Girl Scouts of Colorado is thrilled to publish new Gold Award rubrics for girls around the state to use to make their Gold Award journey successful and rewarding. The document includes a rubric for initial proposal approval and final approval, so girls can understand exactly what is expected of them throughout their Gold Award journey. All Gold Award mentors across the state worked to develop and revise the rubrics over the last year to ensure that a wide variety of perspectives and experiences were considered. Each girl working to pursue her Gold Award should “meet minimum standards” or above on each criterion listed on the rubric. The rubric also lists the corresponding questions on the Gold Award project proposal and final report to help understand where the information expected of each criterion is coming from. Questions about the Gold Award process in Colorado? Email highestawards@gscolorado.org. #GoldAward #HighestAwards #rubrics #GoldAwardrubrics #TakeAction

From Girl Scouts of the USA Every girl deserves a place where she can be her best self and unleash her inner G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™. And that place is Girl Scouts! Girl Scouts has a track record of more than 100 years of providing extraordinary experiences just for girls. And although girls can choose from many activities and youth programs, there’s only one that’s proven to grow girls into the leaders we need today, tomorrow, and always. Here are our ten favorite reasons (because we have many!) why all girls deserve a Girl Scout experience. 1. Girl Scouts is a girl-only space, and while that sounds obvious, we mention it because there’s a good reason! Girls have unique developmental needs, and participating in a program tailored to those needs has well-documented benefits. Girl Scouts is, and always has been, the expert on girls. 2. Girl Scouts is SO much more than a single-gender youth program; it’s the only one that’s girl-led! Girls choose the exciting, hands-on activities that interest them most—whether that’s earning badges, exploring the great outdoors, learning business skills while selling Girl Scout Cookies, or making a difference in their community. And together, they learn by doing. 3. All girls deserve the opportunity to participate in fun, confidence-boosting activities in a judgment-free space, and that’s why Girl Scouts will always be an inclusive, supportive community where girls are free to be who they want. There’s a place for every girl in Girl Scouts, and that’s why you’ll find us in urban, suburban, and rural communities in schools, community centers, and places of worship. Our CEO Sylvia Acevedo said it best: “Our role is to support and encourage every girl, not insert ourselves into her spirituality, question her birthplace or family’s country of origin, or concern ourselves with her economic status. We’re not interested in her family’s political beliefs. No matter who she is, she has a home and a safe place at Girl Scouts.” 4. Girl Scouts offers hands-on, girl-centered learning in STEM, which can be a game-changer for many girls. Research shows that Girl Scouts who said they didn’t like math or science at the start of their STEM programs became more positive about these subjects after participating, and 77 percent said that because of Girl Scouts, they’re considering a career in technology. 5. It’s a fact: companies today seek employees with essential people skills who are prepared to be inspirational, empathetic leaders. Through Girl Scouts, girls discover the importance of teamwork, become creative problem-solvers, and glow with positivity, empowering others to be their best G.I.R.L. selves too—the kind of leader every workplace deserves. 6. Girl Scouts believe in leaving a place better than you found it, and becoming civically engaged is the first step in fighting injustice and making positive change a reality. There’s nothing more empowering than being a catalyst for change, and through the G.I.R.L. Agenda, girls learn to make their voices heard and to mobilize their community to make the world a better place. 7. That all-girl environment we mentioned earlier? It’s the most inspiring sisterhood she’ll be part of! Girl Scouts are continually leading amazing initiatives that improve their communities, whether they’re championing ocean conservation, fighting child marriage, or enacting a smoking banin their home state. With 1.8 million fellow change-makers to join her, she’ll discover there’s nothing she can’t accomplish! 8. The Girl Scout Gold Award is her chance to make a sustainable, positive impact on her community. But the experience also directly benefits her as she learns valuable community organizing and project-management skills, making her stand out on college applications, earning her scholarships, and enabling her to enter the military one rank higher. Talk about paying it forward! 9. Girl Scout alums break glass ceilings, and it’s easy to see why: the confidence and persistence needed to smash through barriers in the workforce and bust gender stereotypes is rooted in having a girl-only space where girls know anything is possible. 10. Building girls of courage, confidence, and characterisn’t just mission statement fluff; it’s what we live and breathe at Girl Scouts, and the outcomes speak for themselves. Research shows that, compared to their peers, Girl Scouts are more likely than other girls to be leaders. Bottom line? Girl Scouts is the best leadership development organization for every girl because it’s the place for her to do more than just well—it’s her place to thrive! #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #GoldAward #GSUSA #gsGoldAward #TheGirlScoutDifference #Girlagenda

Interested in becoming a certified archery instructor?  Registration is still open for GSCO’s USA Archery Level 1 Certification course! This course provides the necessary tools to maintain a high level of safety both on and off the archery range. Level 1 Instructors are prepared to teach beginner archery programs to people of all ages and abilities. You will learn about range safety, range setup, the steps of shooting, and basic equipment and repair. When: Sunday, June 17, 2018 from 9 a.m. –  4p.m. at Twisted Pine Lodge in Genesee. Registration deadline: Thursday, June 14 Cost: $45/person and the certification is good for three years! Prerequisites: USA Archery or NFAA membership, successful range pass with background screen, successful completion of SafeSport training and PA Act 153 Background Clearances (all this will be discussed in class). For more information, email Girl Scouts of Colorado Outdoor Programs Coordinater Marissa Rooney at  Marissa.Rooney@gscolorado.org or call 877-404-5708. #VolunteerNews #GSCOevents #archery #outdoorprograms #TwistedPine #MetroDenver

One year ago, Kathy and Rick Ambrose issued a challenge that Girl Scouts of Colorado couldn’t refuse! They pledged to match new or increased Daisy’s Circle donations received (up to $25,000) between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018 and we did it, you did it. Thanks to you we met the full $25,000 goal and more.  As a result, Girl Scouts throughout Colorado will have the opportunity to become the G.I.R.L.s (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker,Leader)™ that we know they can be. Still not a member of Daisy’s Circle? What are you waiting for? Join online at www.gscodaisyscircle.org. Questions? Contact donor relations manager Carol Griffin at carol.griffin@gscolorado.org or (303) 607 – 4879. #alumnaenews #DaisysCircle #funddevelopment #VolunteerNews

From Girl Scouts of the USA In celebration of National Great Outdoors Month, Girl Scouts is excited to host four weeks of exciting outdoor challenges in June. Follow along, have fun, then make sure to share your photos on Instagram using the hashtag #gsoutdoors for a chance to win an awesome prize from the North Face! You know what makes almost any activity more fun? Taking it outside! Enjoying the great outdoors can be done in so many ways—there’s no right or wrong as long as you’re enjoying yourself and respecting your neighbors. The point is to get outside, breathe that fresh air, and have fun with friends and family. To participate in this week’s challenge, pick one of the activities below! June 9-15: Throw a picnic. Whether you pick up sandwiches at the local deli and take them to the park or ask friends to contribute their favorite dishes to a bigger cookout, your day is sure to be delicious. Plan a field day. Invite friends to come out for a day full of games and fun. Team up for a soccer match or softball game, see who can score the most points on the basketball court, or find out who can jump-rope the longest. Sleep under the stars. Make the great outdoors your actual home for a night or two on a fun camping trip! After all, there’s nothing quite like stargazing right before bed and getting up with the sunrise. Can’t make it to a national park this week? Pitch a tent in your own backyard instead. Don’t forget to share pics of your adventure on Instagram with the hashtag #gsoutdoors! You could win BIG! For more great times, check out all the Outdoor badges you can earn as a Girl Scout! *** To power the next generation of women who push boundaries and move mountains, The North Face has recently teamed up with Girl Scouts of the USA to inspire girls to challenge themselves, learn about the natural world, and continue the Girl Scout tradition of having life-changing outdoor experiences. Through our multiyear collaboration, The North Face will support the development of 12 new Outdoor Adventure badges, with programming ranging from mountaineering and climbing to backpacking, hiking, and trail running. These 12 new Girl Scout badges, which will roll out over the next two years, will teach girls in virtually every U.S. zip code about the benefits of outdoor exploration. Learn more about this exciting collaboration. #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #outdoors #GSUSA #GreatOutdoorsMonth #gsoutdoors #adventure

Girl Scout Juniors are invited to “Explore It,” a free, fun, and interactive STEAM day camp hosted by the Museum of the West and the Bureau of Land Management, June 27 – 29, 2018! Girls will learn about dinosaurs, paleontology, geology, fossils, mining, and the history of early life in the Grand Valley through hands-on activities and visits to regional educational and historical sites. Girls will also visit the Museum of the West, Cross Orchards, the Mica Mine, Dinosaur Journey, Fruita Paleontological Area, and Dinosaur Hill. Here are highlights of what’s planned: • Visit Cross Orchards and learn about early life in Grand Valley (irrigation agriculture, fruit packing, train transportation). Learn about pioneer kids and what the daily life of a child 125 years ago was like and ride the train. • Hike Bangs Canyon Trailhead to the Mica Mine and focus on the engineering challenge of historical mining. • Tour collections and prep labs at Dinosaur Journey to learn about science and methods in paleontology and stewardship of fossils. Dissect and owl pellet and build a dinosaur. • Visit the Museum of the West and learn about tools and science of Archaeology with real artifacts. • Hike Dinosaur Hill Loop and learn about regional geology from experts and the Apatosaurus at Riggs Quarry. • Hike the Fruita Paleontological Area and Loop to learn about sedimentary rocks. The camp is based at the Museum of the West in Grand Junction, but will explore many sites in the area. Camp starts at 9 a.m. each day and will end around 4 p.m. The camp is FREE for Girl Scout Juniors thanks to the Museum of the West and the Bureau of Land Management. To register, please go to https://goo.gl/9YR6z6 . Registration deadline is June 22, but with only 30 spots available, we expect this camp to fill fast! Volunteers are needed! We’re also looking for a few adult volunteers to help with transportation and older girl volunteers to help younger Girl Scouts at the camp. Adult volunteers transporting Girl Scouts will need to be approved volunteers per GSCO’s volunteer policies. If you are interested in volunteering, you can sign-up at – https://goo.gl/MfnouU . Questions? please contact Lori Thompson at lori.thompson@gscolorado.org. Thank you! #daycamp #MuseumoftheWest #GSCOevents #STEM #GrandJunction #WesternSlope #GirlScoutJuniors #STEAM #BureauofLandManagement

Submitted by Penny Roberts Northern & Northeastern CO Meadow Mountain Ranch It’s not too late to sign up for the fifth annual Women’s Week July 23 – 26, 2018 at Meadow Mountain Ranch near Allenspark. Summer is blossoming in the Colorado high country, and the wild iris and soon the columbine will be blanketing the meadows and woods at our home-away-from-home. Open to any gals at least 18 years of age, Women’s Week has brought together ladies from all over the country – – from Maine and Connecticut to Washington, Oregon, Utah and Nevada  – – friends who tell friends, and moms who bring daughters and grand-daughters. It’s a spectacular, easy, and fun way to get away from everything that tugs and pulls at us these days and just go to camp and play. Participants don’t need to be Girl Scouts or even ever attended camp.  Friends, co-workers, camp alums, GSCO staff members, board members, let’s all come and join the fun! What do we do there? ANYTHING WE WANT ! If you can imagine it or remember it or bring it with you to share, we can fit it into the schedule. Fly kites? Make crafts? Take a hike? Sing into the night? Sleep out in the back meadow? Do archery? Help with cooking and firebuilding? Can you lead a session of yoga, drumming, dancing, drama, art? We’ll gather a group for you most any time of day. Where do we sleep? In the regular units in the “tabins,” close in or farther away from main camp. Larkspur is our headquarters, but you can stay in Lyra or Meeker’s Bluff for a little more peace and quiet. Food? Of course, and it’s great! Our food service gals go all out to create delectable delicacies not always imagined out in the woods. We’ve cooked rhubarb jam, baked cakes in dutch ovens, held a chili cook-off just like on TV, taken a progressive “jungle breakfast” hike, and dug a bean hole!  We can accommodate dietary restrictions easily. We’ll try to cook out most meals in the unit over an open fire and have fun experimenting with more advanced cooking techniques (per fire restrictions, of course). Some new and firm friendships have been made and some old old old acquaintances rekindled at Women’s Week. Of special note is that on Wednesday morning, July 25, we will hold a special dedication ceremony for the new Pinecrest Memorial Unit Shelter. We’ll “cut the ribbon” and talk about the creation of this new addition to MMR, which will hopefully attract groups large and small to this outpost-type setting. Donors will be on hand as well as some staff and board members to celebrate this milestone. Below is the information flyer and additional details can be obtained from the very informal camp director, Penny Roberts, at probertscolo@gmail.com. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too. 2018 Women’s Week publicity flyer #alumnae #womensweek #GSCOevents #NorthernampNortheasternCO #MeadowMountainRanch #alumnaenew

Not sure what to give your daughter, mother, or friend for her birthday? Want to honor a special troop leader or cookie dad? Give them a Daisy’s Circle membership! Join Daisy’s Circle monthly giving program for a minimum of 12 months in your honoree’s name. The honoree will receive notification of your gift as well as the benefits of being a member including patches, pins, and Daisy’s Circle updates. Join by completing the form here (http://gscodaisyscircle.org/join-give-honor). Questions? Contact donor relations manager Carol Griffin at carol.griffin@gscolorado.org or (303) 607-4879. #DaisysCircle #funddevelopment

As we head toward the finish line of a successful and memorable Girl Scout year, remember that your girls’ journeys have just begun. Come back next year for what promises to be another season full of unmatchable adventure at a place where girls can always take the lead, not stand in the background. Any girl renewed by June 15, 2018 will receive a free Early Bird patch . Any troop that has completed the Annual Troop Report for this membership year and has two, unrelated Troop Leadership Team members renewed by June 15 will receive a $25 credit to the Girl Scouts of Colorado Shop. #EarlyBird #VolunteerNews

She’s a G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, I nnovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ force to be reckoned with, and we can help her unleash that unstoppable greatness again. Together, let’s make sure she benefits from another extraordinary year of positive energy, excitement, and experiences that build the skills she needs today and tomorrow—– all in a place designed specifically to bring out the very best in her. Because at Girl Scouts, everything she will do is with, by, and for girls. And research shows there’s no better place for her to discover her full potential. Girl Scouts is also the only  place where girls can work toward and earn the Gold Award—– one of the most prestigious awards for girls in the world (and a great boost when it comes to college applications, scholarship opportunities, establishing a lifetime network, and so much more)! Renew Today Girl Scouts: preparing girls for a lifetime of leadership, success, and adventure. Check out our incredible new PSA , “Lifetime of Leadership,” which celebrates notable Girl Scout alums and their amazing accomplishments and is narrated by Girl Scout alum, Queen Latifah. The incredible women featured in the video – including U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Susan Collins, Melinda Gates, Dolores Huerta, and Tyra Banks – serve as role models for today’s girls and young women, and they powerfully reflect the impact Girl Scouts have and what they are truly made of. Please feel free to share it on your social media channels to show how @girlscouts and @gscolo have been taking the lead for more than a century. Be sure to use #becauseofGirlScouts when sharing your Girl Scout story. Drama-free summer camp? No problem? Whether you’re about to send your girl off to overnight summer camp, or she’s just about to come home, you should know there are a few things you can do as a parent to decrease the drama and up the fun factor for everyone. Here’s the scoop from Girl Scouts Developmental Psychologist Andrea Bastiani Archibald, Ph.D. on how to make it work for you. Tips for camp Camp like a G.I.R.L. There’s no better place to step out of your comfort zone, be bold, be curious, embrace the unfamiliar, and grow your confidence than at Girl Scout Camp. It’s a whole new world, and it’s a place you’ll never forget! There are still a few spots open at later summer sessions and day camps. View the session list here and search “open.” Join Daisy’s Circle Monthly Giving We are Girl Scout Sisters. We often talk about the benefits girls receive by being members of Girl Scouts: New skills, confidence, and lifelong friendships, to name a few. We never really talk about what adults get out of Girl Scouting. It’s so easy to join! The bigger the circle, the bigger the impact! Join today Upcoming Events June 2: Gold Award Girl Scout’s Computer Drive, 10-12 Accepting the following: desktop computers, laptop computers, monitors (not CRTs), keyboards, mouse, speakers, and cables. June 10: Girl Scout Swim Party at Pirates Cove, Englewood June 15: Girl Scout Bridging and Overnight with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox July 27 – 29: Elitch Gardens Girl Scout Days August 10: Reach for the Peak, Sky High Ranch August 17: Cave of the Winds Sleepover, Manitou Springs August 26: Scout Day with the Colorado Rockies Want event details delivered to your inbox weekly? Sign up for Events email at gscoblog.org. #Connections

From Girl Scouts of the USA In celebration of National Great Outdoors Month, Girl Scouts is excited to host four weeks of exciting outdoor challenges in June. Follow along, have fun, then make sure to share your photos on Instagram using the hashtag #gsoutdoors for a chance to win an awesome prize from the North Face! Girl Scouts will take you far in life, but how far you go during this week’s outdoor adventure is totally up to you! The point is to get outside, breathe that fresh air, and have fun with friends and family. To participate, choose one of the activities below, set a goal for yourself, then get moving! June 1-8: Go on a discovery walk or hike. Whether you take an after-dinner stroll around your neighborhood with your family or hike to the highest point in your area with friends, take the time to really look at your surroundings and appreciate the world around you. Bring a notebook to jot down details you’d like to read more about online when you get home. Maybe you can figure out what kinds of trees are planted on your street, or learn the name of a bird you encountered on your excursion. Run like the wind. Did you know that working up a sweat can actually boost your mood? It’s true! Lace up those sneakers and hit the track or even just take a few laps around your block. There’s no need to be the fastest or go the farthest—just put one foot in front of the other at your own pace. If it’s especially warm where you live, try running in the morning or in the early evening before sunset. Get rolling. Hop on a bike, strap on some rollerblades, or hit the skate park with your board for an awesome afternoon out. Want to share the fun? Bring along a friend or younger family member who’s been wanting to learn how to ride or skate. Don’t forget to share pics of your adventure on Instagram with the hashtag #gsoutdoors! You could win BIG! For more great times, check out all the Outdoor badges you can earn as a Girl Scout! **** To power the next generation of women who push boundaries and move mountains, The North Face has recently teamed up with Girl Scouts of the USA to inspire girls to challenge themselves, learn about the natural world, and continue the Girl Scout tradition of having life-changing outdoor experiences. Through our multiyear collaboration, The North Face will support the development of 12 new Outdoor Adventure badges, with programming ranging from mountaineering and climbing to backpacking, hiking, and trail running. These 12 new Girl Scout badges, which will roll out over the next two years, will teach girls in virtually every U.S. zip code about the benefits of outdoor exploration. Learn more about this exciting collaboration. #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #outdoors #GSUSA #GreatOutdoorsMonth #gsoutdoors #adventure #TheNorthFace

Submitted by Marcia Roe Metro Denver Westminster Join Troop 1359 for an adventure filled weekend at Magic Sky July 20 – 22, 2018 with Max from Where the Wild Things Are, The Little Prince, Merida, and many more. The stories are just the start to the stories and camp memories we will make this weekend because the best stories are those we live ourselves. $70 for GSCO girl members $50 for GSCO safetywise adult members Payments https://troop-1359.cheddarup.com Questions? Contact Marcia Roe at ocmc1359@gmail.com This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too. #MagicSkyRanch #GSCOevents #Westminster #NorthernampNortheasternCO #troopcamp #MetroDenver #camp