Crossover to Girl Scouts

[Scoutndad]

I have finally phased myself out of Cub Scouts and am now devoting myself to my daughters and their involvement with Campfire and soon, Girl Scouts.

 

Long story short, the Campfire HQ is deciding to disband and our Campfire leaders will be transitioning to Girl Scouts. And after a successful Cub Scout crossover ceremony to Boy Scouts, a couple of the leaders asked if I would do a crossover from Campfire to Girl Scouts for them.

 

Any suggestions on how to make this crossover a hit? I must admit I am more comfortable with Cub Scouts, but I want to make a great impression on these young ladies (2nd & 3rd grade)so their Girl Scout experience will start off memorable. They would like it to take place in May (last meeting of the school year).

Thanks

Scoutndad

[ScoutNut]

Are all of the girls in the Campfire group transitioning to GSUSA? Are the Campfire leaders forming their own GSUSA Troop or are the girls going into different GS Troops? You said the girls were in 2nd & 3rd grades currently. How many girls are there? Do they all go to the same school?

 

The questions are because GSUSA levels are by age/grade. The girls going into 3rd grade will be in their last year of Brownies while the girls going into 4th grade will be in their 1st year of Juniors. For leaders brand new with GSUSA, a new multi-level Troop might be a bit overwhelming. If there are already GS Troops set up in the school(s) the girls go to it might be easier to simply join those.

 

Either way, it would be nice to include Troops from your local Service Unit to welcome the girls (either from the Troop they will be entering or others). Do you have a local park with an actual bridge you can use? Outside ceremonies are always nice. You can have the folks on one side of the bridge with the Campfire insigna, shirts, etc, on. They cross the bridge, are welcomed by Girl Scouts, receive a daisy (symbolizing the woman who started GSUSA) with a ribbon the color of their GS level (brown-Brownie, green-Junior) tied around it & perhaps their pins, vest & handbook.

 

You could include candles, GS songs, GS Promise & Law. Here are some sites with ideas -

 

http://www.kidslist.uc.edu/kidslist/gs/neil/cerem_002.html

 

http://gsleaders.org/files/Investiture.htm

 

http://www.gspv.org/_GSPVC/Leaders/Resources/ceremonies.htm

 

http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/Traditions/Ceremonies.htm

 

Hope this helps!

[sweetspiritpamh]

Hello I have been a Girl Scout Leader now 13 years and I am not really a arts and crafts type. We really concentrate on the outdoors actitivies more. I my school there is at least 2 troops per grade level so the girls in our area really do have a choice of what they are looking for. In a 5 mile radius we have over 75 troops. We have had many different types of bridging ceremonies from traditional on a natural bridge to our latest and probally the ceremony that took the most work. Each girl and leader made a personalized stepping stone. Either get kits at a craft store or take pre made stone and embelles with colored tiles, colored glass and flat marbles. They were taken to our campout and a Lashed bridge was created on top of the stones making our own special bridge. The ceremony was traditional yet every scout went home with their our stone to place in their own home yards. Now every day we have a reminder of our special ceemony and even though some have left our troop they still remember this project as one of our most fun to create and celebrate.

[Scoutndad]

Great ideas...keep em comin'...

 

I may incorporate both of those ideas since we do have a park nearby (complete with stream and bridge). The stepping stone idea is very cool and will suggest it to the leaders for their April meeting (I like projects with cement involved!)

 

I also liked the idea of having a local Girl Scout contingency there and may look to some local troops to help me out. I know I was a bit cryptic with my opening message, but our school is a small private school without GSUSA involvement and the closest public school does not yet have active Girl Scout involvement. A friend of mine is fairly active in GSUSA and will ask if her girls would help out with the crossover ceremony but they are a bit further away...

 

Thank you

[ScoutNut]

If you contact your council you should be able to get a phone # for your local Service Unit (think District) Manager (or whatever they call it in your neck of the woods). The SUM will be able to put you in touch with some nearby GS Troops.

 

If you do an evening ceremony the girls can make punched tin lanterns to put on the bridge. They are easy & fun to make & are another lasting rememberance.

 

One of my favorite GS songs is from a GS Cookie program theme. Singing "Celebrate Together" always makes me see the girls grow up before my eyes. My girls used it in a bridging ceremony many moons ago. This has the music & words -

 

http://www.fament.com/gsinfo/songs/celebrate.htm

 

It might be a bit long for the younger girls, but maybe some older Girl Scouts could sing it to the younger ones after they cross.

 

 

[Wishboat]

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!

[GS-CS_leader]

About levels of GS:

 

There is an overlap year between each of the GS levels which makes it easier to keep a two-grade level troop together. So you don't have to split into Brownies and Juniors next year. Also, if they all start as Juniors, the younger ones won't need new vests and books after only a year. My own troop has both 5th and 6th graders (and an 8th grader, but that's another story...)

 

Girl Scout program and grade levels or age:

Daisies: K-grade 1

Brownies: grades 1-3

Juniors: grades 3-6

"Teens" or "Studio 2B": "ages 11-17 (note most 11 year olds are in 6th grade)

or if you want to continue to use the old designations, "Cadettes": grades 6-9, "Seniors": grades 9-12

 

In general, I find that the programs work best for most girls to split the levels like this: K, 1-3, 3-6, 7-9, 10-12

 

I am lucky in that most of the younger girls in my troop have winter birthdays, so are a little older than other girls in their grade. A truly multi-level troop is really hard to lead, but a troop with only a year difference in age does not require much more accomodation than a troop with all girls in the same grade since the ability and maturity levels of girls of the same age will vary. [side note: When I started as a leader, my co-leader could never say "no" so we had girls ranging in age from K - grade 6. No single program is appropriate for that full range, and you can't always have the older girls helping the younger girls or they will get bored. I nearly burned myself out by trying to hold separate meetings and did an overnight with just the older girls (even though my own daughter was one of the younger girls).}

 

I was actually a Camp Fire Girl as a child, although now I am a GS and CS leader as you can tell by my username. Our "fly-up" from "Blue Birds" to "Camp Fire Girl" was done as a ceremony with our DADS. Many of the camping theme songs we sang are the same as the ones that GS sing, so you can still have them sing those. I would certainly use the a campfire with it's obvious connection to "Camp Fire".

 

Definitely see if you can get help from an established troop of older girls. There is even a special award for Juniors called the "Junior Aide" award for helping wtih a younger troop. The badge for it goes in a prominent place on the vest near the Rainbow "bridge" patch, so I think it is a very special badge.

 

Even though your girls won't really spend time as Brownies, it might be nice for them to do the "bridging to Juniors" activities (see Brownie handbook) and still get the the pretty rainbow "bridge" badge. And here is a way that it is not even bending the rules: If you start in May, then the girls need to register for the 2005-06 year since GSUSA goes Oct 1 to Oct 1 instead of calendar year like BSA. So register them all as "Brownies". In May, introduce them to GS by presenting them with a GS membership pin (well, it should be a Brownie pin, but only do that if your troop has plenty of extra funds), and if the troop will be buying the Junior book(s), then give those to them as well. [My girls just have a badge book and only I have the Junior handbook]. Since you don't have to earn anything to be a Brownie (unlike the CS ranks), they are automatically "Brownies" as soon as they register with GSUSA. Then in the summer, or next fall if you don't meet in the summer, the girls can work on the "bridging" requirements (basically learning about Junior GS and doing a few GS activities as well as meeting some older GS). Then do a "bridging" ceremony and present them with their Green vests (and GS pins if you gave them Brownie pins in the beginning) (Note that most GS wear the vest rather than the sash these days). When the girls re-register in the fall, register them as "Juniors". By the way, since your girls would not have actually spent time as Brownies, it would not really be correct to give them the "Brownie wings" badge.

[GS-CS_leader]

Here is a list of the requirements for bridging to Juniors:

 

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art30298.asp

 

I had forgotten about the requirement for a summer activity.

 

I'm surprised that I forgot given that I was annoyed at a parent's reponse when one of the girls was upset because she didn't earn the bridge (she was not the only one who didn't) because she did not participate in either of the two summer activities that our troop did. The mother said that she "didn't know" that participation in one of the summer activities was required even though I put it at least twice in the troop newsletter that I give out at every meeting. And since she lives across the street from me, I happen to know that the family was at home the day that we went miniature golfing (just 2 miles away), and that her mother had told me later that since they had returned from a trip the day before, they were just "too tired" to take her (they could have asked me for a ride---something I don't routinely offer because I think the other parents should be able to arrange their own carpooling, but would have done in this case).

 

Anyway, forgive the above rant, but the point of it is that if your GS troop does something special like try to earn a bridge or other special award, you can't emphasize enough to the parents what the requirements are so that some of the girls don't fail to earn it and then be upset. I was very careful to constantly update parents on the requirements for the Junior Bronze Award. I am so relieved that they all earned it. Luckily, some of the troop activities that some girls missed they were able to do on their own.(This message has been edited by GS-CS_leader)

[Scoutndad]

Wow...lots to digest...

 

I may end up trying a floor cloth wall hanging instead of cement so they can hang in their rooms plus it will be easier to put hand prints and foot prints on with paint. Then will use poles (broom stick handles) to hang on the bridge as they cross from one side to the other.

 

Fantastically wonderful and great ideas (especially with the older mentors) - I look forward to reporting back after this May event and letting everyone know how well it went.

 

However, if you still have thoughts, ideas, suggestions or guidance, please do not hesitate to keep it comin'.

 

Thanks to all!

Scoutndad