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!

Emma Helmig's Bronze Award Project: Making Burp Clothes for the New Moms of Molalla

Thanks to Emma Helmig and Troop Co-Leader Jill Groves of Troop 40435 for contributing this entry!

My name is Emma Helmig and I am a Girl Scout Junior with Troop 40435.  I just finished my Bronze Award project.  While I was working on my It's Your World: Change It! Journey, I began to think about what community project I might want to do for my Bronze Award.  My mom is expecting a baby and I thought I'd like to do some thing that would help other expecting mothers in Molalla.  I love to sew and figured I could use that skill to make baby burp clothes. I figured out that if I made each burp cloth 12" X 14", I could get nine burp clothes per each yard of flannel.  My initial plan was to get five yards donated so I could make 45 burp clothes for the Pregnancy Center.  I took my plan to my troop's Service Unit and presented it to the troop leaders.  Luckily, two of the leaders donated enough fabric for me to make the 45 burp clothes double sided.  From the moment I began planning to when I turned over the completed clothes, my project took about two months.

Attention Girl Scouts! Submit your or your troop's activity to be featured on our blog! It can be a trip, a Highest Award project - just about anything! Email rhubbard@girlscoutsosw.org or submit your story at http://girlscoutsosw.org/share. 

Girls Get IT: A Gold Award Project that Focuses on STEM

Thanks to Gold Award recipient Savannah Loberger for this video and description of her Gold Award project.


For my Gold Award I wanted to run a day camp for girls in the community to show them that girls can do engineering and technology. The camp was five days for 7th-12th grade girls who didn’t know what engineering was. Our focus is on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). I want to give girls in the community a hands on experience encompassing all aspects of STEM so they can learn with their peers in a fun and creative environment; something that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to do. I want them to realize STEM is for girls too. I coordinated volunteers to teach classes, created curriculum, and sought out donations, and designed a one stop website for girls all over the world about what we did and how they can do it in their community. I want girls to feel confident in an overwhelmingly male environment. I hope that I can show girls that they can do whatever they want to even if it means breaking down the barriers of stereotypes.

With the overwhelming success of the camp, I am continuing the project providing two first year camps and a camp for returning girls.

I want the girls to realize all the opportunities that are out there for them and help them open doors. In my mind the most important thing is for the girls to have fun! We are currently accepting applications at www.GirlsGetInTech.org

Camp Information
Thanks to Savannah for sending in this additional information about camp!

Girls Get IT! (Innovative Technology) Camp

Camp 1
 July 9-13 (Session 1)
 July 16-20 (Session 2)

Camp 2
 July 23-27

Time? 9:00am - 12:30pm

 Cost? $20 (includes yummy snacks!)

 Where?  Hillsboro High School

Visit the website for applications and more info or to check out the video from last year’s camp:
www.GirlsGetInTech.org

First come, first served so hurry and get the application filled out!
     

If you have any additional questions email GirlsGetInTech@gmail.com

Thank you for helping to encourage more girls in the fields of technology and engineering!

 

Dispatches from the GSOSW Annual Meeting

Girl Scouts OSW CEO Karen Hill provided the following recap from our Annual Meeting, held April 21, 2012 at Portland State University.

A highlight of our 2012 Annual Meeting was our Conversation of Consequence, featuring women leaders from the Oregon and SW Washington communities. Lisa Sedlar. President and Chief Executive Officer of New Seasons Market; Jeanne Enders, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Business at Portland State University; Leann Johnson,  Diversity Development Manager for the Oregon Health Authority and Cari Bacon Flick, Second Vice President, Talent Management at The Standard answered questions in a panel discussion about the roles and challenges of women in leadership positions.

Girl Scouts OSW would also like to congratulate the following Adult Award recipients. Thank you for your dedication to Girl Scouting!

Thanks Badge II

                Mark Allen 

Thanks Badge

                Jinny Haines

                Renee Martin

Honor Pin

                Patricia Joslin

                Sharon McCarthy

                Michelle Payne

Appreciation Pin

                April Browder

                Yvonne Byrne

                Jeanie Campbell

                Jennifer Day

                Karen Duggan

                Vicky Genge

                Cheryl Glenn

                Eve Hendrick

                Lori Jensen

                Amy Jo Krommes

                Betsy Neuman

                Andrea Orrell

                Lori Pugh

                Kathi Stotts

                Tracy Wilson-Scott

Outstanding Community Partner

                Bend Elks Lodge No. 1371

Volunteer of Excellence

                Jenny Allen

                Elaine Autry

                Kristina Bradley

                Jean Carter

                Sue Christensen

                Susan Coxon

                Kathy Horres

                Leslie Houston

                Alma Jean King

                Karri Mealy

                Stephanie Prentiss

                Jill Rankin

                Niki Swearingin

                Christine Vanderhoof

                Karen Zeller

Years of Service

                60 Years               Pattie Luse

                50 Years               Margaret Thomas

                30 Years               Alma Jean King, Laurie Lloyd

                25 Years               Valerie Kemper

                20 Years               Jenny Allen, Colleen McComb, Jackie Sanderson, Jill Sibbald

Years of Membership

                80 Years               Winnie Maynard

                50 Years               Debra Hansen, Stephanie Smetana, Margaret Thomas, Marie Vallareal-Thomas

                45 Years               Laurie Lloyd

                40 Years               Misty Cassidy, Betty Hart, Mike Hart, Alma Jean King

                25 Years               Yvonne Byrne, Kimberly Cox, Valerie Kemper, Bonnie Maddux

                20 Years               Adriane Graepel, Jill Rankin

Progressive Volunteer Award

Hendy Appleton – Development Pin

Linda Brown – Development Pin, White Key, Black Key, Gold Key, Silver Key and Copper Key

Evelyn Brush – Development Pin

Lisa Cadungug – Development Pin

Mary Carey – Development Pin

Amanda Cottam – Development Pin

Jennifer Fillis – Development Pin

Bethany Fussell – Development Pin

Chrystal Goff – Development Pin

Jill Groves – Development Pin

Debby Haring – Development Pin

Becky Hatch – Development Pin

Vicki Helmig – Development Pin

Shirley Holden – Development Pin

Tammy Kay – Development Pin

Helen Kelley – Development Pin

Alma Jean King – Development Pin, White Key, Gold Key, Silver Key

Sarah Lennox – Development Pin

Elizabeth Love – Development Pin

Rachel Merritt – Development Pin

Marlene Meyer – Development Pin

Tabatha McCord – Development Pin, White Key

Hillery Paris – White Key

Donna Plekan – Development Pin, White Key

Jill Rankin – Development Pin, White Key, Gold Key

Mary Sabatka – Development Pin

Bobbie Schrag – Development Pin

Colette Smith – Development Pin

Jamie Smith – Development Pin

Eileen Steva – Development Pin

Leah Sundquist – Development Pin

Kathleen Vasconcellos – Development Pin

Susan Wilkinson – Development Pin

Special Thanks

Kristine Emberline

Carolyn Eubanks

Kathy Farmer

Betty Freeman

Karen Gozart

Debbie Hollingsworth

Gold Award Recipient Nellie Johnson makes a difference working for those diagnosed with breast cancer

Thanks to Girl Scout Gold Award recipient Nellie Johnson for this blog post about her Gold Award project. 

For my Gold Award project I chose to make pillows for recovering breast cancer patients. These pillows are for after they get out of surgery, and have to drive and protect their chest from the seat belt, or for when they cough.   

This project was an easy decision for me because several woman I know have had breast cancer. One in particular had really touched my heart, as she was a mother in my Girl Scout troop. I witnessed in full the toll it took on her. She is one of the strongest woman I know, and the cancer had made her incredibly weak. It made me realize how hard it has to be for every woman who has ever been affected by breast cancer. 

When deciding on my project, I wanted to make sure I chose something that would impact numerous amounts of people that have been affected by cancer. The pillows that I had made the patients made a huge difference to them. 

With my project, I had so many amazing opportunities. I was able to have a booth at the Susan G. Komen Health Fair, which is where I met ladies that have been thought chemo at least 3 times, and woman that are just experiencing the long and uncomfortable process. Being at the fair, I don't think I met one person who didn't have faith and hope for a speedy and healthy recovery. All of them told me this was a key factor in going through cancer. These woman were and are so incredibly strong. It made me realize that the project I had chosen was a well-deserved one, and was impacting the community. 

I got an amazing opportunity while working on the project to work with a organization called Breast Friends. It's a group in the community that have all been affected by breast cancer and know what it feels like and how hard it is to go through. They set up events and fundraisers to get their name out there. They also set up little gift bags for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients up at Providence  and St.Vincent's. I donated over 400 pillows alone to breast friends to put in the bags.

It's organizations like Breast Friends that made my project completely worth it. I was able to not only learn more about cancer, but I was also able to donate pillows to them for the patients.

Cleanup Day at Camp Arrowhead

The semi-annual Cleanup Day at Camp Arrowhead was March 26, and more than fifty volunteers (adults AND girls) showed up to take care of the camp and get it ready for summer fun

Volunteers helped to set up tents, move mattresses into units, sweep cabins, and clear trails of debris from bad weather. The camp rangers led the cleanup efforts.

Thank you so all who came to help with the Camp Arrowhead cleanup! Your help is integral to preparing for camp season.

The next camp cleanup will be in the fall, after the season ends.