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Episode 12 – Girl Scout Week: March 2020

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Girl Scout Week is almost here, and we want to know how you’re celebrating! This is an annual celebration of Girl Scout spirit in the week surrounding Girl Scouts’ birthday, on March 12.

It’s the perfect time to learn more about the history of Girl Scouts and our founder, Juliette Gordon Low. You can browse information on Girl Scouts of the USA’s “Our History” section of the website here.

Here are a few ideas for ways to celebrate, or check with your council for additional options, or make up your own!

Sunday, March 8: Honor Your Beliefs
Girl Scout Sunday is a special day dedicated to thinking about your beliefs and how they’re reflected in the Girl Scout Law. Think of the things the two have in common and share your thoughts with others.

Monday, March 9: Mission: Sisterhood
Give a big shout-out to your Girl Scout sisters! Whether you tag other Girl Scouts on social media or get creative and make a card or gift for a Girl Scout in your life, don’t be bashful about sharing the love.

Tuesday, March 10: Do a Good Turn Daily
Perform an act of kindness. Whether you pay for a stranger’s cup of coffee or visit an elderly neighbor, every bit of positivity Girl Scouts put out there helps make the world a better place.

Wednesday, March 11: Girl Scout Spirit Day
Get out your green gear—it’s Girl Scout Spirit Day! Whether you sport a Girl Scout tee under a blazer at the office or rock a trefoil sweatshirt at the gym, let everyone know you’re a proud Girl Scout.

Thursday, March 12: Happy Birthday Girl Scouts! 
It’s Girl Scouts’ 108th birthday! Honor the Girl Scout Movement by sharing on social media an issue you’re passionate about and what you’re doing to make a difference. You’ve got this, Girl Scout!

Friday, March 13: Girl Scout Jummah 
Girl Scout Jummah celebrates the powerful ties between Girl Scouting and faith and, on this day, Girl Scouts across the country will honor those share believes as they pledge to serve God and others.

Saturday, March 13: Girl Scout Sabbath
Besides reflecting on your beliefs and how they’re echoed in the Girl Scout Law, we urge you to take some time this Girl Scout Sabbath to learn something new about someone else’s faith.

A friendly reminder that if you’d like to contribute content for April, the interest form is due by March 10.

Short and Sweet

Homesickness Help

Homesickness can happen to any of our girls. It’s most likely during an overnight trip, but can even happen on day trips for some girls. You may have girls who experience some homesickness during most overnights and others that haven’t previously, but this trip is an exception. In the moment, it can feel overwhelming so we’ve put together a list of ways volunteers can help girls with homesickness.

  1. Notice when girls are homesick. Homesickness usually strikes during slow parts of your outing, times when the girls aren’t “busy”. Preparing for bedtime, during or after meals, time between activities, or during an activity she’s not that interested in are common times for it to strike. Homesickness can manifest in many ways. Girls often look sad or detached from the group. They may be crying. Some experience stomach pain or headaches, even. If a girl didn’t experience homesickness the first night, don’t assume she won’t experience it later in your trip. 
  2. Prevent the spread of homesickness. That’s right, homesickness can be “contagious.” It is a very emotional experience and your sisterhood of girls will want to help their friend. Unfortunately, this can get them thinking about how much they miss home, as well. Never be alone with a girl, but take her off to the side for your talk. This provides her some privacy and you avoid an outbreak.
  3. Help her calm down enough to talk. If a girl is crying too much to get words out, have her drink some water. It’s very hard to continue intense crying while sipping on a water bottle. It will help her regulate her breathing. Then you can focus on some deep breaths until she can talk.
  4. Talk it out. It’s good for girls to talk about their feelings. Some girls are homesick because they miss their mom or dad. Some miss their little siblings. Some miss the dog. Knowing who or what she is missing will help you comfort her and offer soothing advice.
  5. Think about tomorrow and set a goal. Talk about the schedule tomorrow. What will you be doing that’s exciting? Is there something yummy for lunch? When will she be going home to see her family? Talk now about what she is excited for. Most girls are still excited to do things on the trip, they are just struggling with being away from home. Talk about how excited her family will be to hear about her adventures. Consider setting a goal for tomorrow. For instance if you have pool time, maybe you’ll plan a cannonball contest together.
  6. Redirect her energy. Keeping girls busy can keep their homesickness at bay. Have her help you with a task, or assign her to help a friend. If it’s down time before bed, this can be more difficult, but maybe she can write a short letter that she will share with her family when she gets home. She can write about what she’s done so far and what she will do tomorrow. If it’s time for lights out, think of some happy things for her to dream about. Write them on slips of paper and put them under her pillow.

The most common question we get from girls is: can I call my parents? For most girls, if you walk through these steps with them, they will not need to talk to their parent. You can say things like, “let’s just talk about it for now.”  If a girl’s homesickness is very persistent, call the parent first, without the girl knowing yet, and fill them in on what’s going on. The parent knows the girl best. You want to talk about how your goal is to keep the girl with her friends at the overnight. The parent might have some extra information to share with you to help, or they might say that if they talk to their girl, they can help. 

What other homesickness tips have worked for you or your co-leader?

Featured

Team Building and Problem Solving

Team building and problem solving are important additions to the whole experience of Girl Scouts. Girls learn to work together and support one another in their Girl Scout activities. By doing this, groups will develop trust within the group and will feel more comfortable sharing ideas. The troop leader’s role is to foster this team-building and ensure that each group has the opportunity to develop as a team.

Some characteristics that an excellent team should display:

  • Girls share information relevant to the activity at hand
  • Girls coordinate with each other when appropriate
  • Girls know, appreciate, and use one another’s specialties
  • Girls cooperate and back-up one another when necessary

Troop leaders promote teamwork through their own interactions:

  • Leaders model teamwork by practicing attitudes and actions
  • Leaders help girls become aware of one another’s varied experiences
  • Leaders encourage girls to interact with one another about their experience, interests, and skills
  • Leaders reward girls for teamwork with socio-emotional rewards
  • Leaders help develop pride in the group

Leaders also improve teamwork through several formal procedures:

  • Help establish shared goals
  • Establish regular structures through which members may communicate with one another frequently
  • Help clarify roles and role expectations
  • Help identify problems and establish problem solving procedures

How do you build a strong team environment in your troop?

Cookies

Where Girl Scout Cookie Proceeds Really Go

Girl Scout Cookies are about so much more than the sweet treats we anticipate each season; your purchase powers life-changing adventures for girls while helping them build real-life skills. Here’s how it’s done.  

As the biggest annual financial investment in girls in the United States, the Girl Scout Cookie Program sets the stage for girls to discover their inner leadership potential. All year long, they map out their plans to influence the world around them, be it through nurturing their love of the outdoors or using science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to create sustainable solutions. Their vision for a better tomorrow is realized when you support the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world. For some girls, it means putting their cookie money toward impactful community projects right in their own backyards. For others, it means saving up to fund travel so they can see firsthand the world that they’ll one day transform.  

Whatever their plans are, one thing’s for certain: the proceeds from Girl Scout Cookies stay in your local area to benefit girls and Girl Scout councils. Councils depend on these earnings to run their programming, which prepares Girl Scouts for a lifetime of leadership, success, and adventure in a safe, no-limits place designed for and by girls! 

Offering hands-on, girl-centered learning in STEM, the outdoors, and entrepreneurship, as well as abundant opportunities to develop invaluable life skills, Girl Scouts helps all girls take the lead early and often. The Girl Scout Leadership Experience pairs girls with strong, caring female role models and mentors who encourage them to step up and make their voices heard. And we’re backed by more than 100 years of experience. 

The sweetest part of all?  

Your purchase and support of a Girl Scout’s cookie business means that you, too, are making sure data is not destiny; research shows that female-founded start-ups generate more revenue over time than male-founded start-ups, but unfortunately, only 17 percent are female-founded. Thanks to the Girl Scout Cookie Program, however, we’re changing that—girls as young as five are building business savvy that proves to be crucial to shattering glass ceilings through skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. It’s no wonder over half of female entrepreneurs are Girl Scout alums.  So, at a time when the world needs more women in the boardroom, support a more equitable future and treat yourself—it’s a win-win! 

Because the iconic cookie program is not only developing the next generation of female business leaders but also inciting real change in communities across the globe.  

A cookie has never tasted so sweet. 

Are you ready to help girls succeed? Use our Cookie Finder to find Girl Scout Cookies near you! 

National

Summer Camp Series: Secret to the Perfect S’more

We’re thinking Spring! And here at Girl Scouts of Citrus, we’ve convened our top camping and outdoor cooking experts for a very important business meeting: to compile the basics you need to know to create the perfect s’more this summer. This is a critical skill for every Girl Scout to know and practice!

1) Start with a solid campfire. If you’re cooking your s’more over a campfire, you’ll want to get nice, hot coals ready in the bottom. Start your campfire at least 30 minutes before you plan to toast your marshmallow. Remember all your safety skills as you’re building and tending your campfire.

2) Choose a roasting stick. You can definitely use a store-bought roasting stick. Make sure you choose a long handled one or an extendable version, so you can keep a safe distance from the flames. However, if you’re not opposed to a little bit of nature in your s’more, feel free to choose a nice long stick from the nearby forest floor!

3) Be prepared. It’s the Girl Scout motto! Prepare your graham crackers and chocolate square ahead of time, so once you have a melty, droopy marshmallow, you’re all ready to start sandwiching! Pro tip: place your graham with chocolate piled on onto a large rock or fresh log near the campfire to start warming up your chocolate square for ideal meltability.

4) Get to toasting! Unless you like your marshmallow burned (Hey, some people do – we don’t judge…), keep your ‘mallow out of the flames, but hold it over some of the hot coals that have burned down, or to the side of the flames (if you can’t get to the coals).

5) Rotate, for best results. Slowly spin your roasting stick, to ensure every side of the marshmallow becomes equally toasted.

6) Squish and enjoy! Carefully remove your golden brown marshmallow from the heat of the fire. It will be a little loose: Be careful – don’t let it fall off! Squish it between your two graham crackers. Ask a friend for help, if needed. Set your hot roasting stick off to the side to cool (and later clean). And enjoy!

Short and Sweet

Volunteer Appreciation week

Did you know that you are part of the largest girls’ leadership development organization in the world 🌎?! Because of YOU we build girls of courage, confidence, and character and prepare them for the lifetime of leadership, success, and adventure that every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ deserves.

It is fundamental in Girl Scouts to make the world a better place. Whether you are earning your first aid badge or working to complete your Silver Award project helping others is what Girl Scouts do. My troop’s first service project in 2009 was collecting long sleeve shirts for the Florida Farm Workers. We also assembled birthday boxes for HOPE Helps, collected pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, decorated holiday stockings for the Oviedo Kiwanis Club and colored greeting cards for Color A Smile. Each service project provided the girls an opportunity to grow in love and kindness for others in their community.

My most treasured gift that I have received as a troop leader, were cards written by the girls. Their thankful words provide encouragement to strive for excellent leadership and continued service in Girl Scouts.Recognize your service community, troop cookie chairs, fall product chairs, co-leaders, adult volunteers that assist during troop meetings, service community team, troop finance chairs and troop chaperones.

On April 22, we celebrate Girl Scout Leader’s Day. Ask your service community what they have planned to recognize and appreciate their adult volunteers and co-leaders. You can also show your favorite volunteer your love and gratitude during National Volunteer Appreciation week.

Here are just some of the ways you can show your appreciation…

  1. Craft…Cook…Create…Have the girls make something for your one-of-a-kind Girl Scout volunteers.
  2. Recognize the volunteer efforts on social media. Include why your volunteer(s) are special to you and include the hashtag #NVW2017 during National Volunteer Week April 23–29.
  3. As a troop leader my favorite volunteer appreciation gifts I received were cards written by the girls. Write your volunteers letters thanking them for their time, talent and commitment.
  4. Send personalized eCards. Pick your favorite G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ design, type their name, and share the card on social media or through email. www.girlscouts.org/sharethanks
  5. Submit Community Level Award nominations or a Board of Director’s Approved Recognition for the efforts of your adult volunteers. Nomination forms are available at www.citrus-gs.org/en/for-volunteers/volunteer-recognitions.html.
  6. Girl Scouts of Citrus recognizes 5/10/15/20 + years of adult volunteer service by providing Years of Service Pins. Provide the Years of Adult Volunteer Service to your Service Community Team. Adults with twenty or more years of service are presented their pins during the Annual Business Meeting.
  7. You can always get them something from the Girl Scouts store. GSUSA has a special discount going on in April. Use code VOLUNTEER18 for 15% off one item from the Girl Scout online store. *The code is available April 1 through April 30, 2018, for 15% off one item from a customer’s order.
  8. The Citrus Council Shop also has a special 10% discount on your purchase from April 16 – 19, 2018 and 15% purchases over $75.

Need help to provide more program and opportunities with your troop(s)?! During April recruit your family, friends, colleagues or school parents to register as an adult volunteer with Girl Scouts of Citrus. www.citrus-gs.org/en/about-girl-scouts/join.html

Volunteers are not paid – – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless. *Anonymous

Short and Sweet

On Your Marks, Get Set…GO

In early January, over 2,500 scouts from across the country traveled to take part in Scout Days at Daytona International Speedway. This three-day annual test session known as the “Roar Before the Rolex 24” was the start to the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) racing calendar.

And although it was pretty cold for Florida…that didn’t stop Girl Scouts from showing up. Troops braved the freezing temperatures as they camped two nights in the tracks infield. Over the weekend scouts got up-close and personal with the teams and drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Girl Scouts were given their own dedicated camping area, participated in special question-and-answer sessions, and went on tours with some incredible G.I.R.L.s. The female drivers, engineers, and mechanics that make it all possible.

Minnesota Crouch, Kristen Bedard

For the first time in event history, a race was added to the “Roar Before the Rolex 24.” Above the track, Relationship Development Director, Kristen Bedard and Ambassador Girl Scout, Minnesota Crouch, waived the green flags as honorary starters for the IMSA Prototype Challenge season opener.

“To stand above the speeding race cars, motioning the start of their race while representing Girl Scouts of Citrus was a unlike anything I had ever experienced,” said Bedard.

The weekend ended in true Girl Scout fashion with a collectible fun patch earned by all!

Short and Sweet

History of Christmas Traditions

Have you ever wondered where your favorite Christmas traditions come from? We sure know we have! For example, why are your mom’s cookies left out for Santa Claus or why are the colors red and green considered Christmas colors?

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Some theories come from Norse folk lore. Odin, the Norse god, led a grand hunting party during yule tide festivals. Children would leave food out for Odin’s eight legged horse, Sleipnir. Eventually, with other European influences on this Norse tradition, it became the Christian tradition to leave cookies and milk for Santa while adventured around the world.

This tradition became popular in America during the Great Depression, when parents believed that their kids helping Santa during his tiring journey, taught them that their good deeds have rewards.

The History of Using Red and Green as Christmas Colors

The green is said to symbolize “The Paradise Tree” in the Garden of Eden. It was normally a pine tree with red apples tied to it. The green would also symbolize holly or ivy that were evergreen plants.

The red symbolizes the red apples also on “The Paradise Tree” in the Garden of Eden. The red is also said to reference holly berries said to represent the blood of Jesus Christ.

Still have more questions on Christmas and how the different traditions came about? Visit www.whychristmas.com for more info.

Short and Sweet

So many ways to save in the Citrus Shop!

Make the most of Back to Troop with great ways to save on Girl Scout essentials! Think: Starter Kits, Volunteer Resource Kits, Co-Leader gifts, and more!

Today through September 5, enjoy free standard shipping with purchases $99 or more. PLUS, have you seen the Buy Now, Save Later coupon? Spend $75 or more before October 16 to receive a $10 off coupon, good between November 1 – November 22, 2017.

Visit the Citrus Shop Monday – Thursday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (open until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays) or shop online anytime at shop.girlscouts.org.

Short and Sweet

Focus Group Survey

Help us shape the development of future Girl Scout programs!

It’s easy to get involved! Simply answer some questions in the survey found at https://girlscoutscc.wufoo.com/forms/q1oi5ngg1u3itj2/ for a chance to participate in a focus group on June 11.

The girls participating will visit the council office for a morning of program brainstorming, followed by a supervised trip to Universal Orlando and the Blue Man Group show!

IMPORTANT: To be considered for this focus group, please complete the survey by Friday, June 2, 2017.