Wishboat

Also check with older troops in your area for (free) help. My Seniors routinely help younger troops earn badges, learn skills and go on outings. Older girls can either help with programs you've planned (for service hours) or create and lead their own programs based on your need or the badges you'd like to earn (for leadership hours). During the past year, they've planned and presented knot workshops, dance programs, an introduction to geocaching (great fun for your age group), fire-building skills/safety, field games, "dirt shirts" and raku pottery. Good luck and have fun!

Is your council allowing this new (IMPROVED! SURE TO BE A HIT!not)challenge to be used as part of a silver or gold award? Ours said no way. Of course, they're also not allowing any mix-and-match earning of the "old" and the "new" requirements for gold or silver it's one way or the other. Now that we have the older IPAs the older online IPAs the newer online IPAs focus books and traditional methods of earning traditional IPAs traditional methods of earning older online IPAs new methods for earning newer online IPAs the modified methods for earning any of the older IPAs don't we all feel lucky to have such a wealth of options? Or do you feel they're just confusing the issues and the girls beyond human limits? I ended up making a chart showing old, new and modified just so my troop might be able to understand what they can do. But back to the what's-the-point-again new challenge. My girls (now Seniors) have griped the most about the challenges on both levels. My daughter (sigh) finally told me she will not be earning her Gold Award, simply because she will not do the busywork and paperwork involved. She'll end up doing all the requirements, but she's balking at the process. So tell me what your councils have said I thought this new challenge wasn't official at all, just extra but some places are using it as a substitute? Well, consistency isn't mentioned in the Law, right?

If you choose to do an evening ceremony, using fire is always a hit or maybe my troop is just a bunch of pyros who always insist on candles or fires for any ceremony their girl-designed Silver Award/Bridging to Seniors ceremony involved a fire that started "magically". Then they each added a different substance as they crossed an adjacent bridge. The substances (ranging from household products like sugar to safe chemicals and elements) all caused a different effect as the girl spoke her part of the program. Sparks, colors, weird smoke. Very cool. Very impressive. If it would work for your ceremony, you could actually involve two campfires. The fire on the first side of the bridge could represent their Campfire days. As they cross the bridge, they could carry a torch lit from that fire to kindle their first Girl Scout campfire on the other side of the bridge symbolizing bringing everything they've learned and experienced through Campfire to their new troop. As suggested, find existing troops in your area to help out. My girls are Seniors now, and the younger girls love having them around (especially if I can persuade them to get into uniform). Older girl troops can also help you with regular programming, because they're always developing leadership projects and earning leadership and service hours. You might be able to establish a relationship with an older troop that could be your Sister Troop for special events and outings. Depending on how your council is organized, you can find a wealth of iformation and help available from your field executive and your service unit/service team (may be called something differently in your area). Our council offers incredible leader training programs, a mentoring program and even provides meeting plans to get you started. I hope you'll find similar support. Have fun!

There are a few Junior badges with requirements available online from national try http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/insignia/online/ These are either badges developed for online access (technology badge) plus a few that didn't make it into the last edition of the Junior badge book. It's by no means the entire line-up, but at least it's a start. I'd also suggest looking into Council's Own badges developed at different councils around the country. If the council has decided to share its patch with others, they usually have the requirements posted on their web sites along with information about how to order the patches. It's a great way to find badges on topics not covered in the regular book. Plus, many of the Council's Own badges were developed by girls, so the requirements are things that will interest them. There's a Council's Own group on Yahoo you can sign up for (or simply doing a search on Google for the terms +"Council's Own" +Junior will bring up a lot). Especially with the advent of the S2B program and the expense involved, I really wish that, in addition to (more cheaply produced) printed versions, GSUSA would offer award requirements online for a per-download fee like a music service. A reasonable fee might prevent leaders from photocopying unreaonably priced materials.

We have one dad in our troop who's always ready to come along on trips. He's taken the required outdoor training for our council and has gone camping, water-skiing and whitewater rafting with us. When camping, working or traveling with the girls, there are certain rules about having a female leader along with you (one of those things for your safety as well as theirs), and there are simple arrangements to follow when camping that concern where you should bunk and how the latrine and bathing facilities are shared (we have a big sign that says "MAN!" that he hangs up when he's in residence. We love having dads along, and our council has had several troops with male leaders (sometimes paired with their wives). My favorite trainer is part of a couple's leader team he's been active with both Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts forever. At a recent council camporee, a mother accompanying her Brownie-aged daughter saw him at the lake and realized he had been her leader years ago. That brought back such memories that she's now a troop leader herself! Forgive that little tangent but by all means be involved, whether you take on a leadership role or help out on the troop committee or serve as the troop's cookie manager your involvement will be invaluable!

I went to Google and did a search for +awards +kiss +"rubber band" and got quite a few hits with some different items and lots of different wording. Here's one site, but you might want to try the same search and look around a bit (there was one on scoutinglinks, too): http://www.usscouts.org/profbvr/fun_awards/

Has anyone had experience with chartering a sailboat and captain where your troop acts as crew? I can find plenty of sites online (some feature a theme, such as Pirate Cruises, with accompanying skills/games), but I always like to hear from people who've been there, done that and can tell of great companies or ones to avoid at all costs. This is for a Senior GS troop. Thanks for any help. Wishboat

Why would the composition of focus groups matter? Because the information gathered from a relatively small sampling of 3,000 is the basis for a radical change in a program serving nearly 3 million. Because though you say to "let each girl's voice be heard", that's not what National had in mind. My post was intended to show that National had more interest in attracting new girls to Scouting than it had in seeking the opinion of current or former members. While this is a valid aim, such an approach also disenfranchises those young women who have stayed with a program they feel has value and worth. It's an "they're-already-past-the-age-when-retention-is-a-problem-so-what-do-we-care-what-they-think-since they'll-stay-in-no-matter-what" attitude. My mention of National's choice of focus groups served to indicate that they ARE seeking to provide a program designed for girls not attracted to the traditional program. It served as a way to indicate that they ARE seeking to expand into and serve the fastest-growing minority group in this country. I also mentioned this fact as an indicator that National's doing a sampling this way (by allotting 10% of the total number of focus groups conducted) indicated that National cared more about attracting a new demographic group -- however valid a goal that might be -- rather than asking current girl members what they wanted or what they would change about the existing program -- or going back to survey drop-outs (or girls who've switched to other programs, such as Venture Scouts). What I don't agree with is national's assumption that the Hispanic culture doesn't allow/encourage girls to participate in a "traditional" program. I feel that familial encouragement varies from region to region and family to family in the Latino community (just as it does anywhere in any population). Our troop is very ethnically diverse (no blue eyes, no blonde hair but my own) -- and three of the members earned their Silver awards working on different projects with a local Hispanic mission with girls from Mexico, Central America and South America. The girls we worked with were allowed by their families to participate fully in our program -- even to overnight camping. As far as S2B goes -- I don't like the design of the program or the way it was introduced, but if it serves to make leaders listen to what girls want, I hope it makes it. (Though I don't agree with the people who say letting the girls have a voice is a new concept -- it's always been the way a good leader does things.) I hope S2B will evolve into a better program. My girls say it is too self-centered and "young" -- I tell them to keep an open mind and review new offerings as they're introduced. But it is not a well-rounded program now. It would be fine as an adjunct/alternate program, but not as a replacement. And no girl should be forced into participating in a program she did not join in the first place. As new girls join troops that are already doing S2B, that's great -- have fun! But don't force girls who joined Girl Scouts to participate in "GS Lite" if they don't want to. I must say that I resent your implication that my interest in the composition of the focus groups is somehow based in racist thinking. I am sure that I did not intend to make you fall out of your chair with my recounting of facts -- and I am equally sure you intended to imply racism, prejudice and ignorance of the Girl Scout Law on my part. But that's okay -- even sisters insult each other every now and then. (This message has been edited by Wishboat)

Who was in the focus groups? 75% of the girls they surveyed had NEVER been in scouting of the 3000 girls they talk about, only 25% were currently GS. (No focus whatsoever on girls who had dropped out to see why or what might have made them stay in...) You can view a summary of the "New Directions" research they keep quoting online at girlscouts.org, but if you want the entire study, you have to call or email and ask for it they have directions online. My assistant leader is a professional researcher (one of those folks with all the letters after her name), and she says that both their sampling and their methods seem flawed to her. It just goes along with what I've said the whole time they weren't out to alter or improve the current program especially not in any way that those already involved might suggest they were out to attract girls who never wanted to be Girl Scouts in the first place. Despite all their protestations through the years that GS "is not a social club", that's precisely what they've designed and are encouraging. They're going after a younger urban girl and they're really making an effort to attract Latino girls who they say aren't "culturally" inclined or encouraged to participate in a traditional program. (Three out of the 30 focus groups were all-Latino and conducted in Spanish, I believe....I'll have to check.) It's all about money. The only way that any vestige of a more traditional program will remain is if girls and adult members send their views to national. They'll listen to girls more readily than adults (since we're all so old, narrow-minded, incontinent and completely square). Wishboat

You might want to try this way instead of melting the wax in a pot (who wants to clean that pot, anyway...?) it lets the kids do the work, and they get to use fire, so they're happy: I'm GS, not BSA, so I've used this method with third-graders and up (younger girls make "candy kiss"/"Brownie Kiss" fire-starters by wrapping small blocks of paraffin or candle pieces in wax paper twists so they look like toffees). Use the cardboard egg cartons get the kids to cut them into sections and stuff them with the cedar shavings (or pine pet bedding it works well too). After reading these posts, I think I'll have each girl bring some dryer lint from home to try they'll love that. Give each an old candle stub this is how we use up old candles from ceremonies. They get to hold the lighted candle at an angle and let it drip wax over the surface of the chips, sealing them in place. Doing it this way, I've seen it help kids who have a fear of being close to fire it teaches them the directional properties of a flame as they work with the angle. They also like to add the starters they make to the troop kit (we've even let them write their names on the carton pieces, so they can use their own firestater when they're the firebuilder). When the candle stubs are too short for them to hold safely, we use them for the candy starters or use them for (what else?) wishboats. Wishboat (This message has been edited by Wishboat)

We just use cedar pet bedding -- not treated with anything, inexpensive and it makes a great starters. When we needed a large quantity to do a pit firing of replica Indian pottery, we went to a small woodshop that had a sign by the road "clean shavings for sale" -- and they donated a pickup full.

I agree with nikitee's HR reference yet another hat for us to wear. A leader I work with was upset by council staff members (two people devoted exclusively to S2B!) who are planning events for the older girls which their advisors are not welcome to attend (well, they told us we could drive the girls to the event location and hang around in other parts of the building until the girls were ready to go home...so add "chaffeur" to our job description as well I don't know how they plan to get around the girl/adult ratio it seems our council staff conveniently forget some of the rules they force us to obey). This leader feels as though they just want us to be around for the tedious part of being an advisor the paperwork, etc., and then turn the girls over to staff members and "outside experts" for the fun stuff. Don't they realize that "the fun stuff" is one of the reasons we're involved in the program? I'm a volunteer, but I'm no martyr I enjoy the things we plan and watching the girls enjoy the trips and events (and their growth during these events) is my payoff. Granted, these types of events can be mixed in with our regular girl-planned troop events (intended for the whole troop, including the aged, decrepit, so-out-of-it-we-might-be-back-in advisors), but they are pushing it way too hard in our area. Wishboat(This message has been edited by Wishboat)

A ghost tour (nightime walking tour) is great fun for this age usually combines local history with the spooky stuff. One of our parents took a picture of the girls during the tour as they were listening to their guide very intently, then scanned the photo in and added the hazy image of a lady right in the middle of the group. Then we just slipped it into the pack of photos that we took to a troop meeting to let the girls look through the expressions on their faces were priceless when they realized that they'd had "company" on their tour. (It helped that the story the guide was telling when the photo was snapped could be related very well to the inserted image.) Don't miss eating at The Pirate's House (a good place to go for a late dessert after your walking tour...?) If you have the budget, they might enjoy one of the riverboat tours. (They'll probably enjoy shopping in all those shops by the river.) When you're walking around, they'll be lots of people selling little woven "roses" they've made out of palmetto leaves instead of just buying them, see of you can find a nice "vendor" to go through the process step-by-step so the girls can see. It's going to be hot hot hot, so maybe a trip to a beach (Tybee?). Are you looking for mainly vacation-y stuff, or do you want a little more? There's Fort Jackson, dolphin cruises, great canoeing/kayaking trips (some offer good Scout rates), marine biology excursions almost anything you want to do is there (if you've got the budget). Bring a Savannah guidebook to your meetings, and let the girls look through it see if they can find things that interest them that fit into your timeframe and cashflow divide the troop up into small groups that can research different activities and options then report back to the troop. (Girl planning!) Have fun! Wishboat

...but did you ever think that those few kids might be the very ones who need the organization the most? ...or the ones who could bring a lot to the group? ...that they're of an age to make their own informed decisions about joining, rather than being led/forced by mommy and daddy or simply following their friends? Or is "breaking in" a brand new scout at Boy Scout level just too much trouble c'mon, don't disillusion me here.

Yeah, there are about 850 scouting-related groups...? I just started looking through the list, checking for promising list names, then seeing how many members a list had if it looked active, I'd check out the home page. I actually found the group I'm most active in because it came up on a keyword search I did for a problem I had. This Cadette-Senior group is very active: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cad-senleaders/messages and there are several promising Junior leader sites here's one: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JuniorLeadersOnline/ There are other groups in the list that specifically target Junior leaders just go browsing (in all that free time all of us volunteers have, right?). Wishboat(This message has been edited by Wishboat)

...or maybe the local high school would let you hand out fliers near the gates at a football game (you could offer to take tickets or handout/sell programs or something in return for the favor). ...or maybe a presence at the local movie theater during line-up times? Maybe you could even work out some sort of promotion with the management, and they'd let you put some signage and fliers in the lobby or near the concession stands (where we all know this age will end up). I'm just trying to think of where middle-school boys hang out. Wishboat

I don't know how big a community you're located in, but do you have a central square or park where you could put on a recruitment rally? You could publicize it through community bulletin boards, free radio PSAs and newspaper community service sections (even church bulletins and bulletin boards). The event could be simple or involved -- if you have more than one troop or pack in the same fix, band together and let each group plan an activity site that potential scouts could visit -- something fun and interesting -- knot-tying teaching or demos, some outdoor cooking in progress (offer a taste?), a campsite set-up, a backpack packed and unpacked to show what's inside, a PWD set-up with trial runs from past champions, lashing, even a Monkey Bridge -- you know all the things they like to do best -- that's what will attract new members. And, since I'm GS instead of BSA, I don't know whether or not planning and doing any of the activities would fulfill badge requirements for the scouts involved. If you don't have a park or square, could you take it inside -- do you have an area mall? Would they let you pitch a tent and make a mock campsite in the middle of the mall for an entire Saturday or more? That's a lot of walk-through traffic and people to hand out fliers to. Good luck. Wishboat

Take advantage... Take advantage of any training your council offers for new leaders, especially program-level-specific sessions. (Our council even posts a list of canned meeting plans that can help get you started.) Your Service Unit should also have consultants who can answer questions or offer advice. Take advantage of your parents set up an active troop committee and encourage interested parents to take some of the training required before your troop can camp, travel or do the fun things they enjoy so much (Outdoor Modules, First Aid, CPR, Small Craft Safety, Challenge Course facilitation, etc.). Take advantage of your sixth graders and begin the natural progression of letting girls take on more responsibility for their troop divide the troop into mixed-age-group patrols and let the older girls begin the year in patrol and troop-level leadership roles. You can have patrol notebooks so girls can assist with planning and recordkeeping (we got the notebooks with slide-in covers so the patrol scribes could design the covers identity is very important for them). Make sure the older girls don't take over the patrols teach them to guide and help the younger girls instead of "ruling" them. Their first task could be planning an investiture for the new girls, coupled with a rededication for themselves. Mix the patrols mid-year and see if the younger girls are ready for leadership roles. Take advantage of forums like this and get all the advice you can for great new ideas, trips, crafts, problem-solving whatever you need, there's someone here who's been there, done, that, got the T-shirt and either made an emergency sling out of it or tie-dyed it with boiled bark and berries. (Yahoo groups has a great leader discussion site.) Have fun! Wishboat

Here's one game found on GS icebreakers site (don't know if it's the same one you're seeking): Number Call Out How to play: Assemble the group. Call out a number such as "three" and the group must scramble to get in groups of three. Try for numbers that divide evenly into your total group, or have those left out be the next callers.

Gardyloo, the site for the blog with the S2B thread is http://www.worldmagblog.com/archives/006295.html Have any of you GS folks here tried the Yahoo groups site for Cadette/Senior leaders (or whatever we are now -- advisors of girls 11-17...). You'll see a lot of discussion on S2B, pro and con (a lot of what I said here I said there too) -- it's a good group for ideas of all kinds. There's a lot of speculation as to whether the research national keeps referring to was even a valid sample because of the way they administered it.

One of the most disturbing things about Studio 2B is that GSUSA is running full-page color ads in a national teen magazine (Girl's Life) touting S2B without mentioning Girl Scouts anywhere (I mean no where -- no tagline, no tiny type in the corner, not even a subliminal out-of-focus trefoil in the background). When I called national to ask if funds donated to Girl Scouting were being diverted to advertise a program that denies (by ommission) its links to Girl Scouts, I was told that this was not an issue because Girl's Life donated the space for the ads. When Studio 2B was introduced, it was billed as "another way to be a Girl Scout". We were all told it was completely optional. The girls in my troop looked at the materials and made a decision "by" girls, "for" girls -- they decided "by" themselves that S2B was not "for" them. They thought the topics were stupid, the books were poorly written (they laughed out loud at the pathetic attempts to be trendy), the costs were way too high and the charms were absolutely ridiculous for older teenagers. They said it looked like a program for "younger girls who don't really want to be Girl Scouts"...and that's exactly the demographic this mess was designed to attract and retain. But now, even though my girls are among the many young women who never left the program -- the program is leaving them. Because now, unless enough of us -- leaders and girls -- complain loudly and long, participation in S2B will be mandatory within the GS program. (Yes, I know, you don't have to be a Girl Scout...but if this stuff goes through, even Girl Scouts won't be Girl Scouts.) In response to leader and girl complaint about the "all-self-esteem-all-the-time" approach of the first set of focus books, national has announced "harder" topics in the set slated for release in 2005 (like science and math). In one worldwide blog, S2B was described as "self indulgence and teenage navel-gazing angst" -- another person described the books as "pajama party games". As far as S2B signalling the "dumbing-down" of the program -- even with the new IPA/IPP book scheduled for publication in 2005 (which should allow girls to continue earning more traditional awards in a patch format...?), national tells us that girls will be setting their own goals rather than meeting set or standard requirements. And the focus books? Girls can "complete" them more than once simply by setting new goals. (Oh? You set two goals in that book as part of earning your Silver Award? Great -- go back and set a few more goals and you can apply the same thing to your Gold Award! Gold? I think we've gone from 24-karat to some cheap tarnished alloy.) It's all about money -- the money they make from memberships, from selling cookies, from forcing us to buy ridiculously priced program materials and awards. My girls keep asking me this: if the GS organization is so concerned with conservation and "using resources wisely", then why don't they just put all these program materials online for free and easy access by all? Why? Because they can't make any money off of us that way. National will tell you that in a time when girls routinely spend $16 on a CD and $8 to get into a movie, they can certainly afford these materials. Wrong! The girls want that CD, and they want to see that movie -- why in heaven's name would they want to spend $7 on a booklet they'll never read again? And they will tell you in training that any photocopying is expressly forbidden (they don't make any moey off that, either). There's a great quote from Juliette Low about what a badge is -- the gist is that it's not something to show what a smart girl you are or simply something pretty to wear on your sleeve -- it's that you have learned enough and done enough "to offer service" or "to provide service" in a particular area. I can't remember it verbatim, but I'm sure of the "service". Question -- how does one provide service in self-indulgence? I asked our council trainer about that quote -- she replied that she took it out of our training because "everyone does service now" (meaning groups like Crosby scholars, school lifeskills classes, etc.) -- she went on to say that since other people are now "doing" service, we (GS) can "back off" from it. Juliette is bound to be spinning fast enough to start a fire without matches! As far as leader age goes, national did backpedal a bit on their "youthful advisors" campaign -- for an otherwise intelligent organization, they continually insult and antagonize the very population of volunteers they depend upon for survival -- but if there are college-aged women out there who have the time and desire to be advisors, that's wonderful (sign my troop up!). They'll still need the moms-in-the-minivans if they plan to take the troop on any of those wonderful trips that keep girls coming back to meetings, because most college kids don't drive seven-seaters.(This message has been edited by Wishboat)(This message has been edited by Wishboat)