Outdoor Badges - Final Voting!

It's time to vote on the next and final stage of Girls' Choice!

The votes have been tallied and your voices have been heard. The next set of badges - one each for Brownies through Ambassadors - will be based on an Outdoor Recreation theme!

Now is your chance to vote on the type of badge activities you will get to earn next year! Voting ends December 31st, so be sure to get your votes in!

GO HERE:   GIRLS VOTE NOW!

Which set of badge activities appeals the most to you?* (choose one)

Easy Ballerina Ornament

A simple craft for little girls!  Three chenille stems - one for body, one for arms, one for legs - and a skirt made of ribbon.  The original  had a skirt made of crepe paper which might be easier than ribbon, but the body was made of wire twisted and covered with white floral tape, more suitable for older girls.

Mine (dark days make for bad photos - maybe I'll get a better one later.)

Original:

 

http://www.craftberrybush.com/2014/11/merry-mag-and-crepe-paper-ballerina.html

Outdoor Badges Theme Poll

https://jfe.qualtrics.com/form/SV_cUtsr5vSMqKEpLv


At the Girl Scout National Convention in Utah last month, GSUSA announced that four new outdoor badges would be added to the National Program Portfolio.  Here is a chance for girls to vote on which theme they'd like the badges to cover; Survival, Recreation or Environmentalism.  If you know a girl, have her vote at the link above soonest!  The winning theme will be announced November 30th.

I'd vote for survival but we need to get the girls to weigh in!

Leaning In Hard!

We added a new feature to GE this year, a discussion of Sheryl Sandberg's book "Lean In" and its relevance to us as women and as leaders of girls.  After we came to that decision, her foundation approached GSUSA to ask that they partner with them to help change the perception of girl leadership in the United States, resulting in the "Ban Bossy" campaign (we'd no idea that was going to happen when we chose the book.)

The results of this choice were more far reaching than we anticipated.  Members of the committee who read the book found that it was changing our outlook towards some of the things we do as a committee dedicated to providing services to Girl Scout Adults and raising funds to benefit our GSEM camps.  At least two people who read the book approached it thinking that they did not agree with Sandberg, and found that their attitudes changed, perhaps not totally, but to some degree.

 It also provided little epiphanies to those of us who work with girls outside of Girl Scouts.  I was  called out for correction  (literally - no hand raising for this young lady!)  by a "difficult, disruptive" fifth grader last year and instead of reproving her as she expected me to do I rewarded her for her strong leadership skills!    (See the Camp Runels blog for an account of another "ah hah moment."   http://camprunels.blogspot.com/2014/10/lean-in.html )

After the discussion, some of us agreed that we needed help with constructive ways to try to balance encouraging girl leadership while maintaining inclusiveness in our troops, and we'll be asking the GSEM Volunteer Development Team to help with that - we'd like to see some workshops at Symposia/Conferences.  In the meantime, check out this tip list from GSUSA: Leadership Tips.

Those who participated in the discussion enjoyed it very much, and our leader, Julie, did a wonderful job.  So next year, we'll choose another book. We'll announce the choice here ASAP so you can beg, borrow or download a copy.  Julie has already volunteered to facilitate next year and she has some great book suggestions.  We hope you will join us between the end of Saturday workshops and the beginning of dinner next year - whether you've read the book or not. (The weather cooperated so that we could sit outside the dining hall and snack on our appetizers while we talked!  Let's hope September 26, 2015, is a beautiful day.)