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24 New Badges Prepare Girl Scouts to be
Ambitious and Decisive Leaders
Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England and Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) today announced 24 new badges designed to help girls practice ambitious leadership in the crucial areas of automotive engineering, STEM career exploration, entrepreneurship, and civics, many of which remain male-dominated. In a year of unprecedented global change, our country’s need for strong, broad-minded, and decisive leadership has never been greater. Through new and existing programming, Girl Scouts equips the next generation of female change-makers with the breadth of knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to take charge and do good for the world, both now and in the future.
The new Girl Scout badges include: • Entrepreneurship (grades K–12) • STEM Career Exploration (grades 2–8) • Automotive Engineering (grades K–5) • Civics (grades K–12)
Steady leadership is essential during a crisis such as COVID-19, from fostering trust and showing compassion, to managing challenges with agility, to evaluating outcomes of decisions. The Girl Scout program is proven to develop strong and effective leaders— among many positive outcomes, Girl Scouts are much likelier than non-Girl Scouts to take an active role in decision making (80% vs. 51%), which is a critical aspect of leadership.
“Now more than ever, it’s critical that we have strong leaders who can make informed decisions that make the world a better, safer place,” said GSUSA CEO Sylvia Acevedo. “During our current health crisis, the world leaders who have been among the most decisive and effective in addressing the pandemic have been women. With these new badge experiences in STEM, entrepreneurship, and the critically important subject of civics, Girl Scouts is continuing to build the transformational female leaders of today and the future and showing girls the power they have to truly change the world.”
Girl Scouts has made free self-guided activities from select new and existing programming available digitally to the public through Girl Scouts at Home™, keeping families engaged and connected to their communities. Girls can further engage with the badges and topics through online videos, activities, or special live virtual events. Members can access a suite of Girl Scouts’ programming digitally through the Volunteer Toolkit, including troop meeting plans and other resources to help girls earn badges and awards.
In addition, beginning this summer, all councils will also have the opportunity to host their own Girl Scout Cyber Challenge sponsored by Raytheon Technologies, enabling middle and high school girls to learn crucial cybersecurity skills as they compete in challenges such as running traceroutes and identifying phishing schemes. The Cyber Challenge prepares girls to pursue careers in computer science and cybersecurity.
To join or volunteer, visit www.girlscouts.org/join.
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24 The Reporter August 2020
Local Boy Scouts Honor Healthcare Workers with 800 Care Packages
The Narragansett Council, Boy Scouts of America hosted a The East Providence, Cranston and Warwick Fire Departments Gratitude Parade for hospital workers at Rhode Island Hospital also joined the parade along with the Scouts, their leaders, and and Kent Hospital on Monday July 13 to recognize the dedication, Narragansett Council CEO Tim McCandless. This Gratitude Parade bravery and compassionate care of essential workers. Dozens of and other similar “Good Turns” have raised $136,000 over the past Scouts and volunteer leaders from Pack 4 & Troop 55 Riverside, four months to fund the Council’s diverse programming. Pack 1 & Troop 2 Barrington, Troop 1 Seekonk & Pack 1913 West The parade was part of the 25th Annual Distinguished Citizens Warwick helped distribute 800 S’mores Care Packages to front-line Awards Celebration, which raises funds to ensure that youth from workers, featuring a variety of s’more treats. This was the largest low-income households can enjoy the Scouting advantage through food donation to a Rhode Island hospital during the pandemic. the Narragansett Council’s Scoutreach program. In the past 25 years, more than $6,000,000 has been raised to enrich the lives of 20,000 low-income youth in the Scoutreach program. Through Puppies don’t understand Scoutreach, over 1,100 Scouts annually enjoy exciting weekly social distancing but still meetings, monthly outdoor activities, work with trained leaders, need safe socialization participate in virtual Scouting programs, and receive recognition and training! for their achievements.
Join us for small classes and Puppy Socials…Private EP Girl Scouts Hold Virtual Meetings The Covid-19 pandemic has made it almost impossible to hold regular Girl Scout meetings. Instead, East Providence Girl Scouts training is available. are holding virtual troop meetings using oom, a cloud based video service that you can use to virtually meet with others - either Our Puppy Day School and by video or audio or both - while conducting live chats. Some Dog Daycare programs are troops are using Google Classroom. Virtual meetings create new Open in a safe and sanitized challenges and opportunities for girls to experience Girl Scouts. It environment! allows them to get comfortable and tech savvy as well as to gain character, confidence and courage by expressing themselves and How can we help? learn leadership skills to take them into the virtual world. For every www.poochpawsitive.com • 401-714-5652 adventure that can be done in-person, there is another that can be shared and taught and experienced virtually. Heidi Palmer McNeil, CTC, CPDT-KA East Providence Girl Scouts have done just that! They’ve gone virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic. Troop 417 enjoyed a conference call with a local bee keeper family, the Pendens. During the call, the girls learned WHEN PERFORMANCE COUNTS about the bees life cycle, the bees role in
CALL THE ROCKWELL & PIERARD TEAM the environment, what a bee hive looks like and watched the bee keepers harvest honey. The keepers also shared videos SOLD UNDER CONTRACT IN 3 DAYS! showing the girls what a box of bees look like when building their hive. As an added treat, the girls were given small samples of the harvested honey to taste. The girls all had fun learning about bees and didn’t get a single sting! Troop 516, a Junior Girl Scout troop, 64 Greenwood Avenue 18 Miller Street visited two different Brownie troops via oom to share their experiences as Junior Girl Scouts. They talked about their favorTHE SUMMER MARKET IS HOT! ite adventures, the favorite patches they had earned and told them what they were Call Michelle or Kathy Today! looking forward to doing as Cadette Girl Scouts. They shared this information so the Brownies would know what to expect when they become Junior Girl Scouts next year. The “Be Prepared Not Scared” patch was earned by Troop 447 through a Google meeting. People are told to be ready for an emergency but how do they actually prepare for it? During natural disasters, it is neighbors helping neighbors who are often the first responders. That is a scary
Michelle Rockwell | 401.954.1159 Kathleen Pierard | 401.527.0562 thought. Through this patch program, girls mrockwell@residentialproperties.com kpierard@residentialproperties.com were taught what items they need to have on hand (food, water, shelter, communica140 Wickenden Street Providence, RI 02903 tion devices, light sources), animal care and
what first aid courses they need to take in order to be prepared for a natural disaster. It is the intent of the program to take away the fear and replace it with empowered Girl Scouts.
Virtual indoor and outdoor scavenger hunts were held by Troop 491 members and their families. They also painted coffee mugs for their mothers on Mother’s Day while talking with one another via oom. The girls enjoyed socializing during these activities. It gave them a a sense of life before Covid-19.
Troop 117 earned their 2020 Lockdown patch. Girls were asked to document their experiences during the COVID-19 health crisis. They took pictures of some items that were different because of the COVID-19 pandemic: safe distance lines on the floor of banks and grocery stores, playground entrances wrapped with caution tape so children wouldn’t play on the equipment, teddy bears placed in the windows of homes, and thank you signs for first responders. They wrote a letter saying how the pandemic affected them. Their parents also wrote a letter explaining how the pandemic affected them too. For the project portion of the patch, girls painted the trunk of a tree on paper. They asked each person at home with them to paint the palm of their hand and then press their palm over the tree trunk creating the tree’s foliage. Each person was asked to sign their name under their hand-print. When it is safe to do so, all of these items will be placed in a time capsule at the East Providence Scout House and will be opened in 20 years.
Undoubtedly, Covid19 has changed our way of life in so many ways. All of us have had to make adjustments in our daily routines in order to keep safe and healthy - Girl Scouts included. Virtual meetings have made it possible for Girl Scouts to continue to have meetings (on line) and socialize with one another while in the safety of their home. Covid-19 hasn’t dampened their Girl Scout spirit. August 2020 The Reporter 25
GS Troop 447 News
Troop 447 Juniors completed the Be Prepared, Not Scared patch series and segments mostly through online meetings. They learned and discovered ways to be prepared for natural disasters in the US. This included segments in preparation of Emergency water sources, food, shelter, communication, light sources, animal care, mutual aid and first aid, including emergency plans for fire and travel. During one online meeting Navy Veteran, former Barrington resident and dog trainer, John Devine, helped Troop 447 girls learn more about how to prepare a pet for emergency situations. Girls learned how laws changed to protect animals in emergency situations due to the abandonment of animals during Hurricane Katrina.
Troop 447 has been happy to be able to meet in person again.
Troop 447 girls learned first aid basics, the resources inside an EP ambulance and what happens to patients from Firefighters Sharon Bedard and Dan Kanavage and Paramedic Erika Carcieri.
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