WOW Blog - From Duct Tape to Victory

I love going to WOW.   The first time I went to WOW, I learned to make a water bottle holders and a coin purse from duct tape.  I brought that back to my service unit for our cabin camping trip for cadettes and older girls. The girls loved it!  It is now a tradition that we do this activity at our 6th-7th grade cabin camping trip every year.

And duct tape has pervaded my household.  My daughter, a percussionist, made drum stick holders for herself from duct tape.  She color-codes her folders/notebooks for school with duct tape.  For my son's Star Wars birthday party, we made light sabers and light saber belts out of cardboard tubes, pipe insulation and duct tape.  While on vacation, we used duct tape to make small toy boats to play with in the pool.   My son wanted to make a boat that he could ride in.  So, using two full rolls of duct tape, a piece of masonite and some tree branches, my son (with a little help from us) made a boat that he could paddle around in the pool.  Of course, we had to improve the design because the boat wasn't stable enough to support me.  So boat II used pvc pipe instead of masonite and tree branches.  While boat II could support my son or me, my husband still sank like a rock.  So, boat III is like a catamaran, designed and built by my husband with pvc pipe and duct tape.  Who would have thought that learning to make a duct tape purse would lead to us learning about boat design.

Since you never know when duct tape will come in handy, my son brought duct tape on his 6th grade outdoor education overnight trip.  He attributes his team's victory in the scavenger hunt to duct tape, because they were able to use duct tape to make a really silly hat.  I'm sure you can imagine the types of things that 12 year old boys would tape to a hat.

So, WOW leads you to duct tape which leads you to creative constructions, to learning about engineering/design, and on to victory!

Louisa Ho

WOW Blog - So Much for One Day

I look forward to attending WOW each year because there are a lot of opportunities for learning all in one day!

And it's not all just arts and crafts. I've attended a 'signing' workshop, a bridging workshop and a Dutch Oven Cooking Workshop to name a few. Sometimes I choose a course because it just sounds fun - even if it is too advanced for my Brownie Troop. Other times I've taken a course because it may give me ideas or confidence to do it with my troop. Two years ago, one of my Brownie Troops learned to sign the Girl Scout Promise. They enjoyed that so much that we decided to earn the 'Signing Friends' Try-it from our Council's Own!

 This year's choices were tough! I hope to learn more about 'Lashing' (I got a taste of it in my outdoor skills training), 'Doing it with Duct Tape' and 'Geocaching' to name a few. And I hope that the Saturday evening weather is good, cause I'm up for a Bonfire! The little fire bowl in the back yard just isn't the same! See you there!!

Wanda Adamson

Volunteer Appreciation

Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect the nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience and just plain love for one another.

                        Erma Bombeck

Let’s see…let me throw out some numbers here.

In our medium-sized Council we have approximately 5,000 adults are involved, on an ongoing basis, with our troops…

5,000 volunteers give about 4 hours of their time EACH week…

            That’s 20,000 hours each week…

                        Multiply that by about 36 weeks each year…

                                    That’s 720,000 hours each year.

Or to put it another way, it is the equivalent of 82 years EACH year!!!

Add to that program volunteers, site directors, training volunteers, first aid trainers…and we’re talkin’ some significant time!!!!

Our 24,000 girls are very fortunate to have each of you. YOU make this great program happen for them.

I speak for our staff and our Board in saluting the vital work that you do bring the best possible leadership development program to our girls in 10-counties.

THANK YOU! You are the reason we are a GREAT Girl Scout Council!!!!

From Ambassador to Adult, Part 2: How I Transitioned Girl Scouting into the College Experience

A couple months ago I wrote a blog post on transitioning into the volunteer role as an adult from my role as an Ambassador Girl Scout.  To be honest, I think I made the transition seem a lot easier than it actually is.

Keeping up my involvement was a lot harder than I had anticipated.  My first semester college certainly presented me with quite a few challenges.  I had to adjust to a completely new and independent lifestyle.  I didn’t have my mom coming into my room every morning to make me go to class.  I had to shrink my personal living space by quite a bit, but I would say I’ve made impressive use of my 9 x 7 foot rectangle in my triple-person room.  Not only did I have to adjust to college but also I had to adjust to the Big Apple.  After living in suburban South Jersey for 18 years, the shift definitely caught me off guard.

Despite all those changes, I never forgot what Girl Scouts had done for me.  I have certainly applied the dedication and leadership skills I developed in Girl Scouts in the classroom setting, and the time management skills I learned from my Gold Award and my role as the Ambassador for the Board of Directors certainly helped me make good use of my study time.  And I every time I saw a Girl Scout troop selling cookies in the student center, I made sure to make a donation.

After the crazy adjustments I made fall semester, I was ready to ease back into my involvement.  I joined USWIB, Undergraduate Stern Women in Business, and began collaborating with the Community Service Chair.  Our club hosted a week-long celebration of women through Women’s Week, and what better way to serve the Girl Scouting community than to host a Her Story Try-It Workshop?

Thanks to my years of experience in Girl Scout programming, the activities I planned out made for a very successful event.  We invited Brownie Girl Scouts from all five boroughs to join us in celebrating women on Saturday, April 3rd, at Tisch Hall, the NYU Stern School of Business undergraduate building.  We had one troop from Brooklyn, two troops from Harlem, and one troop from Chinatown come to explore what it means to be empowered as a woman.  Our Brownies created a timeline of their future goals, participated in an action story about Juliette Low, and made a fun foam door hanger to honor a woman they admired, all while rocking out to the likes of Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber.  They also brought toiletry donations that we delivered to a women’s shelter in the Lower East Side.

I definitely feel this workshop has given USWIB a great opportunity to expand its volunteer opportunities with the Girl Scouts of Greater New York.  I am hoping to continue this collaboration into the fall semester with a larger badge workshop for Juniors and possibly Cadettes/Seniors/Ambassadors.  Knowing we had members interested in volunteering for the Girl Scouts and helping girls learn about a field we are all passionate about made me realize the power of my experience as an Ambassador and now an Adult Girl Scout.


I'll keep you posted on my future badge workshop endeavors!  For now, it's time for me to start prepping for finals!

Yours in Girl Scouting,

Kat Corson

Making the Most of Snowy Camp

Twenty inches of snow only made the camping trip for Troops 62424 and 62404 from Williamstown more exciting. Instead of canceling their reservation at Camp Sacajawea South, the leaders adapted the activities. Girl Scout Tatianna said "We went on a hike and looked at the animal tracks. The leaders taught us to find the ones the deer made." Several of the girls said they might have played outside in the snow at home but this was really fun. "Have you ever painted a picture in the snow?" Carleigh asked. "We did!" 

The leaders came prepared with food coloring and spray bottles for the girls to create their masterpieces. Cassie, Alexis, and Courtney shared the same thoughts that most girls enjoy about camping weekends - spending time with friends. "Our other friends thought we were crazy to go to camp with the forecasted storm but we were prepared." "Well, we did forget one thing," a leader reported. "We forgot the pancake syrup so we made it from scratch. Sometimes you can't easily go to the store so we tried something new. However, as soon as the camp road was plowed, we made a quick trip out for our beloved coffee." So, while the news stations covered every angle of the snowstorm, these girls created their own memories. Yes, they went to camp the weekend of the big February nor'easter.

World Thinking Day

Each year on February 22nd, Girl Scouts participate in activities and projects to honor our sister Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world. World Thinking Day was created in 1926 at the 4th Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference held at the Camp Edith Macy (now called the Edith Macy Conference Center). On that day, it was decided that there should be a special day when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world think of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their sister Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

Today, 30,000 children die every day from poverty and neglect, and two billion people live without adequate food and basic needs. The theme for World Thinking Day 2010 is “girls worldwide say that together we can end extreme poverty and hunger”. This theme is taken from the first Millennium Development Goal and is part of out WAGGGS Global Action Theme. The aim of this theme is to raise awareness among everyone about the situation and improve the lives of the poorest people in the world.

Below is a link that can help you plan activities around this theme and can offer you resources for ending hunger and poverty.

Whatever your level, you can make a difference and take the lead – discover, connect and take action against extreme poverty and hunger!!!

Website: http://www.worldthinkingday.org/en/home

Mary Connell
mconnell@gscsnj.org

It’s EASY to be Green!

Whenever I hear the word ‘green’ I think of Kermit the Frog. I know, it is weird but I cannot get that image of him sitting on a log in the swamp singing, “It’s not that easy being green”. I think when the song was written or for him on a personal level, it really was not easy being green. But in the times we live in now, it really is EASY.

Recycling, for the most part, has moved into most neighborhoods/communities. Households are accustomed to recycling their plastic, aluminum, and paper. What was once a ‘chore” has become the norm. Now everyone is into reusing and this is so evident by all of the choices for a reusable tote. You can pick one up practically anywhere and fill it with your groceries or other shop items. I know my husband and I both have a supply, maybe 5 or 7, in our cars just in case we stop off at a store. We are always ready to bring in our empty bags and leave with full bags. This would be in addition to lunch bags, gym bags, laptop cases, and handbags we carry. Even with all of the bags my family and I currently carry around we could still work on our ‘green efforts’.

Last July, I became involved in the Girl Scout Community Action Project – Forever Green. A project that is helping to carry Girl Scouts to our 100th Anniversary focusing on what we as Girl Scouts have always done, help the environment. Forever Green helps us concentrate our efforts into 5 main areas: air, water, energy, green space, and waste management. What really surprised me was the diversity of projects that one could do to participate and the commitment levels associated with each. For example girls could decide to have people sign a water pledge to reduce the amount of time they spend showering or clean-up a local stream. Other sample projects include starting a school/community garden, encouraging the use of reusable water/food containers, educating others about ‘vampire currents’, and starting a no-idling zone at school.

I encourage you to get involved in this project with your troop, school, and community. Now is a great time to educate the public especially when you see so many people at your cookie booths. Now is also a great time to start planning for the spring and for Earth Day, April 22nd. Check out our website, http://www.gscsnj.org/forever_green.php for additional information including the Project Guide which has plenty of information and ideas to get you started. Remember to register your project at www.girlscouts.org/forevergreen.

As you begin working on your Forever Green project, please think of our friend, Kermit, sitting on his log and singing words that still resonate with us all:

“When green is all there is to be, it could make you wonder why, but why wonder why wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful, and I think it's what I want to be”.

Yours in Girl Scouting,

Kimberly Reed
Leadership Development Director
kreed@gscsnj.org