Last Thursday night, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri hosted a great event at the Ritz Carlton in Clayton, Missouri. Known as Dessert First, the event challenged local chefs to create culinary delights from Girl Scout Cookies. With a lot of media attention leading up to the event, we here at the council spent the few days before getting more and more excited. This was a first-of-its-kind event here in Eastern Missouri; though other councils have had similar competitions to create desserts out of Girl Scout cookies, none have been combined with an elegant dinner and awards ceremony.

Although our Communications Department had met with a few of the chefs beforehand to take photos and even sample a dessert or two on the air, all the chefs were very secretive about their recipes until just before the event. The result was absolutely delicious. From the Ritz-Carlton's winning strawberry-lemon ice box cake, a fluffy, light dessert made from lemonade cookies and topped with a sugary-sweet slice of lemon peel, to the mint-chocolate torte from Edgewild and the Caramel deLite cheesecake from Cardwell's on the Plaza, all the desserts competed wonderfully, though the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton took home the night's awards. 

All the desserts are create-able in any home kitchen, and a few are even no-bake, including the Four Seasons' cheesecake on a stick. It's easy to recreate using just a microwave. All recipes will be available on our website soon. The only caveat - make sure you've purchased Girl Scout Cookies to use in your recipes, as they won't taste the same without them!

Girl Scouts are out to make a difference in their community while completing the Gold Award along the way. Eleven young women attended their final Girl Scout Gold Award interview and evaluation last Tuesday evening, the last step in completing the approval process for earning this prestigious award. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest, national achievement within Girl Scouting for girls, 9th through 12th grade. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully complete their project. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award requires a minimum of 80 hours of planning and implementing a challenging, large-scale project that shows leadership, is innovative, engages others and has a lasting impact on the community with an emphasis on sustainability.

Danielle Dowdy, Emily Esther, Rachel Musick, MaryAnn VanWalleghen and Chelsea Welch are Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors that made it a point to go for the gold. These five young women stood out with extraordinary projects that will surely prove to have a lasting impact on the targeted community.

Danielle Dowdy, a 16-year-old Girl Scout from Ste. Genevieve, Mo., dedicated months to creating a goldfish pond in the Cancer Center Garden at Sainte Genevieve’s Memorial Hospital while earning her Girl Scout Gold Award. The Cancer Center Garden is a place for oncology patients and their families to visit to reflect. Danielle’s objective was to provide a comforting and soothing element to the hospital’s garden. She spent her summer spreading mulch, tending and watering plants, gathering large rocks, and installing a water fountain at the center of the pond.

Danielle said that she decided to focus her project on improving the hospital’s garden because wanted to give families and patients a place to relax and see the beauty of life. Ste. Genevieve employees have said that Danielle’s project has proven to be very soothing for patients.

Danielle feels that the Girl Scout Gold Award project has positively affected her life by helping her become more of a leader. She also said that she is more caring and respectful toward her community and the rest of the world. Danielle said that the most successful part of her Gold Award project was learning that the garden was so well-received.

Emily Esther, a 16-year-old Girl Scout from the Frontenac area, dedicated more than 100 hours toward renovating a visitation room for supervised meetings between parents and children at Every Child’s Hope Foster Care Facility for her Girl Scout Gold Award. Every Child’s Hope (ECH) is a non-profit organization that works with children who are wards of the court by assisting them and their families in their individual quest for health and wholeness through quality, faithful, professional services.

Prior to Emily’s renovation, the visiting room was described as sparse, stark and cavernous. Emily made a supply list, investigated costs and recruited volunteers to assist her with the renovation. She consulted with an interior designer and shopped for supplies and tool rentals. Emily also painted the room and collected furniture, toys and books to be placed throughout the area.

Emily’s completed project was so successful that ECH employees praised her performance. Michael P. Brennan, the Executive Director of Every Child’s Hope, wrote to say that the space is used more often than ever before and that in many cases the kids don’t want to leave. He also said that before Emily completed her Girl Scout project the space was large and spacious but lacked a warm and friendly place for therapists to work with children and families. Emily is responsible for solving that problem.

Rachel Musick, a 17-year-old Girl Scout from South City, dedicated years to receiving funding and approval from her local government to build a physical fitness station in Tilles Park. Rachel worked with the City Parks Department, her neighborhood alderman, and the park association. Rachel started her project in February 2009 and finished in August 2011.

In addition to the exercise station, Rachel’s project includes a map of the park’s walking path and distance markers for park users to keep track of how much they’ve exercised.  The exercise station includes a push-up station, a body-curl station, a bench-dip station and more.

Rachel said that receiving approval and working with her local government was a challenge that she’s glad she’s had to overcome. Throughout her project she also had to adjust to budget cuts which required her to redesign plans she had for the park. From this experience Rachel said that she’s learned that she has a bit more patience than she originally thought. She also said that she was happy to learn that she’s able to stick it out in situations even when things are not looking up.

Rachel believes that her exercise station is a great addition to the park and she knows that it will always be used. She hopes that by completing the exercise station, she will inspire people in the community to go outside and exercise.

MaryAnn VanWalleghen, a 17-year-old Girl Scout from O’Fallon, dedicated months to painting the alphabet and seasons on ceiling tiles for a kindergarten room at Independence Elementary. The tiles are used in the to help reinforce the letters and sounds the children are being taught in the classroom. To make the tiles fun, MaryAnn added pictures to accompany each letter.

MaryAnn said that one challenge she faced during her project was changing the pictures she used to accompany each letter to match the phonemic teaching style being used at the school called LTRS. MaryAnn recalls having a hard time deciding on a picture to accompany the letter “E.” Elephant is the first thing to come to mind but the phonemic teaching style says that the pronunciation of elephant most closely resembles the letter “L.”

MaryAnn overcame her challenge and delivered a great product. She also displayed leadership by recruiting people to help her paint the ceiling tiles, which was not an easy task. The ceiling tiles require several coats of primer and if too much paint was added too fast, the tiles would warp.

MaryAnn said that most successful part of her project was hearing about the joy the kindergartners felt when they saw the new tiles in the classroom. MaryAnn hopes that the tiles will get students excited about learning their ABCs. School employees have said that it is their understanding that the new tiles will become a permanent fixture in the classroom.

Chelsea Welch, an 18-year-old Girl Scout for Jefferson County, Mo., assumed the role of a fair coordinator for her Gold Award project by helping to plan the Mastodon Art & Science Regional Fair. The role that Chelsea assumed is normally a paid position but due to lack of funding the role was eliminated. If Chelsea had not stepped up, all of the work she did would not have been done by anyone. Chelsea’s work was so successful that she helped attract over 3500 visitors, more than the event has ever had in the past.

Chelsea’s responsibilities included getting the word out about the fair, creating a red carpet event for sponsors and awardees, decorating the Jefferson College Field House, organizing the registration/sigh in of the students, and determining activities for visitors of all ages. Chelsea inspired sponsors to attend the event by putting an article in the paper, making an announcement at church, and talking to people personally about the importance of the event. Chelsea felt that it was important that the children participating in this art and science fair felt appreciated and accomplished.

From this experience, Chelsea said that she has learned that she is good at time management and event coordination. She has also learned how to be more outgoing and assertive. She felt her biggest success was that it was the most attended event in the history of the fair.

Jill Macom, the Executive Director of the Mastodon Fair, wrote to say that Chelsea put on one of the best organized events that her team has seen. Jill said that Chelsea has definitely laid a foundation that could be used by others to put on this event in years to come.

In June, these young ladies will join the 2012 Gold Awardees to be honored and receive their award in a special Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri council-wide recognition ceremony. Girl Scouts will continue to complete their Gold Award project through the end of this year and the beginning of the 2012. Stay tuned for additional stories about other Girl Scouts from eastern Missouri completing extraordinary projects.

Aniela and her family had the most amazing Girl Scout summer. They spent most of the summer watching Aniela, a Girl Scout Junior, perform community service and earn her Bronze award. After much consideration the summer before, Aniela decided that she would volunteer her time and talent to help with the Sea Turtle Conservation in Florida. In order to accomplish this, Aniela worked very hard to sell more than 400 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, almost double the amount of cookies that she had sold in the past.  Aniela would use some of this money to pay for the turtle activities that she wanted to do while in Florida and the additional money would be donated to support the Sea Turtle Conservation.

Aniela’s summer began with a visit to Savannah, Georgia, Juliette Low’s birthplace. From there, Aniela and her family drove down the coast to meet some sea turtles. They stopped in Jekyll Island, Georgia at the Georgia Sea Turtle Hospital where Aniela met a turtle named Phantom. At the time, Phantom was receiving rehab and would soon be released into the wild with a GPS tracker attached so that scientists could watch his movements and study his behavior. Aniela chose to adopt the turtle by giving some of the money she earned to help biologists pay for the expenses of his rehab and the costly GPS tracker that they attached to Phantom. Aniela is able to track him as well at “When we got back to St. Louis the first thing I did was sign on to see where Phantom was, “ Aniela said. “I saw that he had been all over Georgia! He travels quite a bit.”

After her visit in Georgia, Aniela traveled to a sea turtle hospital in Marathon, Florida. There, Aniela donated more money to adopt a resident turtle named Montel that could not be released. “He [Montel] had been through a lot and he looked pretty banged up. He’d been attacked by a shark, hit by a boat, and was missing an eye,” Aniela said. She felt it was important for Montel to have a good life even though he would live in a swimming pool for the rest of his years.

Traveling to the turtle hospitals has helped Aniela learn a lot about sea turtles. “I can now identify different species of sea turtles, I know how many eggs they lay on average, and I know how long it takes for the eggs to hatch,” said Aniela. She also earned the Turtle Watch patch from the Girl Scouts of Gulf Coast Florida Council.

Next, Aniela started her volunteer work near Sarasota, Florida under the guidance of permit holders registered to work with sea turtles. She helped three different times on night patrols that began at 9pm where she rode up and down the beach in a golf cart watching for sea turtles coming on shore to nest. Once the females started laying their eggs Aniela would help check the turtle for tags and record data. Her nightly patrols totaled about 12 hours of volunteer work.

During the morning patrols, which began at 6 o’clock, Aniela walked a section of the beach with other volunteers to look for newly laid nests. Any new nests were then recorded and marked. If a nest was close to a public area, Aniela helped mark off the nest with stakes and yellow tape to warn people not to step on it. When nests were found partially dug up by a predator, Aniela helped carry the broken shells and yolks away from the nest to bury them near the water so that the predator would not be drawn back to the nest.  During the second morning patrol, Aniela also actively helped with a nest excavation. The nest had been recorded as hatched three days prior. Aniela helped dig up the nest to count and record all eggs found in the nest that hatched or did not hatch. She was able to rescue a live hatchling that had gotten stuck in the nest and hadn’t made it out. With Aniela’s help, the hatchling was freed from the nest and was able to crawl to the water and swim away! She decided to name the hatchling Hope. “It sounded graceful and happy,” Aniela said. “A life that I hope she leads in the future.”

Aniela has always loved working with animals, but from this experience she is certain some day she will work at one of the facilities she visited to continue to help sea turtles.

My coleader and I took canoe training at Camp Fiddlecreek this past Saturday. We had a vague idea of what we were getting into, just word-of-mouth. It was run by the Red Cross but taught by Laurie, a Red Cross employee who is also a girl scout. The first half of the day was Basic Water Rescue, which about 90% of which I'd either taken as a teenager or had some sense of already. We took a classroom course, which in the past has been a dreary part of training, but it was actually entertaining and informative this time. I was pleased as we walked down the hill to the pool to do the hands-on portion. Like I said, I'd had this all before and it went well. The pool wasn't too cold and I'm a strong swimmer so it was really just a demonstration that I knew what I was doing. I do. The only thing I hadn't done was flip over a drowning person who had a suspected spinal injury. But I learned it and did it.

After that, we had lunch and the classroom portion of the canoe training. We watched a video. We took a test. Easy. But as we walked down to the lake, this sense of dread filled my chest. I can't explain it any better way. What have I gotten myself into? I kept asking myself. How is this going to work? My coleader has a lot of canoe experience, but mine is limited. I have probably clocked fewer than 5 hours in a canoe. I've been in rowboats, sailboats, motor boats, but canoes have always made me nervous. So easy to tip as you're getting in. Well. They taught us how to get in. We each had to solo paddle out to the middle, make a 360 turn in place, and then paddle backward. I had done these things before and it was ok. Then came the part I was dreading. My coleader and I got in the canoe and rowed it out to a good deep part of the lake. We then, according to instructions, had to swamp our canoe, fall out of it, and then get back into the swamped canoe and paddle with our hands back to shore.

Let me tell you, the first time you fall out of a canoe is not fun. I got a big old mouthful of brown lake water and more up my nose. Sputtering and gagging, I helped her flip the canoe over, found it easy to get inside a canoe full of water, and then really hard to STAY in a canoe full of water. But we managed and hand-paddled best we could without hitting other swamped boats. Getting onto shore, we felt like we'd accomplished something. So back in the water we went. We were supposed to partner up with another canoe and learn out to tow them by the painter (the string attached to the bow). We were canoe #9, though, so we were odd girls out. We finally got someone to pair up with us to let us tow them a few feet, when the instructors called for us to watch two boats demonstrate the next skill. It was raining. We were worried about storms. So Laurie on the shore talked the two boats through the next thing: Canoe #1 tips over. Canoe #2 helps them out by sliding Canoe #1 perpendicular across Canoe #2, upside-down. Then the people in Canoe #2 flip over Canoe #1, still resting across their canoe. They slide it back into the water and help the folks from Canoe #1 get back into their now-dry canoe. Let me tell you, watching them? I knew why I had that sense of dread. The rain was coming down and a false hope entered my heart: maybe they were having those two canoes demonstrate and that was it.

Maybe we didn't have to do it. But no. She told the canoes to switch places to have Canoe #1 be the rescuers. And then she told the rest of us to pair up and go for it. Again, we were the odd boat out, and so we waited in the rain. Finally, the first group finished and one of their boats came over to help us, essentially doing it all over again. I looked at my coleader. "Let's tip first," I suggested. I was really worried about my ability to get back into the boat and I wanted to be done with it. We tipped. Easier this time. No mouthful of water. We came up and helped our partners take the boat across theirs. My coleader got in quickly. She and the other canoe folks steadied it while I put my hands on the gunwale (I've learned all this new vocabulary!) and then tried kicking at the water while grabbing the thwarts and pulling myself in. I got a foot up, and then realized I was going to tip the whole thing back over. So I went back into the water, caught my breath, visualized what the demonstration folks did to make it work. I had to get my whole ribcage past the gunwale in one try, and then use that higher center of gravity to pull myself in. And I did it.

The next portion was easy, taking their boat across ours, flipping it, and helping them back in. Adrenaline still coursing through my veins, that 150 pound canoe just didn't seem like that big a deal. After they were safely inside, we paddled with all our might back to shore, put our canoe up, paddles, life jackets, and I looked back at the lake. Even though we had a late start, being the 9th boat, there were still 3 groups out on the lake working to get back into boats or pull boats across, and so forth. We weren't last. It doesn't matter on my little Red Cross certification card, but it meant something to me. I managed to do that task, that impossible dreadful task, in that dirty water, with no experience, and I fell in the middle of the pack. I felt like I had accomplished something real that day. The bruises on my hip and my upper arm tell me that, too. We drove back to the city knowing that our girls WOULD canoe. Soon. No question.

Take the class in September when it is offered again, or next spring. Take it with your coleader. If one of you also has first aid/CPR, then you're set. You two and then two adults (no training needed) to watch on the shore and your troop is free and independent. It was the best Girl Scout training I've taken and even though I dread the idea that I'll have to pass the test, including tipping over the canoe, again in 3 years (the certification lasts 3 years), I know I can do it. It was totally worth it.

With the economy not recovering as quickly as most people would like and everywhere charging for every little thing, I find that leaders are having a hard time finding a meeting place that will not charge a large amount of money.  It is time to get creative in our thinking and our actions in a time of crisis.  Girl Scouts is about forming the Leaders of Tomorrow.  With that, we need to find a solution to a problem that will continue in years ahead.  Once every place figures out they can charge and get away with it, we will lose some of the basic Community Services we are use to.  It is time to stand up and dedicate some of our service hours as Girl Scouts to change the commuity and their thinking.  I recommend bartering community service with a meeting place.  All meeting places need a little help now and then.  It would give our girls a sense of accomplishment and pride to give back in a direct way.  Plus they can see what their hard work does as a result of having a place to meet.  I hope as you read this, you too, can come up with other ideas and post them below.  It would be helpful to all Girl Scout Leaders in the area.

Thanks!

Today I witnessed an amazing act of kindness by a family who have an amazing amount of love and kindness for people around them.  This act brought tears of joy to my eyes as I witnessed them pull their two flatbed trailers around the corner into this charity.  On Fox 2 News tonight, there will be a news article about the Scott Family from Poplar Bluff.  Their family has found away to give back to the community in the simpliest yet profound way.  In this tough economy, we find that charities are not receiving the funds and help they need.  This is where Girl Scouts should want to double their efforts and give back.  The Scott Family found away around these challenges, and it is as simple as removing a Tab Top. 

As someone who is not originally from this area, I see assets that seem to be overlooked by many of my friends who have grown up in St. Louis, and rightfully so.  St. Louisans have amazing assets in this area that others only dream about.  I know I would have loved to finish my Girl Scout high school years, but that wasn't readily available in my small town.  I know two families in my community that would have loved to have a quality children's hospital in their backyard, and we have more than one in St. Louis!  The quality of education and opportunities for continued education is vast and plentiful here in St. Louis.  Some people can only dream of getting to the "BIG" city and receiving an education. 

So I am making a challenge to all the Leaders, Parents and Girl Scouts.  As we look for those Take Action projects, please take advantage of helping the wonderful amazing assets here in St. Louis.  I challenge everyone (including myself) to be more like the Scott Family and collect over 2700 pounds of Tab Tops to donate to a charity.  This is a perfect recycling project for any It's Your Planet, Love It Journey.  Challenge yourself, as I will, and lets Make the World a Better Place.

As I teach in all my classes, customize your journey to fit your needs in your community.  You don't have to follow the book word for word!  There are lots of "customized" ideas out there to help you make the most of your journey. 

I have to say that 2011 has not started off on the right foot for me.  I struggle with so many things as I try to get everything done.  As I took a step back during all of our snow days, I realized I wasn't the only parent in my group that felt this way.  I say group, since our sister troops meet with us most of the time.  Each parent that has contacted me has the desire to connect more with their girl.  I find as a volunteer, parent, employee, wife, etc, that I don't have enough hours in the day to do all I want to accomplish.  I find that everyone in my group feels that same way.  So starting in April we are going to set aside one meeting a month to accomplish the Dove Foundation/Girl Scout's Uniquely Me program with their female mentor.  As these girls are faced with more challenges at school each day, mothers'/grandmothers' wanting to find the time to connect with their young girls, and the girls wanting to be unique...this seems like the perfect way to accomplish it.  We shall see how it goes, since the next meeting is the start of a new journey.  Wish me luck!

Looking for a bit of advice or maybe just simply posting this to admit that it isn't all hearts and flowers over here in my junior troop. I have a girl, let's call her Jackie, who has been in our troop for 3 years. Never much of a problem, but her mother is hard to handle and her grandmother more so. But I have handled them as best I could and we're all still here to talk about it. Jackie was never the issue, and so the adults involved took most of my managing time. All my other families, all of them, added together, were never as much work as this one. Jackie joined late in this year because the adults in her life couldn't get the paperwork together. I learned via another scout leader that Grandma probably forged mom's signature on the form--yet mom was the one who dropped it off with payment. That was in November, and Jackie didn't come to a meeting until the January "Get ready to sell cookies and go camping" meeting. Since she'd been a member for some time, I didn't think twice about having us join us on the camping trip. I knew her family situation wasn't her fault.

She was a problem on the camping trip. A big problem. She stole a bunch of fruit from the kitchen and took a bite from each, hiding them in her sleeping bag. She brought candy--against the rules--and hid it in her cubby (we were at a lodge). She kept girls awake into the night and shined her flashlight in their eyes while they slept. She was sullen and didn't participate. And she stole other girls' items and hid them and made one girl cry. The worst part was that she was a ringleader of sorts and drew two new girls in, which made it even more complicated to sort out who was responsible for what. I know I could have sent her home. I knew, however, that it wouldn't have made an impression. I had a growing suspicion that Jackie didn't want to be in girl scouts at all, but was there because her grandmother used to be a leader at another school and was probably forcing her to join. I wanted to make it work, and my sainted co-leader drew her in by Saturday afternoon and we were able to make it through until it was time to go home. By the time I made it to the pick up site, she'd already been picked up. The rest of my life was busy enough, with cookie sales and a vacation and all this sleet and snow. So I didn't get around to contacting her mother or grandmother. I expected I'd see her at our February meeting and could handle it there. She didn't come to the February meeting. Nor to the February gathering. Or the March meeting. I didn't follow up. I have a big troop and so be it. Her partners in crime from the camping trip seemed to drop off as well. Except all three sold cookies...and picked them up...and dropped off money. So girl scouting was still on their minds. Grandma called my cookie manager to ask for my phone number, which of course she should have so far. She told her, "Jackie is so excited about the field trip this month and camping in May." She hasn't called me yet to get the details, and I'm really at a loss. I've never had a girl act like this on a trip and never had a girl who seemed to be using me for free field trips and camping this way. Girls come to the majority of meetings, most gatherings and trips. That's how it's always gone. It's never been an issue. Ever. Really. I don't think I should allow her to go on our field trip and I certainly don't think she should camp in May, unless she starts coming to our meetings again and participates in April Showers. I know her family situation is complicated, but her behavior on the camping trip was completely out of line. Other girls have asked me, privately, if Jackie is still in our troop. They came up with a behavior contract for all girls to sign before our next trip and I know they did it because of Jackie's behavior in January.

We've never done anything like that before. So what do I do? My co-leader likes second chances but Jackie never showed any remorse, never apologized, never seemed to admit that she was in the wrong (and she camped with us twice last year with no problem--I think the combination of her with the two new girls, who are friends of hers from the same school, was the perfect storm kind of set up in January). She knew what was expected and she knew the rules and continued to break them--and I hate to take it personally but I'm a volunteer. I'm not her teacher. I feel like I shouldn't have to put up with behavior like this, especially when we're away for the weekend. I expect Grandma will call today, and I am going to remove myself from the position of being between her and her ex-daughter-in-law. I'm going to tell her I need to talk to Jackie's mom or dad about this. But I'm sure I'll get a phone call from Mom right afterward. And I need to figure out what I'm going to say.