the City of Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue and the Chesapeake Fire Department this summer. Firefighter Paramedic Braun, who brought Camp Fury to Norfolk, previously volunteered at Camp Fury in Hampton and Chesapeake.

At Camp Fury, and at all Girl Scout camps, girls are immersed in a supportive, all-girl environment where they develop into go-getters, innovators, risk takers and leaders.

Camp Darden Climbing Wall Dedication

Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast dedicated a new climbing wall at Camp Darden in Courtland on June 20 during a ceremony with campers, Girl Scout alumnae and friends from the community. The 22-foot high wall was built at the camp this spring thanks to a $15,000 grant from the Obici Healthcare Foundation. Girl Scouts from the Suffolk Service Unit donated funds to purchase auto-belay devices for the climbing wall.

Following the dedication ceremony, guests were led on a tour of the camp. Among the guests in attendance were Franklin Mayor Frank Rabil and his wife Lynne, and Tammie Mullins-Rice from the Obici Healthcare Foundation. John and Irene Field also visited camp for the ceremony. Irene is the daughter of the late former Virginia Governor Colgate Darden who donated Camp Darden for Girl Scouts to use.

“When children are involved in programs that encourage healthy lifestyles, the knowledge that they gain and the habits that they develop have a long-term impact on their health and well-being,” Tracy Keller, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, said. “We hope that the addition of the climbing wall will encourage more girls to come to camp, spend time outdoors and be active.”

The climbing wall will be used by thousands of Girl Scouts, as well as members of the public who rent the camp facility for recreation, conference and training events.

The climbing wall the latest improvement Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast has made to the camp to offer a variety of high-adventure activities for girls. Last year, an archery range opened at the camp, and a low-ropes course and new pool were added to the camp in 2013. Camp Darden also offers hiking trails on its 105 acres and a waterfront for canoeing and sailing.

Build Me Up

Dads and other adult male caregivers play a special role in setting girls up for success. Father-daughter relationships lay the foundation for a girl’s confidence and her future relationships with and expectations of men. In June, GSCCC hosted Build Me Up, a workshop for girls and their male caregivers to spend quality time together while taking part in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) challenges. Build Me Up took place at the C. Waldo Scott Center for Hope in Newport News, which provides comprehensive services to families who live nearby.

After arriving and donning play construction hats, girls and their male caregivers started the day with LEGO-building challenges. They constructed towers and vehicles using different shapes and sizes of blocks. They also put together GoldieBlox, which are engineering blocks designed to appeal to girls, creating everything from airplanes to flowers. A few of the dad-daughter duos took a snap circuit kit and worked together to connect electronic circuit pieces to turn on a radio, ring an alarm or launch a helicopter spinner.

Next, while the girls took part in more LEGO-building activities, the male caregivers gathered for a workshop with Wil LaVeist, journalist, author and host of The Wil LaVeist Show on 88.1 WHOV. LaVeist, whose book Dear Daughter was recently published, encouraged the male caregivers to love and stay close to their daughters. LaVeist’s tips for the caregivers included telling their girls that they love them and meaning it, talking with their girls instead of down to them and speaking positively about their girl’s mother.

“Good fathers want their daughters to grow up to be strong women,” LaVeist said.

After enjoying lunch and a dance party together, the girls and their caregivers split into two groups again. While the fathers spent more time learning from LaVeist and one another, the girls painted and decorated pieces of wooden vehicles—cars, ships, trains and airplanes. The day ended with the girls and caregivers pairing back up to construct their vehicles.

“We have collaborated with the Girl Scouts for at least 10 years,” Crystal Rainey, executive director of the C. Waldo Scott Center for Hope said. “This is the first time that our center has been able to host a program for girls and their male role models, and we are pleased to work with the Girl Scouts to make that happen. It is so important to engage girls in STEM and problem-solving activities, and it is great to be able to see them learn and have fun alongside the men who play important roles in their lives.”

According to The State of Girls, a report by the Girl Scout Research Institute, 30 percent of girls ages five to 17 in Virginia live in a single-parent family. Girl Scouts know that families provide girls with critical social, economic and emotional support, which is why the organization provides opportunities for parents and their girls to spend quality time together. Girl Scouts is not just for girls and their moms. Dads, too, can look to Girl Scouts for constructive, adventurous and fun activities to do with their girls. 

Gold Award Spotlight: STEM for Them

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

For her project, Madeline created an educational program designed to introduce children to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) through engaging, hands-on activities. Madeline led workshops at Quality Time Child Care and Preschool and Main Street Baptist Church in Smithfield, where she worked with children ages one to 12 to increase their interest in STEM. Activities that Madeline organized for the children included cleaning up a simulated oil spill, making rubber band catapults, building simple machines using household objects and creating a rain cloud in a cup.

Madeline also coordinated her lesson plans with Virginia Standards of Learning and shared them with elementary school teachers in Isle of Wight schools. Many teachers are incorporating her activities into their lesson plans.

“I wanted to create a STEM program that would be fun for kids to participate in, but also coordinate with the Standards of Learning,” Madeline said. “Working with the kids and watching their excitement for STEM grow was the best thing I could have asked for.”

Madeline also created a series of how-to STEM activity videos that she placed online to encourage people to try STEM activities with children at home or at school. She has coordinated with the National Honor Society at Smithfield High School to offer her workshops in the future.

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

Rock on, Girl Scouts!

Go-getter Girl Scouts of the Lynnhaven Shores Girl Scout Service Unit raised $10,000 that they donated to build a climbing wall at Camp Skimino, a camp located in Williamsburg and operated by Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast (GSCCC). A check was presented to the Council’s Property Director John Morgan and Philanthropy Director Stacy Nixon on Friday, June 2, during an evening bridging program organized by the Lynnhaven Shores Service Unit Girl Scouts. The service unit is one of 23 service units, geographical service areas, within the council. Susan Ramsland, a lifetime Girl Scout who volunteers to oversee the unit and an avid outdoor program advocate, spearheaded the fundraising effort and led the ceremony, which included several girls from the service unit’s Girl Advisory Board, who carried the check to the podium.

This is not the first time that the Lynnhaven Shores Service Unit has united to raise money for improvements to Girl Scout camps. Last year, they funded the new archery range at Camp Skimino. Many members of the service unit attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the archery range, and it was an exciting moment for them to see all of their fundraising efforts come to fruition and put the new archery range to good use.

“While sitting in the dining hall with John after the archery range dedication, reflecting on what other things girls might like to have at camp, an indoor climbing wall was mentioned,” Ramsland said. “Several adults chatted about it that weekend and decided to see if that was something the girls would indeed enjoy at camp.”

Before the end of last summer, the Girl Advisory Board from the Lynnhaven Shores Service Unit held a meeting to make plans for the upcoming Girl Scout year. On their agenda was a discussion of the climbing wall, and all of the girls voted “yes” in support of building it. Ramsland informed the girls that the service unit would need to raise $10,000 to have the climbing wall built, and they launched a fundraising campaign.

With full funding for the Camp Skimino climbing wall provided by the Lynnhaven Shores Service Unit, construction can begin. Morgan is projecting that the climbing wall, an indoor wall that can be used year-round, will be completed sometime in August.

“We are committed to making sure we provide outdoor activities that are relevant to today’s girls and what they want,” John said. “Girls want to be challenged and they want adventure in a safe and all-girl environment and that’s what Girl Scouts is able to give them.”

Happy Father's Day!

When Jad Domachowski’s daughter, Alexandra, joined Girl Scouts three years ago, he knew from the start that he wanted to be involved. Initially, he volunteered with Troop 508 in Virginia Beach in order to spend more time with Alexandra, but once he got involved and got to know the girls and parents in the troop, he was eager to take on a bigger volunteer role. He officially registered as a Girl Scout and is now a proud member of Troop 508.

Jad cherishes the time that he has to spend with Alexandra. His career in the Navy affects the time that he has at home, whether he is deployed on a ship, in the office or traveling for training missions. Girls need, and want, their dads in their lives just as much as their mothers, and Girl Scouts provides opportunities for Jad and Alexandra to try new things, meet new people and have fun together.

“Girl Scouts has allowed me to spend more quality time with my daughter,” Jad said. “We take part in enriching and productive activities that teach life skills with other girls and their parents.”

For both Jad and Alexandra, Girl Scouts has been a great place to meet new friends. They also really enjoyed building a car together to race in a powderpuff derby, putting their engineering and design skills to the test to build a wooden racecar. They have had so many fun experiences that Jad’s younger son can hardly wait to be a Boy Scout and will be when the school year starts.

Before taking a break for the summer, Jad, Alexandra and the rest of Troop 508 will be working on a community service project in support of Operation Smile. They are also exploring cuisines from around the world, taste testing new dishes as each troop meeting.

Girls need both women and men to show that they can be anything they want to be—from athlete to astronaut, from CEO of their own business to CEO of their own household. In fact, studies show that if we want girls to view themselves as strong, self-reliant and resilient, it is essential that the men in their lives—fathers, brothers and other caring adults who help mentor her—show her that they view her in this way. As a dad in Girl Scouts, Jad is playing an important role in Alexandra’s life, as well as in the lives of her fellow troop members, to help them believe in themselves.

Girl Scouts is in need of women and men volunteers to be a part of the organization and help build the next generation of go-getters, innovators, risk-takers and leaders. Girl Scouts offers both short- and long-term opportunities for caring adults to make a difference in the lives of girls. For information about volunteering with Girl Scouts, visit www.gsccc.org.

New Troop Camping Badges

After rounds of voting, the category for the 2017 Girls' Choice badges was announced to be Troop Camping. What a great way to build go-get-‘em problem-solvers, encourage challenge-seeking and expose girls to new experiences as they grow their skills, confidence and character!

Daisies will get a first taste of the camping fun and excitement in their first-ever Girls’ Choice badge, and then the Brownie to Ambassador badges will build on that foundation.

The new badges are: 

• Daisy Buddy Camper
• Brownie Cabin Camper
• Junior Eco Camper
• Cadette Primitive Camper
• Senior Adventure Camper
• Ambassador Survival Camper

Requirements and badges are available online or in the GSCCC shops.