Submitted by Serenity Christensen Metro Denver Commerce City Hello Scouts and Families, My name is Serenity Christensen. I am proud to announce that our Cadette Troop 64393 with Sunset Hills Service Unit is hosting a Hollywood: Night at the Oscars-Red Carpet Family Dance on January 14, 2017. This epic event will take place at 9755 Henderson Road at the Adams County Fairgrounds in the Waymire Dome from 6 – 9 p.m. Dress for the occasion because you could be nominated for our very own special oscars award (if you want of course). There will be a photo booth, live DJ, refreshments, snacks, and even door prize opportunities. Troop 64393 has custom designed our own patch for this event as well. Please don’t miss this amazing opportunity to come out with your families and friends and have an amazing time. The cost is $7 pre-purchased or it is $8 at the door. Please use this link: http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2017/hollywood_oscars_red.html This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Hollywood #CommerceCity #Oscars #MetroDenver #familydance

Submitted by Lisa Patterson Pikes Peak Colorado Springs Troop 43592 participated in November’s 100 Acts of Service for the Pikes Peak Region. For their Act of Service, Troop 43592 decided to bake holiday breads and donate them to Tri-Lakes Cares. They baked 47 different packages of bread which were given out with holiday baskets in the Pikes Peak region. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #ColoradoSprings #PikesPeak #TriLakesCares

Submitted by Charon Dyer Metro Denver Aurora Troop 60287 went to the Parade of Lights in Denver and showing up early paid off. We got to meet Santa! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Aurora #MetroDenver #ParadeofLights

Junior Girls Scouts had an amazing experience at the Intellectual Property Patch Event! 29 Juniors learned about patents, trademarks, and how to patent their own inventions from the expert attorneys, software companies and the U.S. Patent Office. Did you know that women account for less than 20% of U.S. patents granted? This event highlighted many great inventions have been patented by women and encouraged our girls to invent great things and get a patent! Here are girls are learning about what a patent is, how important it is, and the technical parts of a patent. They had to draw a beach towel that provided complete sun coverage just from patent instructions. The girls also had to brainstorm ideas on how to improve the product to be included in a potential patent. We had some pretty creative Girl Scouts! The Girl Scouts also learned about trademarks and had to come up with an original trademark, song, cheer, or poem that described them. They also learned how to protect what they created with copyrights. There were some great songs and logos! A favorite part was the Passport to Intellectual Property fair where Girl Scouts visited directly with patent attorneys and companies that had really interesting patented technical inventions. They had to visit booths, give the inventions a try, and then get a stamp to earn their IP patch. Girl Scouts were also able to earn requirements towards their Junior Product Designer Badge. Here Girl Scouts are learning about the four parts of patent law from attorneys from Gordon & Rees using Pez dispensers. The U.S. Patent Office team shared info about Juliette Gordon Low, who holds two patents – one for the Trefoil and for a paper trash can liner. Girl Scouts used Low’s patent to make a small version of the liner from the exact instructions on her patent. Girl Scouts tried some GPS mapping with Trimble. · Julie Kane Akhter, Microsoft, the event organizer. Julie’s Girl Scout knowledge and professional expertise helped ensure this was a great event! · Megan Griggs, Intellectual Property Owners Association. We appreciated Megan’s support on logistics and the event patch for our Girl Scouts! · Molly Kocialski, Director, Rocky Mountain Reginal US Patent and Trade Mark Office. Molly and her team provided great instruction, support and a comfortable venue for the event! We loved the presentations shared with the girls by these talented folks: · Craig Mueller, Sheridan Ross P.C., who taught the girls about patents. · Sarah Burrows, HP, Inc., who taught the girls what’s needed to copyright their intellectual property. · Sarah Schneider, Sheridan Ross P.C., who taught our girls the importance of trademarks. Thank you to the IPO Education Foundation, IPO Women in IP Committee, and Google for sponsoring the event! A big thank you to these organizations that shared their inventions and expertise at the fair: · US Patent and Trademark Office · Rocky Mountain Patent Office · Gordon & Rees · HP · Medtronic · Merchant & Gould · Microsoft · Sheridan Ross P.C. · Trimble A big thank you to Carole Vowell and Cindy Miller for GSCO support at the event! Upcoming Events · Operation Hope’s Banking on Our Future Financial Literacy workshop for older girls, Dec. 10, 2016, Denver. Cadettes and older will learn about budgeting, saving, and financing their dreams. Find more event info here. · Girl Scout Day with the Colorado Avalanche, Jan 14, 2017. Join us for annual day with the Avs. Pre-game cookie rally and a co-branded GSCO/Avalanche hat planned. Find ticket info here. Questions or interested in learning more about these events? Contact GSCO Community Partnerships Manager Lori Thompson. #Communitypartnerships #Denvermetro #GirlScoutevents

Greetings from the Outdoor Adventure Club! This pilot program has taken off and gotten girls outside and in touch with nature. In the OAC, girls have: Tried beginning camping skills at Meadow Mountain Ranch Gone rock climbing inside Garden of the Gods with an overnight stay at Hamp Hut Experienced archery, orienteering and scrambling/rock climbing at Magic Sky Ranch We are looking forward to even more adventures in 2017. This pilot program got started quickly after a brainstorming session with our Board of Directors about how to keep older girls interested in Girl Scouting and capitalize on the wonderful outdoor opportunities at our doorstep. We came up with a skeleton plan and got going – the excitement we’ve felt from girls and their families is contagious! We priced the passport very low so it would not be a barrier to entry for girls, and as a pilot program we wanted to generate initial interest. We sold 120 passports at $195/girl in no time at all, and we closed enrollment so we could best serve these outdoorsy girls! What goes into this price? Great question! After running our first OAC events, we realize that each event is like a pop-up resident camp for 120 girls at a different location around the state — talk about logistics! Here are a few things that go into this cost per girl: Lodging: Sometimes we use GSCO properties, sometimes we don’t…either way, we have costs for overnight experiences. Food: We pay an average of $7/meal per girl when she attends and eats at OAC events. Often we have girls bring sack lunches to help keep this cost down. Transportation: Once we are at one location, if it doesn’t have our activity there are buses to reserve! Giant charter and school buses cost $1,000s per day to reserve. Administrative Staff: Each event takes lots of coordination on the administrative side to set up the event online, communicate with parents, and create rosters, health sheets, sign-in paperwork, etc. Program Staff: Along with our amazing volunteers, we have 3-4 program staff who save time out of their regular schedules to work our events on the weekends. Outdoor Vendors: Because we are serving a huge number of girls on a large scale with highly skilled outdoor activities we don’t always have volunteers who are (1) trained, (2) in proximity, and (3) readily available, for our needs. Because of this, we use vendors who can work with us to give a discount, but we still incur costs per girl for outdoor activities. We are so grateful to the families who are participating this year.  It has been exciting and a great opportunity to get to know the girls and their desires as older Girl Scouts. Looking ahead into 2017: We anticipate that there will be price increases. It is our goal to keep this as affordable as possible, but with an actual cost of about $1,400 per passport, we know the price needs to increase to keep the program going. We anticipate separating girls by ages a bit. We know that 6th grade feels young and once you get a year of middle school under your belt it’s easier to mix with older girls. We are playing around with ideas of doing programs specifically for 6th graders and then for the older girls too. We want to increase the numbers of girls served! We want to increase availability of programs around the state! If you have any program, transportation, or other resources you think would be helpful for this new project, please let us know! Contact anna.danila@gscolorado.org with your resource and idea suggestions. #OAC #oldergirls

Northern & Northeastern CO Frederick As part of the Girl Scouts “Colorado Commitment to Caring” Troop 70413 collected more than 250 books for “Book Drive.” The girls have chosen several different organizations to donate to such as, “Reach Out and Read,” Mountain States Children’s Home, and “Friends of the Library.” This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #bookdrive #ColoradoCommitmenttoCaring #Frederick #NorthernampNortheasternCO

Submitted by Debra Zerr Metro Denver Arvada When I received the news that my project was approved and I earned the Gold Award in March 2016, I leaped with joy. My favorite part was sharing the good news with all the military I worked with. They were ecstatic and couldn’t wait to celebrate with me at my private ceremony in August. The greatest part about doing Gold or any project with Girl Scouts is you can easily fall in love with what you did or are doing. I love “Connecting & Protecting” so much. What it stands for, who stands behind it, and the stories of results. It feels so amazing to know I started it and people are noticing. There’s so many exciting updates I have to share with all of you! “Connecting & Protecting” (aka me) took on the 22 Push-Up challenge for 22Kill and started a Youtube channel! I also launched the first C&P t-shirt to raise money for 22Kill! Finally, the most exciting news of all. I’ve been working hard on delivering more fun events/challenges. This past summer, I hosted the very first obstacle course and now, after speaking with people I have received ten requests for the obstacle course to occur summer 2017! Jeffco Libraries and my church will be hosting, so keep a look out! I strongly encourage more girls to do projects they absolutely love with all their heart and soul. You will not ever regret it. website: connectingprotecting.com This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Arvada #GoldAward #MetroDenver #USMilitary

Submitted by Carolyn Decker Northern & Northeastern CO Longmont Join us for a super-powered, superhero camp!!! The Seniors and Cadettes of Troop 78527 are hosting an adventurous superhero camp for Brownies and Juniors. This camp is all about discovering what you are capable of and how to achieve it. There will be tons of fun games and activities, where each girl will discover her superpowers and learn to use them. She’ll get a chance to learn how to fight evil and get all kinds of creative with her secret identity. She will create her own jewelry with sparkling stones that represent her superpowers. Girls will also design their own mini-sidekick and flowing cape to wear to supercharge their fight for good. Girls will get to enjoy camping with their troop in heated cabins, and eat delicious food provided by Tomahawk Ranch and have a super time having fun with older girls winter camping. Where: Tomahawk Ranch Girl Scout Camp near Bailey, Colorado southwest of Denver When: Friday, January 20 to Sunday, January 22, 2017 Arrive beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday for dinner and the start of all the fun festivities. Depart at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The deadline for registration is December 15, 2016. Please look on the GSCO event page for the registration form and flyer. Use superhero as a keyword! Girls must attend with adults. The camp costs $100 for each girl attending and $55 for each adult. (Adults over safety-wise ratios must pay $100) Cost includes activities, lodging, five meals and snacks, and a Superhero fun patch. Questions? Please contact Maria Cross at cross.maria.e@gmail.com or at 703-597-6188. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #JuniorGirlScouts #NorthernampNortheasternCO #BrownieGirlScouts #Longmont #TomahawkRanch #events

When friends or family ask what your girl might want this holiday season, suggest the gift of Girl Scout Camp! Grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. can order a Girl Scouts of Colorado Gift Card online or purchase one in person at the Girl Scouts of Colorado Shop. Registration for Girl Scout Camp 2017 begins Jan. 19 at 9 a.m. on the Girl Scouts of Colorado website at girlscoutsofcolorado.org. GSCO is proud to offer a variety of sessions designed for girls entering first grade through seniors in high school at both Sky High Ranch near Colorado Springs or Tomahawk Ranch southwest of Denver. Overnight camp sessions are 3 days, 6 days, 9 days, or 12 days. For summer 2017, your girl can rough-it survivor-style, summon the courage to zip down the zip line, sing and dance with new friends, or even paint a chicken’s toe nails! Sessions begin June 7 and include themes such as: Pioneers at Tomahawk Ranch- Girls will travel back in time to the 1800’s! They’ll learn to cook over a fire, prepare food as their ancestors did, track animals, and make their own soaps and lotion. Oopy Goopy Science at Sky High Ranch – Girls will learn how to launch pop and tea bag rockets, explode watermelons, and make fizzy lemonade to drink. On Target at Tomahawk Ranch – Girls can become skilled archers while practicing on the range and field course and learning a new target activity called FLU-FLU (archery golf)! They’ll also get to whittle their own arrows and fashion them with arrowheads and fletching! Water Fillies at Sky High Ranch – Cool off from a day at the barn with a dip in the pond! Girls will split their time between the pond and barn. They’ll canoe, kayak, and stand-up paddle board, as well as groom, feed and play with the animals. Dream Team at Tomahawk Ranch – This is the ultimate girl-led adventure! Girls will design their own session by choosing from a variety of activities including: horseback riding, archery, outdoor cooking, hiking, crafts, stargazing, roasting marshmallows around a campfire, and spa nights! Girl Scouts of Colorado will also continue to offer day camp, family camp, and troop camp adventures throughout the state. A new Girl Scouts of Colorado summer camp website will launch in early December (www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/camp). You’ll find all the session listings, information about camp properties, and more. Remember to register early. Some sessions fill in just a few hours! #SkyHighRanch #GirlScoutCamp #TomahawkRanch #GirlScoutsofColoradogiftcards #GirlScoutCamp2017

What did you do for your Gold Award project? I created Operation Eagle which is a high school club that addresses the issues of the U.S. military’s need of supplies that give them some comfort from home, narrows the emotional gap between soldiers overseas and their community/home, and addresses the lack of military knowledge in our community.  Operation Eagle aims to send as many care packages as possible to troops overseas to help the soldiers feel loved and supported, as well as to spread awareness of our troops in the community. To involve more of the community, individual Operation Eagle members visited elementary schools to work with students to write positive letters of support that were mailed to troops overseas. The troops benefit from this project because they receive supplies that they desperately need and gain a feeling of love and support from the communities that they left behind. Communities also benefit because they gain knowledge about what military life is really like in parts of the world where there is life and death conflict and communities also receive satisfaction by knowing that they helped support the people that are constantly sacrificing in order to preserve our freedom. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? Pictures of our smiling troops surrounded by packages collected by Operation Eagle efforts are extremely gratifying and proof of our immediate impact on U.S. soldiers. It is very apparent that our heroes know of the love and support from this community. The cards, letters, donated items, and shipping box decorating identify the care and concern from our community towards our troops.  This level of effort and love is a sure sign that the educational efforts provided by OE are having a positive and lasting effect on our military. It is also apparent that OE club members have gained skills as well, one being the ability to communicate with principals, teachers, students, and other club members. How is your project sustainable?  How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? My project will be sustained since the teacher sponsor of Operation Eagle has committed to continue the club past my involvement. A current underclassman will be taking on the leadership position of this club once I have graduated. Long-term impact of Operation Eagle would be the continuation of the impact OE is currently having on our troops and on our community.  It would be the continuing education of students and community members of what military life is like, as well as the teaching on the needs of our soldiers.  It would also be continuing to collect cards, letters, and needed items for our military. But, the most important long-term impact of OE would be that our troops continue to feel the love and support from all of us, the people they choose to put their lives on the line for every day. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? Sending letters and needed items to our soldiers connects us to our loved ones, even when they are thousands of miles away. The soldiers feel closer as well. The global link to my project is that Operation Eagle is connecting communities with overseas soldiers.  Communities are giving thanks and showing appreciation to our troops by sending care packages; and community members are also supporting fellow community members by supporting their loved ones in the military. What did you learn about yourself? Not only have I discovered so much about myself throughout my project, I have also discovered a great deal about the world around me, and how I can make the world a better place. I chose to start Operation Eagle because I saw a problem in the world that I wanted to help eliminate. After finding a worldwide problem and doing whatever I could to help extinguish it, I discovered that I will seek more world problems in the future and do whatever I can to help. I discovered the type of person that I want to be. I want to be someone who makes a difference in the world and perseveres to reach her goals. I want to be a person who seeks challenges to overcome.  I encountered many challenges during my project, but I always stayed true to myself and I always kept my goal in mind.  I discovered who I am through my project.  I am a leader, a helper, a problem solver, and a confident young woman. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? I have learned so much about myself during this process and the type of person that I want to be and I know that this project is only the beginning. Because of Operation Eagle I want to, and am going to, seek world problems and help solve them, because the feeling of helping others and being kind is truly invaluable.  I have become a leader and I know these skills will grow in the future.  I am going to continue to help others, be kind, be confident, and make the world a better place. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? Besides the great feeling of helping the community and giving back, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I think it is very important to finish something that you’ve started. The Gold Award sums up my whole Girl Scout experience. I have implemented all of the skills learned from Girls Scouts into this project. **IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #HeritageHighSchool #GoldAward #HighestAwards #Littleton #OperationEagle #Denvermetro

THANK YOU to all of the girls, adult volunteers, and customers who helped make the 2016 Fall Sale Program a huge success! We had a 66% increase in girl participation from 2015 and a 74% increase in sales. Also, more than 3,500 girls earned the Fall Sale portion of the GSCO S’mores Club. Remember: To earn the S’mores Club reward, girls must also sell at least 275 packages of Girl Scout Cookies during the 2017 Cookie Sale Program. All Fall Sale product has now been delivered to Service Unit Fall Sale Managers. Girl rewards have been ordered and will be delivered to Service Unit Fall Sale Managers the week of December 5, 2016. If you have questions or concerns, please email inquiry@gscolorado.org. #2016FallSale #SmoresClub #GirlScoutCookies #FallSaleProgram #2017GirlScoutCookiesSale

UPDATE: THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016. Did you know that Juliette Gordon Low, our founder, was an inventor with two patents? Her most famous patent was for the Girl Scout trefoil. Low originally created a trefoil shaped badge that symbolizes the three parts of the Girl Scout promise. This trefoil design has been a registered trademark identifying Girl Scouts for more than 100 years. Low’s second patent was a utility patent for a liquid container to use in a trash can. Junior Girls Scouts have a great opportunity to carry on Low’s inventive spirit at the upcoming Intellectual Property Patch Event, Saturday, Dec. 3 in Denver. The Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Education Foundation and IPO Women in IP Committee will host a day of fun, hands-on activities and presentations where Girl Scouts can explore how inventors solve problems and use intellectual property laws to protect their ideas and creations. They will learn about patents and design a trademark. Scouts will also visit with volunteers from local law firms and corporations on how their organizations use intellectual property to support innovation. Event activities complement the Junior Product Designer badge and girls will be able to complete some of the badge requirements at this event. This event is only for Junior Girl Scouts and is free. Space is limited to the first 50 Junior Girl Scouts and spots will fill quickly for this fun workshop. Girl Scouts can register at this link – https://goo.gl/hpyL5j . Registration deadline is November 30. Questions? Please contact Colleen Wellington-Caban at 202.507.4500 or Foundation@ipo.org. #Communitypartnerships #Denver #MetroDenver #events #ntellectualPropertyPatchEvent