We love it when you share your stories and photos with us on social media! This recent post and photo from @jac3683 in Pueblo on Instagram caught our attention and we wanted to share it with you.
“When my kiddo was born without fingers, I always knew she would be just fine. But I worried a bit about the school years when kids can be so cruel. When we joined Girl Scouts, one of the first things my new co-leader told me was that we had another #OneHanded little girl in our troop. This friendship has been an awesome one to watch grow as these two work together to figure out how to accomplish some of the same tasks their ten-fingered friends can do! #GirlScouts has been priceless for so many reasons, but especially this one!”
Over the weekend of April 15 and 16, Daisy Troop 1224 enjoyed their first overnight in preparation for their cabin and tent camping trips this summer. The Daisy Girl Scouts , ages 6 and 7, enjoyed making their own s’mores from a gourmet menu, learning to set up tents, performing skits, and signing personalized pillow cases as a momento before settling into their tents and giggling their way to sleep. They woke up sleepy-eyed, but still full of energy, ready for breakfast burritos and fresh fruit smoothies. They designed their own friendship bracelets before heading home in several inches of snow and sleet. Everyone had a great time making memories, laughing together and bonding as a troop. They’re ready for their summer camping trips!
Seven Girl Scouts from Junior Troop 30222 in Pueblo will accept the Bronze Award, the Highest Award a Girl Scout Junior can earn, for their work to collect about a hundred packages of socks and underwear for families served by the Pueblo Cooperative Care Center. In order to collect these items, girls enlisted the help of their classmates at Morton Elementary School. They challenged all of the classrooms to collect the most socks and underwear. The girls treated the winning classroom to a root beer float party.
The troop will officially accept their award at the Highest Awards celebration on Friday, April 22 at 6 p.m. at the Center for American Values (101 S. Main St. #100, Pueblo). They will join dozens of other Girl Scouts and troops from across southeastern Colorado who have earned their Bronze and Silver Awards.
The young ladies, who will be accepting these awards, have demonstrated exceptional commitment to taking action to make the world a better place through their community service. Their accomplishments reflect extraordinary leadership and citizenship skills that mark them as valuable contributors to their communities and world.
The Girl Scouts of Colorado Retail Shop will soon feature a new clothing line with our upcoming 100th anniversary logo. Before then, you may see GSCO staff members wearing these shirts with great pride and excitement. We’ll keep you updated as to when you’ll be able to purchase them through the retail store. Coming in the next couple months, there will be more merchandise with these new logos to make sure our 100th anniversary will be celebrated with great enthusiasm during the 2016-17 membership year.
In the meantime, Super Bowl patches have been mailed to leaders and parents who submitted the application by the deadline. The second round (waitlist) will be mailed the week of April 18.
The Hometown Heroes patches have also arrived and will be sent out next week to those leaders who submitted their application by the deadline.
Cookie Credits are also in the mail and the retail store is ready for Girl Scouts to use them. Many new items are available along with GSUSA insignia and uniforms. Reminder: Cookie Credits are not a valid form of payment on the Girl Scout Shop website, but the retail store will take your order and Cookie Credit payment over the phone and give you free shipping!
Summer is also approaching and the retail store will be adjusting store hours. May 21, 2016 is our last Saturday open for the season. The retail store will be closed for Memorial Day weekend. Summer hours will start on May 31, 2016. We will be open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday- Friday and will be closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Summertime is a low season for the retail store with half of our normal foot traffic and phone calls.
Retail associates are always available to answer your questions and help with all your needs. Please call (303) 607-4880 or email retail@gscolorado.org
The state of Colorado has issued a proclamation celebrating the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts’ Highest Award, which is now known as the Gold Award! A PDF of the proclamation is below. Share it with your troop or print it and use it as part of local Highest Awards celebrations.
For the 2015-16 Girl Scouts awards program year, more than 1,600 girls across the state earned their Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award! The Highest Awards represent the highest honors a Girl Scout can earn. They include 1,177 Bronze Award recipients, 393 Silver Award recipients, and 48 Gold Award recipients!
All girls who have earned their Highest Award are invited to be recognized at one of our regional Highest Awards celebrations this spring. We also encourage everyone to recognize girls at the local level too. Please check out our Tips and Tricks for Hosting a Highest Awards Celebration for more information.
As a woman, why is it so hard to believe you’re beautiful? In interviews conducted by Dove, women were asked what they think is their worst physical feature. Their responses were rapid and almost passive as they poked at their bellies, frowned at their backsides, and pulled at their hair. However, when questioned on what they thought was their best feature–the women took a lot longer to respond. Some blankly stared off while others, bewildered, eventually managed to come up with one or two features. This is our norm. I challenge you: go stand in front of your mirror and pick out more than five physical features that make you beautiful…
It’s hard, isn’t it?
It starts when we’re young—whether it’s from body shaming by peers and family or from your childhood Barbies or that beautiful celebrity in a movie you saw or even the dreaded changing rooms in school. All it takes is one remark, one side comment, to tear down a girl’s confidence and negatively affect her for years to come.
This is where Free Being Me comes in. It’s a program created by Dove and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) that encourages body positivity and aids in the development of self-confidence in a safe space for girls all across the world.
Girl Scouts of Colorado will have an opportunity to partake in the first class of the year Saturday, April 23rd from 9am-12pm during the Travel Training Event. During the session we will discuss tough topics pertaining to beauty standards set both in our society and around the world, work in groups and individually to complete activities, and girls will be given the resources to teach Free Being Me to younger girls in their community.
Not only is Free Being Me an opportunity for girls to reach their fullest potential through body positivity and inner strength, it can also become a money earning opportunity. We will coach the older girls to create their own curriculum and teach the class to the ones who look up to them, who relate to them the most, and can instruct the class in their own creative way.
Girls from Troop 54313 received National Leadership Awards and their Silver Award during the Service Unit’s annual World Thinking Day event on April 9. Samantha Kucera also received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award and a letter of congratulations signed by President Obama. Way to go, girls!
This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.
Senior Girl Scout Katelyn Ibarra was honored on April 9 at a Girl Scout event in Steamboat for her heroic assistance to victims of a bus crash on March 29. Katelyn was surprised at the event and received a “Courageous and Strong” coin and certificate for her bravery.
Katelyn and her family stopped to assist a serious head on crash between a bus and car on the road to Craig. Both windshields of the bus were knocked completely out and the door could not be opened. Katelyn climbed through the bus windshield and over broken glass and began attending to the injured along with her dad. She brought her family’s emergency kit from the car with her and gave people gauze to apply pressure on their wounds. Folks who stopped to help filled baggies with snow and passed them into the bus to Katelyn for people to hold on their injuries. While waiting for the ambulances to arrive, she helped passengers find their belongings and kept them calm.
Katelyn has demonstrated what it means to be a Girl Scout– a girl of Courage, Confidence, and Character. She was a very brave young lady who did not hesitate to help and will be nominated for the Girl Scout Medal of Honor.
Thank you Katelyn for all that you did, and for being a Girl Scout!
Daisy troop 43483 in Colorado Springs chose the El Paso County Sheriff’s office as their Hometown Hero. 14 Daisies, joined by 3 Juniors from sister troop 45228 delivered 129 boxes of cookies to the Emergency Services department on April 13th. After delivering the cookies, the girls received a tour of the Mobile Command Center, the SWAT truck, and the wildland firefighter’s bus. They also enjoyed meeting K9 Axel.
