Recently in Girl Awards Category

Allyson, Annabelle, Angelina, Brennan, Claire, Erica, Hope, Josie, Kate, Katy, Madison, and Tyler, all of Troop 9327, love animals!  Under the guidance of their Troop Leader, Lisa Harden, the Junior Scouts chose this project as their Bronze Award project. The Brownie Scouts completed some parts of it as the Take Action Project for their Journey and to earn their Brownie Pets badge.   But mostly, they did this project to help the animals.

In a joint interview, the girls shared all the details.  Read on for their great ideas and activities.

What did you do? We went to orientation and were trained as Montgomery Humane Shelter Junior Volunteers club members. The first time we all volunteered at the Shelter we walked dogs, washed puppies, cleaned pet cages and litter boxes, and rolled newspaper. The second time we all volunteered we made vaccination kits for cats and rolled newspaper. We also volunteered in small groups and walked dogs. In meetings, we sewed cat toys in the shape of mice, baked dog treats, made fleece tied beds, made dog chew toys out of strips from old t-shirts, and make disposable litter boxes. We also made a poster explaining volunteering and what the shelter needs for donations. Some of our troop presented the poster at our school's honor society meeting. We paid for our supplies from our cookie sale proceeds. We also donated shredded paper, dog food, and other supplies.

When did this take place? We started this project in October of 2012 and finished in March of 2013.

Where did this happen? We volunteered at the Montgomery Humane Shelter, we made things at our regular Girl Scout meeting place, we baked dog treats in a kitchen, and we raised cookie proceeds at a booth sale.

Your Favorite Part of this Project?

We really liked making things for the animals, walking and bathing dogs, playing with cats, and making vaccination kits.

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Congratulations to the girls of Troop 9327 -- you are truly Girl Scouts who make the world a better place! 

Lisa and Sophie, of Troop 7098, earned their Silver Awards. Their project was making and installing 40 plant posts that will be used to identify plants at the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve in Auburn. We are extremely proud of these two girls who designed, got the material donations, built and installed the posts, which are a wonderful addition to the facility.

We interviewed Lisa and Sophie about their project:

How did you come up with your idea?  

Sophie: I told Lisa about working at the summer camp they do there every year and we both thought it would be fun to do a project there, so we contacted Mrs. Jen Lolly and started our project.

 

Lisa:I started eliminating things I didn't want to do and I came across the Forest Ecology Preserve.

Were you intimidated by the scale of the project? 

Sophie:  A little bit. At first you do not think that 50 hours of work is that much, but after working for what seems like a very long time and you relieze that you have only added up to 10 hours it starts to get intimidating.

 

Lisa:A little bit. I knew I had the rest of the year. We broke it up into different steps and just went through them one at a time.

 

 How did you keep up the momentum for the project? 

Sophie: Just the thought of what it would be when we are done :)

 

Were you ever discouraged? 

Sophie:  Just a tiny bit towards the end. When we still had a lot of hours to fill in and not much time to do so.

Lisa:A little bit at the end because we had to start thinking of deadlines.

 

What did you do to overcome that?

Sophie: We started working longer and harder

Lisa:I just remembered that it was almost over.

 

How will people benefit from this?  

Sophie: People will be able to identify plants easier, maybe to the point to where they are as familiar with the plants as with the McDonalds sign!

 

Lisa:  People will benefit from these because they will have the information right then and there without having to do much more then look at the sign.

 

How did you feel after you finished?

Sophie: It felt great that we had done such a huge project that the community would benefit from.

 

Lisa:  It felt like a job well done and I could take a break.

Thanks, Lisa and Sophie, for sharing your process with us!

Do you have a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award story that you would like to share?  We especially want to hear what girls have to say about their award process.  Please contact communications@girlscoutssa.org.  We would love to feature it on our Girl Blog!

Want to learn more about girls' award experience, or meet potential community partners?  Attend the  Leadership Celebration event on April 13, 2013.

 

The name of our Girl Scout Junior Bronze Award Project is "YES PAL!"  That stands for "Your Emergency Supplies for People and Animals Locally." The project fits the name. 

The Juniors of troop 7098 in Auburn, Al, made 100 shoeboxes with emergency supplies. Some of the supplies included were water bottles, toothbrushes, a list of local vets, canned pet food, emergency contact numbers, brochures on what to do in case of an emergency, stuffed animals, a water-proof bag for important documents and a mini first-aid kit. We wanted to make our community aware of what to do in case of an emergency for themselves and for their pets. We knew this need was important after our area had a tornado come through in Auburn. We had the opportunity to meet with people at the EMA, the Red Cross and our local Lee County Humane Society. We had great fun helping our community, working together as team and earning our Bronze Award.

The Junior girls that made this effort happen are 7 sweet girls and 2 amazing leaders. They are Analia, Eden, Sadie Lynne, Sydney, Naomi, Caroline and Jessica. Our extremely helpful leaders are Betsy Stallworth and Melinda Stewart.

We learned that with a team you have to work together and if you do anything is possible!! Once we made our 100 boxes we distributed them around our community. We gave them to each family in our troop, to the East Alabama Community Market, The Humane Society, and other local neighborhoods and organizations.

Our Bronze Award was overall a great success and helped our community. It was an amazing experience for our whole group!

Written by Girl Scout Jessica and Troop Leader Melinda Stewart

Our very own Erin not only earned her Gold Award, but was also recognized at the GSUSA National Convention as one of the top 10 Gold Award recipients in the nation.  Here she is talking about her project and the personal challenges she faced.  We are so proud to recognize Erin as a Gold Award recipient and a member of Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama.

Where can you find exciting new badges, the 100th Anniversary handbook, information on bridging and Bronze/Silver/Gold Awards, and much more all in one place? In The Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, of course! There is a Girl's Guide for each level of Girl Scouts from Daisies to Ambassadors.

The Girl's Guide features robust skill-building badge activities, updated and new awards, information on Girl Scout history and traditions, and -- most of all -- lots of fun!

Take a peek. Let Brownie Elf tell you more...

Did you know that Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. is celebrating 100 years of Scouting in 2012?

There's a new patch program to help us all get ready for a great Centennial celebration.  One of our volunteers, Gigi B., developed this excellent patch program to help us celebrate and to appreciate how our council became what it is today. This patch may only be earned from March 2011 through December 2012. Check out the patch program document.

The patch requirements fall under three categories: Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. history; Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama history; and Girl Scout history-related service project. 

A patch that will go with the council's souvenir celebration patch will be available only to girls and adults completing this patch program, so plan to earn this special patch!

Join older girls from Southern Alabama and Florida Panhandle for Silver and Gold training under the new Journeys standards. Girls must bring leader or advisor and adults are limited to the suggested girl/adult ratio. Girls will do training for awards, leadership development, team building and fun activities.

 

Where: Camp Kugelman in Lillian

Check in: 9 a.m. Saturday, August 28

Check Out: 10 a.m. Sunday, August 29

Cost: $25 girls and adults (includes meals, snacks, lodging, materials)

Optional Night: Friday- Sunday, $30 check in 8 p.m. Friday (includes snack Friday night and Breakfast Sat.)

Grade Levels: Open to 6th-12th grade girls interested in earning the Silver or Gold award

Minimum: 18; maximum 50

Registrations due: Mobile Service Center by August 13

Contact: Mary Anne Brutkiewicz, ext. 1202 or mbrutkiewicz@girlscoutssa.org

 

Note: This is a collaboration between Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama and Girl Scouts of the Florida Panhandle. Future Take Action weekends will take place at other camps in our jurisdiction.

 

It's time to celebrate and congratulate fellow Girl Scouts for their top honors. Every year, Girl Scouts across nation salute outstanding women for their display of values stated in the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama is always proud to recognize these women at our Women of Distinction Awards Gala and Auction. This year, two of your fellow Girl Scouts, Abigail B. and Miranda S. will be honored as Young Women of Distinction. This is such an honor for these girls, put your hands together and give them a round of applause.