What Girl Scout Camp is all about

Thanks to Girl Scout Senior Amy Bissel of Troop 10813 for the following post about camp:   

For those of you who want to know what Girl Scout Camp is all about, here is some of what I have come up with.

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Girl Scout Camp

It's a place where friends are found, and some memories that will stay with you for a life time, are created.

You learn anything from, how to tie a knot, to how to be a team player and a leader in your own way.
You learn what it means to BE a team, what it means to rely on each other, in a word...
You learn what it is to be accepted.
You also discover some of your strengths and weaknesses, you learn that the Camp Leaders aren't kidding when they say it gets COLD at night.
You may discover that its ok to have a random dance party or sing off-key to the music there.




You find creativity around every corner, you discover hidden talents and that some girls are just made to be camp leaders some day, but for now the girls that come are just a million different personalities and every one of them is just plain AWESOME.
One thing that I personally have learned over the years is that there may be a variety of girls and personalities, and there may be a few meltdowns from time to time, but when we all work together... we are like an unstoppable force of GIRL POWER.

The hardest part of camp may be saying goodbye to each and every friend you have made, but there is always next year's camp and if you are lucky, you will have made some friends for life.
So to sum it all up, you never know just what to expect from Girl Scout Camp, but you won't be disappointed.
I think that we all leave Camp with some pretty incredible memories.
 

-MountainDale Girl Scout Camp 2012
 

By: Amy Bissell

Troop 40052 learns about Transit Safety with TriMet

Thanks to Troop 40052 co-leader Kim Cummings for this photo and blog post!

Troop 40052 in SU 8 decided to work on the GSOSW Patch Program "Transit Safety and Education" patch. 

We met with Pam Wilson, Marketing and Outreach Services Manager at TriMet. She came to our meeting and gave us some really important information about riding public transportation safely. At each level, scouts have a designated amount of requirements to fulfill at the Discover, Connect and Take Action categories.  

Our troop found that in the "Discover"category using public transportation reduces our carbon footprint and how to safely ride their bikes around transit vehicles. In the "Connect " area, we learned about different road signs, crossing signs, and safety features they might see at a RR crossing. They also learned how to take their bikes safely on TriMet vehicles and mount them on the bike racks on the front of the bus

For out "Take Action" learning, we made posters about the dangers that might happen around public transportation. Our posters will be hanging in bus shelters around Portland. We also distributes safety materials that were provided to our troop to teach others about being safe around TriMet vehicles.

On June 9th we were invited to attend a Safety Event at "The Round" in Beaverton to receive our Patches from Beavertons' Mayor Denny Doyle and the TriMets General Manager  Neil McFarland. 

Our girls were invited to help plan next years event to get the word out about this important badge to earn.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Girl Scouts OSW's commemorative 100th Anniversary blanket!

A few weeks ago GSOSW Communications Director Sarah Miller and Communications Specialist Rebekah Hubbard visited the Pendleton WoolenMills Headquarters in downtown Portland to learn about the making of our 100thAnniversary commemorative woolen blanket.

The blanket was created by Janet Worthington and Kelly Fagan, both fabric designers at Pendleton. Both Janet and Kelly were longtime Girl Scouts – Kelly even had her vest in the office!

The women showed us around the design offices at Pendleton. 

When building inspiration boards for a line of clothes, designers use an entire wall full of color samples.

If they are designing a specific pattern, they may make a real-life sample of it. There are hundreds of shades of red... 

And hundreds of shades of blue, and green.

Many times they weave samples of fabric by hand right in their workshop, even though the factories that make the finished product are all across the state.

Each sample includes hundreds of threads. This is a look at a loom set up to weave a sample.

 

This is Kelly's computer, where she designed the Girl Scouts OSW 100th Anniversary commemorative blanket. Kelly wanted to reflect both the badges of the past and the badges of today to pay tribute to the history of Girl Scouting.

After she designs the blanket, a pattern that breaks the image down into millions of tiny squares is sent off to one of the mills to make a full-size sample, like the one Kelly and Janet hold above. They examine the sample, make any corrections and come up with a final design - the one that is available to buy through the GSOSW store!

Kelly said that many of the skills and attitudes she learned in Girl Scouts were useful to her as she made her way through college and started her career.

Janet told us that there is a special way to fold a Pendleton blanket, so the trademark blue logo is always facing up.

Thank you, Pendleton, for a great tour! As we celebrate the history of Girl Scouting, it's great to know the heritage of one of our commemorative products!

You can check out Pendleton's blog post about the 100th Anniversary commemorative blanket here.

Buy the blanket at the GSOSW online store here!