Congratulations to our Shaver Scholarship recipient, Liliya Benz

Congratulations to Liliya Benz, the winner of the 2013 Shaver Scholarship! Liliya's Girl Scout Gold

Award project was titled "Fabric, Blocks and Quilt Tops for Foster Kids," completed in November 2012. Liliya has been a Girl Scout for 13 years and is also involved in track and field and band at Canby High School.

"Girl Scouts has been a very important and influential part of my life since I began in kindergarten," Liliya wrote one of the scholarship application's essay questions. "The program has taught me many valuable life skills and has helped me to become the confident and courageous woman that I am today."

Liliya plans to attend the University of Oregon Clark Honors College and major in mathematics or history. She will also play flute in the marching band.

"All the skills that I have learned in Girl Scouts will definitely impact my future. After I go to college in the fall.... I can see myself getting involved in the new community that I will be a part of. After I graduate, I believe I will enter the workforce as a strong confident woman, eager to accept life's challenges and handle them with integrity," Liliya wrote.

She continued, "Girl Scouts has taught me to have faith in myself and that hard work and dedication pays off when all is said and done."

Congratulations on the Shaver Scholarship, Liliya! GSOSW is proud to call you one of our own, and best of luck in college!

About Luella Shaver 

Luella Shaver started with one Girl Scout troop but soon was leading three troops! Her deep dedication to Girl Scouting was apparent in the remembrance shared by her daughter, Mary, that quitting piano lessons could be tolerated but quitting Girl Scouts – never! Luella also served in several leadership roles and was well known and loved as she exemplified true Girl Scout values and vision. The family has established an endowment to ensure that the Luella and George Shaver Family Scholarship Fund will be available forever.

For more information about Girl Scout scholarships, please visit http://girlscoutsosw.org/girls/scholarships.

Local Girl Scouts go global!

Girl Scouts in Oregon and Southwest Washington are making quite the splash on the international and national stage!  This past month, girls, volunteers and staff have participated in Girl Scouting at the global level or have made progress on planned national and international trips.

The Travel Volunteer Team is excited to announce that four Girl Scouts have been selected to receive the Girl Scouts USA D-Pass Scholarship!  These scholarships are provided by Girl Scouts USA to help girls attend Girl Scout destination events.  The 2013 recipients are:

•  Alexandrea Moon of Aumsville, Oregon who will be traveling to Alabama to attend the Advanced Space Academy.  Alexandrea will get to train like an astronaut, experience engineering challenges, shuttle mission and trainings, simulators and a chance to use her skills at the Area 51 Leadership Reaction course.
• Emily Rushing of Jefferson, Oregon who will be traveling to Georgia to participate in Adrenaline Rush.  She will get to try white water rafting, mountain biking, paddle boarding, kayaking, zip lines and more.
• Allie Kehret of Keizer, Oregon who will be traveling north to the San Juan area to learn about kayaking, who and what else lives in this special habitat and how as a team they can live together and survive in the outdoors.
•  Elizabeth Rushing of Jefferson, Oregon who will be traveling to China to volunteer at one of the most progressive panda centers in the world.  She will be helping to ensure the survival of this endangered species while performing community service projects and helping with panda research projects.

Congratulations to all of these recipients and look for more information about each of them in future blog posts!

Rhianna Taniguchi was selected by Girl Scouts USA to represent our national organization at the 8^th Annual Helen Storrow Seminar at Our Chalet in Switzerland.  The seminar welcomes over 30 women from around the world to discuss environmental issues and leadership development. She spent time attending personal develop sessions and discussing topics such as the current condition of our planet, global warming and climate change.  She was also able to explore the building, go snowshoeing and sledding.  As part of the program the representatives are all developing action plans for their local communities, regions or nation and are being provided with step by step planning guides to effectively turn their visions into reality.   To read more about Rhianna’s adventure, check out her national blog post: http://gsuniv.org/globalexchange/2013/03/18/leading-for-a-greener-future-from-the-swiss-alps/

Finally, Sarah Johnson, Director of Girl Leadership Experiences, had the opportunity to speak with a group of participants of the International Visitor Leadership Program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.  These visitors are part of more than 5,000 international visitors who annually visit the United States as part of this professional exchange program.  The program allows current and emerging foreign leaders to experience the United States first hand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts.  

This is the third time GSOSW has been asked to sponsor a discussion with international visitors from this program.  This group included visitors from Bahrain, Ghana, Israel, Macedonia, Mauritius, Palestinian Territories, Saudia Arabia and Vietnam. The group learned about Girl Scout, our history, program delivery model and outcomes.  They talked about how Girl Scouts has been able to sustain as an organization for more than 100 years and how the organization and delivery has changed throughout the time. The group discussed organizations in their home countries that support youth development and how they might be able to use some parts from our model to reach more youth.  

The discussion included a tour of the Portland Service Center and a trip to the Girl Scout store for souvenirs. 

“This opportunity means a great deal to the council and to me as the sharing of ideas and how we can globally make a difference for girls will have a huge impact.  The more we can encourage girls to travel and participate in programs that develop leadership the more progress will be made and our futures will be that much brighter,” Sarah Johnson said.

After the discussion, the visitors had the opportunity to help with an event sponsored by SOLVE where a group of Girl Scouts were volunteering, which was a great way to reinforce what they has learned about our program and how girls lead and give service in their local communities.

For more information about how you can travel with Girl Scouts please visit: http://www.girlscoutsosw.org/events/travel

Help GSOSW hold a screening of "Girl Rising," a documentary about the power of education to change a girl's life.

Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington would like to host a screening of the documentary Girl Rising in Portland on May 21. This documentary follows the stories of several girls around the world and demonstrates the power of education to change a girl--and the world. You can see more about the film here: http://girlrising.com/.

In order to bring this screening to Portland, we need 100 people to reserve tickets by May 6. This screening is open to the public, and we encourage you to invite your friends, family, neighbors and more.

Here are the official details:

Date: Tuesday, May 21

Time: 7:30 PM (running time approximately 100 minutes)
Rating: PG-13

Location: Fox Tower Stadium 10, 846 SW Park Ave. Portland (downtown)

Price: $10/ticket

To reserve your tickets, follow this link: http://gathr.us/screening/3458. You need to use your credit card to reserve your seats, but your card WILL NOT be charged until/if we reach the 100 person minimum. We need to have 100 reservations by May 6 for this screening to happen. Spread the word and join us for this exciting opportunity!

Introducing 60-Second Seminars!

Girl Scouts OSW is proud to unveil a new video feature, 60-Second Seminars! In these videos, our aim  each month will be to answer questions and clarify things that we get asked frequently.  Here's our first video feature, showing where you can find information about our great day camps across Oregon and Southwest Washington!

Do you have a question you'd like to have explained in a 60-Second Seminar? We would love to hear your suggestions! Email Sarah Miller at smiller@girlscoutsosw.org to submit your ideas.

"Bring a Friend" Meeting Doubles Troop Size

Thanks to Brandy Slack, of Troop 45028 in SU 16, for this post! 

Troop 45028 began as a brand new troop last fall. We started out with only six girls – grades 4 and 5. We have been working on our Journey award badges. Since we're still such a new troop, we're trying to get the troop to run smoothly since next year we will be a blended troop.

Since I joined the SU team by becoming the new membership coordinator, I started thinking of ways that I could help get more girls signed up with Girl Scouts. I thought the best way to do this and also make our troop grow, was to have the girls invite their friends to join. The only thing better than doing something you like is doing it with your friends!

I made the suggestion to the troop, and of course the girls were more than ready to invite their friends! Each girl made invitations, and the girls planned the date and what we would do at the meeting, along with their parents. Most girls had at least one friend they want to invite, but some (like my daughter) had more than one  friend they wanted to invite.

For our invitation, I had a picture of four girls on my computer from the Juliette skating party back in October. I used a website called Smilebox that had cards that you could print up, email, put on DVD, etc. I picked a card and added the picture of the girls* to it. Then I personalized the card to the information I wanted it to say, and printed it on photo paper. My daughter Brynne and I went to Michael's craft store for background paper and some Girl Scout stickers to add to it (Michael's carries Girl Scout items)! We ended up sharing the photo invitation with several girls. Each of them personalized the cards for their own use.

Nine new girls showed up to our Bring a Friend Meeting. Troop members introduced themselves and the friends they brought at the beginning of the meeting, and said something they loved about being a Girl Scout. The troop recited the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law. 

While one of the troop moms taught all the girls how to do a craft project, I talked to the parents that came to the meeting and gave them packets with information about our troop, what items were required to become a Girl Scout, the Girl Scout forms for both the girls and their moms in case they wanted to join.

On the day of invite, we had three new girls sign up. Three more girls signed up before our next meeting, two weeks later.  The girls who are new and in 5th grade share books with the original girls to help cut down on the cost of joining, since they will have to re-buy the next level books in the fall.

We will absolutely try this again! It was a great idea with little effort, but a huge pay off since six out of nine girls joined.

I believe the main reason more girls aren’t members already is because they either don't know that much about Girl Scouts, or they aren’t really sure they'd like it. Girls tend to enjoy something more if their friends are in it, too – which is why the bring a friend meeting was so successful.

If another troop wants to try this idea, I say GO FOR IT! A couple of tips to help make the meeting successful:

·        Watch out for cliques. Make sure girls have the opportunity to mingle and get to know one another so no one feels isolated or left out.

·        Let the girls decide what activities they want to do with their guests and let them design or decorate their own invitations. This will get the troop girls excited as well as the invited girls.

Friends will always talk to each other about what the troop does, the events they've participated in and how much fun they have with the other troop girls. There's no better advertising than that! 

*When using photos of members, please be sure to have appropriate photo permissions. You may use form #002 to obtain permission.

Local Girl Scout volunteer attends Our Chalet in Switzerland

Helen Storrow Seminar 2013
Young Women Leading for a Greener Future

By Rhianna Taniguchi

My first day at the 8th Annual Helen Storrow Seminar was spent snowshoing through Switzerland with international representatives from Sri Lanka and Canada. The seminar, hosted at Our Chalet from March 16-24th, is welcoming over 30 young women from around the world to discuss environmental issues and leadership development. Our Chalet is the first WAGGGS World Center and was founded over 80 years ago by an American Girl Scout, Ms. Helen Storrow. Anyone who questions Ms. Storrow's decision need only see the snow-laden mountains of Adelboden to sense the serentity that this magical place possesses. On the first night we ended with a tour of the historic building. We found secret compartments in some of the original furniture, learned the Center song, and ate traditional Swiss chocolate mousse. 

The second day was packed with personal development sessions and discussions about the current condition of our world. A part of the afternoon session had the participants talking about the current condition of our planet. Another part of the afternoon sesson had us talking about the impacts that weve noticed in regards to global warming and climate change. I decided to go for a run in the Swiss Alps and meditate in the snow in my free time and there was no sound but that of the wind and trees. That night was full of celebration, sparking apple cider, and snow cones fresh from the mountain!

Snow fell all of the third day and it was filled with outdoor activities such as sleding and hiking. We are being asked to develop action plans for our local community, region, or nation and are being provided with step-bz-step planning guides in order to effectively turn our visions into reality. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts brought facilitators from evey region of the world and worked with the participants on defining issues, identifying obstacles, and creating action plans that utilize their specific learning styles and skills to create a better world.  

SU 66 Sponsors 8th Annual Party at Grace Manor

Special thanks to Joni Sanderson of SU 66 for the blog post and photos.

Service Unit 66 likes to encourage the girls to think of their community and their responsibility give back to those who may not be as fortunate.  

Just one of their annual projects includes Service Unit 66’s Grace Manor Nursing Home holiday giving party. December 8, 2012 became the 8th annual party sponsored by the Service Unit. Troops of all ages pick individual resident names from the nursing home’s list, each for whom they plan, purchase and make individualized Christmas presents after viewing the resident’s wish list. 

Then, on a Saturday in early December, all the girls come together to sing Christmas carols for the residents, and followed by a present opening party. The patients, many of who have limited incomes and little to no families find this annual event as a special time to connect with the girls.