April 2014 Newsletter info for Parents & Program Partners

Parents of Girl Scouts – Troop 82044

April Newsletter

Here’s what’s happening in the next month! As always – call or text 419-308-3062 if questions. 

~ S White

Sunday, March 30^th – 5:30pm – 7:00pm

SPECIAL  LOCATION Drop off at Zoellner Arts Center – 420 E. Packer Avenue

Activity – learning songs for the Take the Lead dinner coming up, and participating in a martial arts demonstration. (note: the girls will be seeing a Japanese Drumming group on Monday, March 31 as a part of a school field trip.  This workshop will complement that performance, and count toward the badges)

Sunday, April 5^th – EARLY START TIME - 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Regular Meeting Location – Neville Hall (6A East Packer Avenue) – room 003

Activity – the girls will meet with Mark Atkinson of Bethlehem Parks and Rec to begin to plan their Bronze Award project.

Saturday, April 12 – 8am-11am

Service Project – SouthSide Clean up.

Meet at Lehigh University Campus Square, intersection of New Street and Morton Street. Where jeans and sashes. Bring a broom. Gloves and breakfast will be provided.

Saturday, April 12 – Special Program for Cadettes and 5^th Grade Juniors

Time: 1pm – 4pm

Location: Lehigh University, University Center, Room 308.

The sisters of Kappa Delta Sorority on the campus of Lehigh University and begin your Media Journey! Cadettes look for the ME in media and learn how they can shape media—for themselves, their community and the world. You’ll get to participate in fun hands on activities with college women while exploring the importance of your image in media. MEdia helps girls think about who is responsible for telling all the stories they see around them and how can use their story to help "re-make" the forms of media they see around them.

Sunday, April 13^th – PALM SUNDAY

SPECIAL ADDED ACTIVITY - We will be meeting at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks on Sunday, April 13, from 11am – 1 pm in the Musikfest Café on the 3^rdFloor.  The address is 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA 18015

If you cannot make it, that’s fine. This is the girls chance to rehearse for the Take the Lead Ceremony at the location of the event. Otherwise, …

We will also be meeting in the evening from 5:30-7pm

Regular Meeting Location – Neville Hall (6A East Packer Avenue) – room 003

Activity – the girls will meet with Lehigh University Kappa Delta sorority. They will demonstrate proper table manners for Take the Lead Ceremony.

Sunday, April 20^th – NO MEETING ON EASTER SUNDAY

Sunday, April 27 – 5:30-7pm

Regular Meeting Location – Neville Hall (6A East Packer Avenue) – room 003

Final rehearsal for Take the Lead.

All girls must bring their sashes to be checked before the ceremony

More Bronze Award planning time.

Visit from Beverly Bradley, founder of Lehigh Valley Cops & Kids

Girl Scout Cookie Sale 2014

It's that time of year again.

That time when a leader's life is partially overtaken by:

• inventory pick ups in snowy parking lots,
• towering cases of every flavor in every open space of the house
• anxiety about girls selling enough cookies to meet their goals
• late nights logging sales records for each girls scout
• counting, recounting and recounting again to make sure all funds are present.
• freezing my touchy off at booth sales.

But it's not all misery. There is still plenty of fun with my daughter, and with the other girls in the troop. And these fun moments far outweigh the passing frustration at PDF excel spreadsheets.

At the last two troop meetings, with a little help from the Lehigh University girl scout helpers, the girls designed the tri-fold poster board for the booth sales. Lady B and I finished it today. Here's what it looks like:

Yes, there's actually lights embedded into it. No glitter... yet. Camila just may go rogue on it. If she comes to a booth sale with glitter, she can bomb the poster. I'm sure we'll find more space to add more ideas throughout the sale.

Being a troop leader is a lot of time, but it's well spent when you see the girls grow and take ownership of their learning and goals. Two

weeks ago, Bridget, Nicole and Jackie went to a Cookie Rally organized by some more seasoned leaders and a few college students from Cedar Crest College. The scouts went though 9 stations to teach them skills learned through the cookie sale.  As a volunteer, I was able to see what kind of activities are age appropriate for exploring ideas and turning them into a plan the girls create on their own. Of course, lots of the girls' ideas are taken from these events, but still they are doing it themselves.

The girls I lead TAKE the lead. We'll see how they do with customer service, inventory placement, counting change and helping to cheer each other on.

We've scheduled some Booth Sales to help the girls increase their profit potential; three at Lehigh University, two days at Church, and one at Lowe's in Bethlehem. Tomorrow from 10am-2pm is our first Booth Sale at Lehigh. I hope it goes well enough that I'll need to get more inventory for the second booth sale on Tuesday afternoon.  Crossing fingers.

Bridget's Commercial

A couple of years ago, the National Girl Scout Council created this video:

Sure it's a nicely produced commercial. But my daughter did her own, posted it on my Facebook Page and is already taking orders through the comments under the video. As she starts to see success on her own terms, she'll be able to apply the lessons of planning, determination and patience.

Here's her commercial:

We showed the other girls this video at the troop meeting. I hope that if they have supportive parents with their own Facebook network, they could try this idea, too.

The girls in our troop have set a pretty high goal. They want to go outdoor camping. These girls have never build a campfire. Most of them have never roasted a marshmallow on a stick. Peps, yes. S'mores... nope. We have a lot of work to earn funds to cover expenses. We also have a few overnights to get ready to live in the wild.