Make a brand new ending

"Though no one can go back
and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now
and make a brand new ending."
- Marcus Aurelius

I woke up this morning thinking about he Silver Award. (And gardening after the rain, but that's a different blog, somewhere.)  Then I saw this quote when I opened my emails.

We really are asking our Silver Award girls to make a brand new ending.  We're asking them to identify an issue that they care about in their community, and to do something about it!  

The identifying is a critical thinking step that is really important, and one that many of the girls haven't had the practice doing.  It's not just coming up with the solution, but diving in deeper, to look into the issue and find the root cause.  And as we all know, no one can go back and fix where something first went wrong, but our girls can start now, and figure out how to make a change.

They are not only using the three keys to Discover the issue, Connect with how they can Take Action to make the world a better place, but they are also working from within.  The girl has the opportunity to learn something about herself:  to discover what's important to her, and why she needs to connect and why she needs to make a brand new ending.

And along the way, she'll be using skills she's honed since Daisys: to be a girl leader, to learn what she's doing as she does it and to work cooperatively with others. As the Silver Award leader, she will certainly use her leadership skills to lead the group to complete the project.

...and make a brand new ending.  Hail Caesar!

Breathe Journey

Well, it's (almost) official.  Anne Rizzacasa and I are going to host a Breathe Journey series this summer.  We're meeting to set up the dates and work out site availability before we publish the details on the Volunteer Calendar.  So, if you have girls going into 7th and 8th grade, this could be for them! (I hesitate to recommend this Journey to girls entering 6th grade, because they haven't had any Physical Science at school yet.  Still working this part out!)

We're going to try and have a girl-led component ahead of time.  And that would be with girls we don't know. At all!  That's the fun part of a series:  we don't know who's going to sign up! Neither Anne nor I have girls in a troop, and neither of us is a Cadette leader!

So, here's the basic bones of what we think is going to happen:

Ask some Senior/Ambassadors to help us plan and work the event days

Start a Google Circle or Yahoo or Facebook page that only accepts members we select.        (Password protected. Not open to the public.  Post info, assignments, schedules, etc.)

Schedule 5 Sunday sessions.

Have some work for the girls to do outside our sessions.

Provide snacks/cooking experiences as part of the Journey.

Schedule at least one field trip and (hopefully) one overnight.

Have the girls complete the AWARE award.

Work with the girls to plan/begin to execute the ALERT and AFFIRM awards.

Send the girls out, as individuals OR in teams to complete ALERT and AFFIRM.

Schedule a follow-up in the fall.

Celebrate!  Present their project. Present the balance of the awards. 

Price?  Working on that!  We're trying to figure out a truly inclusive price. For sure it will include the Journey Book, supplies, food, beverage, overnight and field trip(s).


Missing a session?  How to make it up?  We'll be working on that, too.


Adult to girl ratio.  We'll need registered adults to sign up to help us.  And we'll need registered adults to help drive on field trips.


Locations.  Not to make you crazy, but we're thinking of using several different ones, depending on the program need.  But I could be wrong....maybe we are trying to make you crazy...LOL....

The two of us still have planning to do. And we still need to work out the girl planning part of it. This is the hard part, since we probably won't see the girls til the first session day. But we're thinking of inviting the participants to a planning meeting ahead of time.  No charge.  Let's let them make some of the decisions, and take charge of some of the pieces that they could lead during the Journey.

I'm feeling mighty optimistic about this!   And if you are, or if your girl is, please be patient for more info.  Anne and I will get it together as soon as we can.  I'll be sure to post info on this blogspot as well.

What a girl sees....

"Bus seats are like airplane seats, just fuzzier.  No really."  So starts the story I had asked my niece to write about her visit to Phoenix on March 12th. As you may recall, her troop was invited to participate in the State Capital recognition of Girl Scouting in Arizona.  So, she went,  "in one of those huge buses, like the kind that football teams use. You’d expect them to be a little comfier…"

My niece loves Girl Scouts!  And she loves new adventures!  So this trip to Phoenix from Tucson, on a weekday, to celebrate the Girl Scout 100th was right up her alley.  The girls arrived, and "my leader, Mrs. Brown, called us up to the stairs. I led my sister Girl Scouts (and fellow members of Troop 1852) up the stairs… and another flight… and another flight… pausing at the third level… going up to the fourth… until finally, Mrs. Brown gathered us ominously in front of two glass paned doors. “No talking once I open these doors” she ordered in a stage whisper. I waited tensely as she opened the door, half expecting to be thrust in front of a hoard of flashing cameras and jabbering spectators… gasping as I find myself...on the top story of a balcony composed of carpeted steps. No chairs, or tables, or anything."

" I wish I could report that the speeches made by the congresswomen and important Girl Scout leaders were illuminating and brilliant. In truth, they were sorta boring....the pinning ceremony, in and of itself, was actually pretty short. The girls went to their assigned congresswoman, gently pinned the World Trefoil pin onto their honorary Troop 1920 (chosen because women gained the right to vote in that year) that includes GS alumnae from all over the US."

Her group also went to the Senate building, where they sat in the Gallery and listened to, "the President of the Senate droning through roll call, and then giving permission to senators to introduce guests in the Gallery." The actual time for Scouts sounded like it was pretty short, and there was not a whole lot of fanfare.

"It was nothing like I expected.  Okay, maybe I had anticipated the heat, and the stiletto heels, but really, aside from that, it was completely surprising. Unexpected. Unanticipated. Unpredicted. Unforseen. Bewildering.

And I guess that’s why I’ll remember it."

I love this age girl, and how she looks at the world. And granted, I'm a bit biased about this one, since she's my niece!  I'm looking forward to hearing about how her troop takes a Journey, and how she/they select their Silver Award Take Action Projects.  And I'm pretty sure I'll ask her for another guest blog post in the future, but for next, time, I'm going to ask for 3 paragraphs, not 3 pages!

Where a girl goes

“It's not where you came from
it's where you're going;
It's not what's on you
but what's in you;
it's not what you're driving
it's what drives you that's important!”

I received this quote from Rick Ruiz, who sends his whole serv-list a quote of the day.  I don't know who said it, but I liked the sense of it.  And of course, it applies to our Cadette girls!

These middle school years are a time for our girls to explore who they want to become.  A time to reinvent themselves and become the person they want to be.  They are going to see more of the world and other people, and their particular situations.  

This is a time when they may decide to become vegetarians or only eat cruelty-free meat as a way to address the issue they are passionate about - the ethical treatment of animals. Or they may connect to a news story about a family without resources to the internet or English education, and that could spark an interest in literacy across an economic/social divide.

And this is a time when this age girl is soooo sure about what she says, and expresses her opinions as facts.  It could be giving lipservice to what she hears at home, or it could be in response to new information she's learning at school.  

These girls are reaching out beyond themselves and their family, in the process of finding out who they are and where they want to go.  Isn't it great that they have Girl Scouting and the safe environment that Girl Scouting provides?  And as advisors, don't we hope that the girl will be able to channel this into a great Silver Award Project, so that she can truly make a difference in the world?

It's an exciting time!  Thank you for all you do to support them, even if they don't say it now, they will!

100th year Anniversary

Happy 100th Anniversary Girl Scouting!

...and wishing you another 100 years....

for many, many more girls and women!

Arizona Girl ScoutTrooop 1852 recognition

 Commissioned Art Quilt from Jamie Fingal for my niece

"As some of you already know, on Saturday morning, the girls that were working the Basha’s cookie booth had a very special secret shopper arrive at their booth.  This shopper was none other than Debbie Rich, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona.  She was very impressed with the booth, the girls, and our hard work as a troop.  She donated $5 towards cookies for the troops and handed each of the 3 girls working a special patch and a rubber bracelet.  She then capped off her visit with an invitation for any/all of the girls in our troop that are interested to attend the Centennial Celebration with her at the AZ Capital building on Monday, March 12, 2012!!  This is quite an honor!!"  Shawn Brown, Cadette Troop Leader #1852, Tucson, Arizona

Okay, Aunt Ann's time to brag!!  My niece, Kim, is in a new Girl Scout troop, and it sounds like she is lovin' it!  My sister said that these Cadette girls are waaaay excited as they sell their cookies. They have made-up cookie songs they sing, and they practice good saleswomanship techniques to upsell and get the buyers excited.  The CEO from their council sure appreciated it!!

What a great thing for the CEO to do:  to take the time to secret shop and then reward the girls on the spot.  This fits in with what we're calling our "attitude of gratitude" that we want to promote within the council year round for all volunteers  and staffers and girls. I'm co-chairing the Adult Recognition Awards Committee with staffer Shellie Massick, and this CEO hit on the type of thank yous we're promoting: do it well, do it often and make it meaningful!  Don't wait til the Annual Adult Recognition event! Say thank you, great job, now!

(It sounds like Kim went to the Centennial Celebration in Phoenix on the 12th. What a great experience for her, and for all the other girls who attended as well.  As I'm writing this before the actual event, I'll have to follow up in another post about what really happened!)

I love Cadette Essentials Training

It's true, I love the Older Girl age group!  So I have a BIG thank you to all of you leaders who survived Daisys, Brownies and Juniors with your girls. You have worked with them, loved them, coddled them and brought them to where they are now:  ready to be a Cadette.

I had a really great training the other night with only 5 leaders.  It didn't feel much like teaching. It felt more like a good chat for 2 hours in uncomfortable chairs at the Program Center.  4 of the leaders are current Junior leaders, so they're looking forward to the next level, getting ready.  And one leader who just jumped back into Cadettes after a long hiatus, to help a troop that lost a leader. She doesn't even have a daughter or granddaughter in the troop. But she does have a big heart, and she's ready to be the no-nonsense leader/advisor that those girls sorely lack.

So it was the 6 of us.  Chatting.  And I have to say, we all learned some things from each other.  And we all walked away with new things to try, new ideas on how to give more to the girls to do, and more courage that it was going to work out well.  

How to handle cell phones at meetings?  Trainer Barb has my favorite answer:  cell phones get switched off and put in a basket as the girls walk in the door.  If one rings out loud, Barb will go over, and text back, "so sorry, at a GS meeting."  She won't read the incoming message, but she'll send an outgoing one. I love it!  So, a leader asked last night, "so, has she ever had to do that?" I don't really know!  And I was at a fundraising luncheon today with 499 other women. The chair of the event said that if she heard a cell phone go off, the cell phone owner would have to pay $100 to get her phone back!!!  I loved it!  Each was a good solution, age appropriate and direct!!

How to do even handed ledger accounting?  How much goes to the troop's general operating fund? Should we collect dues?  Sashes or vests for the new Cadettes? Should we buy handbooks for each girl?  How will we know when our girls are ready for their Silver Award Projects?  Can the girls raise extra funds?  Can the troop help fund the project? Can we really do a different troop government?


Great discussion and solutions.  Yes, I love Cadette training!!!  Hats off to all of you Cadette Advisors who are making a difference in middle-schooler's lives.  You are giving those girls the opportunity to grow, learn, make mistakes and discover who they are in the safe GS environment.  


Thank you!  We couldn't do it without you!!!