August Kick-Off

Have you signed up for the August Kick-Off on Saturday, August 18th?  It looks like there will be terrific information there for every troop leader!  Parents too!

I heard from Shellie that there's going to be a new segment on doing Journeys, with a break-out to ALL the Journeys at ALL levels.  Woohoo!  I'm going to be with the Breathe Journey, for sure, then morphing over to Girltopia, if need be.  

Join us!  Learn about what's new for the coming year!  Taste the new cookie flavor that was just debuted at the OC Fair!  Choose a seminar to participate in!  If you're in the mood, join Susan Monk and me for an hour about saying thank you/showing appreciation.  We'll talk, then we'll all brainstorm together.  It should be fun as we talk about the new/continuing  "attitude of gratitude".

And if you sign up in time, you can reserve a Jersey Mike's Sandwich.  Or bring your own lunch in an ice pak...it's going to be warm out there!

So join us!  Leave the kids at home and come Kick-Off the new Girl Scout year! 

See you there!

Breathe in, breathe out, grasshopper....

Yes, still working on the Breathe Journey Series.  We had a fabulous time in Palm Springs touring the Turbine Farms as our guides gave us all sorts of information about energy and power.  It was awe-inspiring to see how huge those turbines are up close!!! 

The girls asked some good questions.  They had fun with the annanometer (sic) that measures the wind.  We were there on a relatively coolish summer day (101F) and a mild breeze (15 mph) coming from the southeast.  The girls had firsthand experience seeing what the Saint Andres Fault looks like, and what it's done to the topography around us.  They were also able to feel the wind and the monsoonal moisture still in it.  We didn't see a roadrunner or iguana, but we did keep our eyes out for those creatures of the desert.

I think that seeing the fault line area was sobering for many of them.  (It is for me, especially since we had that 11:30 pm quake last night, and a smaller one at 10 this morning, as I was talking on the phone!)  And I think it also got them to thinking about the scope of power and air, and how one thing can affect the other.  Elite Tours did a GREAT job in talking with the girls, asking questions, and handing out waaaay too many snacks!  Were I to do it again, I'd tell them one snack per girl.  The sugar high set off the giggles that were hard to control!!!!

Our girls have earned AWARE, and they have now chosen their Take Action Projects and their Air Car Teams.  I'm really looking forward to our next session where they send the ALERT and continue moving forward.  Since the girls won't finish in our sessions, we'll plan a Sunday in September or October, where we'll all come back together to finish AFFIRM and award them their 3 awards.    We want to give them a chance to celebrate!

I'm sure snack will be involved.....

Character Counts

“Character is what you are in the dark.” D. L. Moody

Evangelist and Publisher, 19th Century

Girl Scouting is all about "courage, confidence and character", and that's what we adults are hoping for our girls.  I think that one thing that unites us as adults, is that we only want the best for the girls we work with, whether that's a daughter, granddaughter, niece, troop member or stranger.  We want those girls to grow up strong, to make good decisions and to proudly go where no one has gone before.....  thank you, Captain Kirk.

When I teach the Cadette Essentials classes, one of the things we keep coming back to is that this is a leadership program.  And while it can mean that a future President of the United States is in one of our troops, it's more likely that a future married, mother of three with a part time job, two labs and a mini van is too!  Both will need to be leaders:  for the country and for their own lives. Both will need skills that they learn in Girl Scouts. And both will need the character to move forward.

We give girls a safe environment to practice their leadership skills, and to make safe mistakes while they're learning.  Girl Scouting also gives them the opportunity to practice their leadership as a patrol leader, treasurer, Junior Jam staff, destinations participant, Silver Award Awardee, and more.  In the process they develop that strength of character that fits into the young woman they will become.

Whether it's in nation-wide politics or home-based values and beliefs, we want our girls to succeed, and to be the same great girls at both the beginning and end of the day.

Rock the Fair!

What a morning!  Girl Scouts Orange County Rocks the Fair!  Thousands of Girl Scouts, young and old, and everything inbetween showed up for the festivities.  We didn't quite fill the amphitheater, but we came close.  Wish I hadn't had to come back to work.....

Group Agreement

I missed the meeting where our Breathe Series girls came up with this list of how to treat each other, but I LOVE what they came up with.  A girl-led experience for 2 girls to be up front and write it all down. Then they all voted to abide by it!

Anne Rizzacasa (Rizzy) was sure to post it the next session, and when it looked like things were going a little off track, she pointed to the Agreement and said, "doesn't it say to have fun?  And do your best?"  The girls agreed, and it got them right back on track.

I love it when it works like that! I'm pretty sure it's posted on our Breathe website, but not sure if we gave each girl a copy to put in her lab book?  If we didn't, I think I will! 

Someday, it will get done....

”There are seven days in the week
and someday isn't one of them.”

Oh my, but it's so true!  I've heard that aphorism on and off my whole life.  And yes, I can be a procrastinator, though I work valiantly against it!!!

Our Cadette girls have "someday" for everything they need to do!  That 7th grade fog can take over, and we just lose that happ, eager little girl we used to know.  Instead, everything is an effort.  Everything can cause the rolling eyes and big sighs, and the girl only wants to do it later. Someday.

We're seeing it in our Breathe Journey, too.  One mom said, "well, she's just got a face on her", and when I asked why, she, a bit exasperatedly, said, "she's eleven!"  Nice to know "the look" wasn't because of Girl Scouts.  And fortunately, once she was hooked up with the other girls, she thawed out, participated and even smiled and laughed.  WHEW!

The "someday" she would smile again was the same day!  Though the posting on the website and doing the work ahead of time is still someday for about half of our girls.  Nice girls, but without enough days in the week.  Someday they'll get it done. Someday they'll go for the Silver. 

Someday will come, I just know it!  Someday.

Service Project into Silver

"The second graders planted close to 200 plants for a rain garden.

Armed with shovels, flowers and a lot of passion, the scouts were on a mission to plant a rain garden. It’s part of their 100-year anniversary service project. The garden acts like an environmental shelter — capturing rain water from the gutters and stopping run-off from going into the sewers.

The Root Pike Watershed Initiative helped fund the project. “It’s wonderful. We get both another rain garden and an opportunity to educate the next generation,” Root Pike Watershed Initiative Executive Director Susan Greenfield said."  From the GSUSA Blog

Wow!  What a great service project that could be morphed into a great Silver Award Project!  These Brownies really did something meaningful in their community!!!

So, how could it have been a Silver Award Project?  The small team of 2 or 3 girls could have learned in their Breathe Journey that plants really do clear the air.  Also, that flooding and wasting water is not a good thing for anyone.  They could have done some research to learn more about the needs in their community.

Discover the Issue:  Run-off water causing damage and waste

Root Cause:  No way to stop water run-off in specific places - why is that?  Lack of funds?  Lack of volunteers at the Watershed?  Lack of knowledge on the part of the community?

Connect with the need:  Identify an agency/agencies to partner with.  Find a location that has the need.  Figure out if there is anything else going on in the community to address the issue?  Find out if there are others who share concern about this issue, and ask if they can be on the team. Determine how much money it would take to make a difference.

Take Action: Make a plan!  Each girl has leadership over specific pieces:  creating education pieces, identifying native plants to use, training the team, working with the non-profit agency, etc.  And work the plan! Be sure that each girl has the opportunity to lead!

Sustainability:  Set it up to turn over to the agency if at all possible. Or have the troop adopt the garden as their project for the year, hopefully turning it over to another entity down the road. Remember, they do not have to ensure sustainability, as does the Gold Award Project.

Global: Talk about what it means!  What if every community planted a rain garden?  How would that affect our community?  the county?  the state?  Again, it's not planning for global buy-in, but it does need to be a discussion about how others could do the same thing to make a difference in the world.