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For our September 2020 Badge Series, we will learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) through badges and girls can start their first Journey of the year! Registration for both girls and leaders will open August 15 and close August 27. We will have our kick-off meeting for the girls on September 1.
Badges:
Journeys:
Want to know more about the Badge Series? Read our FAQ.
Leaders, want to learn more about blending the Badge Series with your troop experience? Register for this webinar: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/blending_badge_serie.html
Questions? Email GirlExperience@gscolorado.org.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Leaders, are you looking at this upcoming Girl Scout year and feeling a little uncertain about how to engage your girls in a virtual setting? We are here to help! Girl Scouts of Colorado has launched a new virtual program called Badge Series. Each month we provide online learning modules that instruct girls on how to complete badges and some months we even start a Journey!
Join us on August 19, 2020 from noon – 1 p.m. for a virtual chat where we will share some tips and tricks on how to blend badge series into your troop’s experience and take some of the stress of planning off your shoulders.
Register now: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/blending_badge_serie.html
Want the information, but can’t make the time? Still register and we will send you a link to the recording.
Questions? Email GirlExperience@gscolorado.org.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
The great thing about our country is we all can have different backgrounds, experiences and opinions, and still come together and work towards the common good. No matter the level of government – from your local school board to the Congress – people have to compromise – give up some things you want in order to support somethings someone else wants – in order to accomplish their goals. When you earn the Cadette Finding Common Ground badge, you will learn how governments do that – and how you can do it in your everyday life.
Step One: Get to Know Someone Different from You
Step Two: Make Decisions in a Group
Step Three: Explore Civil Debate
A debate is a discussion between two people who have different opinions on any given topic. It is important to know how to draw on facts and logic to support your point of view. It is essential to stay calm. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade,” and the point of a debate is to persuade others to your point of view. A great way to persuade others is to keep an open mind their point of view and to find common ground!
Choose one or more of the following activities
Watch candidates for elected office debate. It could be for any office – from your local school board to the U.S. Presidency. After the debate, discuss with your Cadette troop or your family the arguments on all sides, and whether the candidates found any common ground – or whether they were even looking. Where the candidates persuasive? Why or why not?
OR
Understand a famous debate in history. It might be a debate over the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, or between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in the 1860s. Find out why the debate was important to American history and who is considered the winner and why? Did the debaters find any common ground? Did they look?
In the next step, you will learn to understand how to compromise.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Submitted by Marie Merrill-Exton
Southwestern CO
Pagosa Springs
Sage from Pagosa Springs was planning to attend Girl Scout Camp for the very first time this year at Sky High Ranch. The camp was canceled, but Sage and her family still made the trip to camp nearby and visited the Sky High Ranch entrance.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Submitted by Naya Dribinski
Northern & Northeastern CO
Superior
Soon to be 8-year-old Girl Scout Brownie Hanna of Superior completed the 2020 Girl Scouts Love the Outdoors Challenge by completing more than 25 activities this summer! Hanna has enjoyed camping out for the first time, getting up in the middle of the night for stargazing, finding constellations, seeing the rings of Saturn through her telescope, seeing comet NEOWISE, and watching the sunrise. She has loved participating in several virtual Girl Scout camp-in, camp-outs and day camps nationally. Among her favorites were Kiwa Day Camp, Horse Camp, and Month of Magic! Her most favorite experience so far this summer was learning about snow leopards! Hanna LOVES being a Girl Scout Brownie and is grateful for all the fun and shared sisterhood found in Girl Scouts!
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Submitted by Sarah Benjamin
Metro Denver
Littleton
On June 30, 2020, the leaders of Troop 61353 in Littleton surprised their Cadettes bridging to Girl Scout Seniors with a drive-by bridging ceremony. Each girl was greeted with a bin full of goodies, flowers, special hand-made keychain, bridging patches and pins, and badges earned at the end of the year and beginning of summer. A mini-ceremony was performed with stating the Girl Scout Promise and Law, a special poem, and certificate. We ended each ceremony with an elbow bump, replacing the handshake to keep everyone safe.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Submitted by Naya Dribinski
Northern & Northeastern CO
Superior
Girl Scout Cadette Nadya of Superior is enchanted by the Owl Post from Tomahawk Ranch! She is grateful for the amazingly fun and beautifully put together box of camp magic to be enjoyed from home.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Girl Scouts love the outdoors, especially in Colorado! Girl Scouts of Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife have teamed up for Girl Scouts Love State Parks Weekend September 12 – 13, 2020. This year, Girl Scouts and their families can participate in Girl Scouts Love State Parks Weekend virtually, in -person, or both.
Participate Virtually
Follow along with virtual programming hosted by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) throughout the weekend featuring interactive videos on outdoor skill building, highlights from state parks, conversations with subject matter experts, and more. Girls can also visit an interactive map with 50 virtual tours of state parks from all 50 states!
Check the Girl Scouts of Colorado Events Calendar one month prior to the event for more information about how to participate in virtual programs. Be sure to RSVP even if you are participating virtually to make sure you receive all the information via email one week prior to the event.
Participate In-Person with Self-Guided Programs at Colorado State Parks
Get outdoors, enjoy the weather, connect with your troop/family, and explore your local state park! Girl Scouts, troops, and families are invited to visit select Colorado State Parks over the weekend of September 12 – 13, 2020 for the opportunity to participate in a variety of self-guided programs. Programs vary by park, but may include: self-guided nature trails, young naturalist books, junior ranger programs, nature journals, adventure activity backpacks, ‘Agents of Discovery’ augmented reality experiences, and more!
This is not a drop-off event; girls must attend as part of a troop or with a caregiver. Park entrance fees of $9 per car apply. All child and adult attendees agree to follow the most current GSCO COVID guidelines in relation to in-person events and have completed a COVID waiver. Read the most current in–person event guidelines here. Complete the GSCO COVID waiver online here.
RSVP here to receive an email one week prior to the event with more information on the specific self–guided activities at each park and where to pick up self-guided program resources when at the park.
Below is a list of participating parks who will have self–guided programs available:
Girl Scouts Love State Parks patches are available for purchase online at girlscoutshop.com or through the GSCO Retail Shop by emailing retail@gscolorado.org. To use Cookie Credits to pay for your patch, be sure to tell the GSCO Shop Associate when ordering your patch.
Finally, don’t forget to share the fun on social media! Be sure to tag Girl Scouts of Colorado on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram and use #gscolo and #gsoutdoors. You can also share your stories on the GSCO Blog using the Share Your Stories Form.
Questions? Email inquiry@gscolorado.org.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
The great thing about our country is we all can have different backgrounds, experiences and opinions, and still come together and work towards the common good. No matter the level of government – from your local school board to the Congress – people have to compromise – give up some things you want in order to support somethings someone else wants – in order to accomplish their goals. When you earn the Cadette Finding Common Ground badge, you will learn how governments do that – and how you can do it in your everyday life.
Step One: Get to Know Someone Different from You
Step Two: Make Decisions in a Group
In this step, you will need to work in a group. It could be planning and running your next Cadette meeting online; planning, shopping for, and cooking dinner with your family; or doing a big house project. The key goal is to make at least six decisions together as a group, such as when, where, and what you’ll eat; what you will accomplish in your meeting; who is responsible for which aspects of the project. Afterwards, discuss how the common-ground strategy you discovered in Step One affected your group’s ability to make decisions. Were compromises made for the good of the whole group? Did you trade for something you really wanted? How do you think the common-ground strategy would work at the local government level? At the state level? In Congress?
Decision Making Strategies
Majority Rules: Ask the members of your group their top three options. Write down the two most popular, and then have the group vote. The choice with the most votes wins.
Consensus or compromise: You really want to try a new Moroccan recipe. Your mom would rather a tried-and-true Mexican favorite. You could put a new spin on an old recipe, or agree that this time you’ll make the favorite and next time you’ll branch out. You both like Chinese food. Could you have chosen this instead? Discuss the options with your group until you’ve reached a decision everyone is happy with.
Pick at random: Make a numbered list with everyone’s choice. Roll a dice to choose one at random. You can also draw names out of a hat, flip a coin, or draw straws.
Use one or more of the methods above to help you make decisions in your group project.
In the next step, you will be exploring civil debate.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
