Submitted by Linda Robinson Northern & Northeastern CO Loveland In September 1995, Ceal Barry (former CU women’s basketball coach) came to Loveland to help Girl Scouts Mountain Prairie Council with a fundraiser. Cadette/Senior Troop 782 was asked to help. Pictured here are Debi Ferguson, Jessica Robinson, Ceal Barry, Cindy Robinson and Elizabeth Ferguson. These girls are all grown up now. I hope they remember their time in Troop 782 with fond memories #Loveland #NorthernampNortheasternCO #ThrowbackThursday

Submitted by Kaylin Region 6 – Metro Denver Arvada For my Girl Scout Silver Award Project, I made Blessing Bags for cancer patients at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center in downtown Denver. The people receiving these bags were people who were undergoing chemo treatment at the center. My grandma got chemo treatment there and I remembered that she got a bag like this one time and she was so happy with it and it made her day. I wanted even more people to experience that light in their day also. I got the help from my community by getting donations to help make the blessing bags. I made 125 bags from the donations and delivered them on August 4, 2016. I was not able to deliver them directly to the patients, but I left them in the hands of Kelly, who is the office coordinator, and she was going to pass out 25 bags a day for a week. I learned that by the help of many different people we can make 125 people smile in their time of darkness. I think the impact that my project had on my community is that I could make those people’s day and do it while earning my Silver Award. I am hoping that someone from the families of the people who got them would think about maybe doing the same thing that I did by making these bags. I learned that no matter how old you are that you can bring a group of people together to make something great happen. Overall, this was an amazing project that I am very proud of. I will forever remember it and I’m very pleased that I could do this project. I think that I honored the Girl Scout Law by helping people at all times and helping them smile and have a good day. #Arvada #SilverAward #RockyMountainCancerCenter #BlessingBags #Denvermetro

Get your scouts outside this weekend! In honor of the National Park Service’s 100th birthday, get your Girl Scouts outside during free entrance days to national parks this weekend! When: August 25-28 September 24 (National Public Lands Day) November 11 (Veteran’s Day) Learn more about free days at our National Parks! Can’t get to a National Park? That’s ok, just get your Girl Scouts outside at a local park, open space, nature center or other local outdoor resource in your community! #freeNationalParkDays #Scoutsoutside

Girl Scouts of Colorado is proud to announce the availability of our first Council’s Own badge.  Each Girl Scout Council is permitted to develop up to six Council’s Own badges, which are earned awards completely unique to the council. Our first badge, “Urban Orienteering in the Capital,” was developed by Cadette Girl Scout Troop 63573 from Denver.  Initially, the troop developed this project to help all girls learn to navigate an urban environment, as their Silver Award project.  At the end of the project, the troop was so enthusiastic about the opportunities that this project offered, that it decided to take it a step further and worked to develop a formal Girl Scout badge. The 11 girls who worked on this project have big dreams for their badge. According to their leader, Kristin Coulter: We chose the topic of Urban Orienteering because we live in the city and because we love to travel.   We are 7th and 8th graders and we wanted to feel confident navigating a city safely while using different methods of transportation and we thought other girls would as well.  Our badge is ideal for any Cadette that wants to know her own city, or is traveling or moving to a city. We know that Girl Scouts emphasizes outdoor activities.  Our troop loves getting outdoors and enjoying nature.  We competed in Reach for the Peak this year and will do so again.  We have skied, hiked, and traveled to Costa Rica together but nothing has prepared us to manage the city. The Cadette Urban Orienteering in the Capital badge is now available of purchase in the shop.  Badge activity instructions can be downloaded at no charge here:  http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/content/dam/girlscoutsofcolorado/documents/Urban%20Orienteering%20in%20the%20Capitol.pdf Girl Scouts of Colorado would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the tremendous work accomplished by Troop 63573.  We are honored that our first Council’s Own badge was developed by girls, for girls, and look forward to working with other girls, troops and volunteers on similar projects in the future. #CouncilsOwn #UrbanOrienteering

Submitted by Beth Bradshaw Hello! My name is Beth and I am a co-leader for a Brownie troop in North Carolina. Our girls will be starting back soon and their first badge to earn will be the “Making Friends” badge. Well, we had a awesome idea/opportunity! We would like the girls to send and receive a postcard from every state and a few countries (which to our amazement we already have lined up!). Would this be something you would be interested in? If so, please email me at mbradshaw1984@yahoo.com #Brownies #makingfriendsbadge #postcardexchange

Submitted by Cricket Hawkins Mountain Communities Steamboat Springs Troop 54313 participated in the Reach for the Peak Older Girl Outdoor Skills Competition and had a great time with their Leader Chris Kucera. Girl Scouts learned a lot and earned their Marmot Award! It was a very intense day, but they really felt like they were competing against the judge’s score sheet, not other troops. All of the judges told them their teamwork and communication skills were great! They learned where they need to be in order to raise their ranking, and it was inspiring to see how many troops in the higher awards categories (including the winners) started out with the Marmot. Troop 54313 wants to challenge all Cadette, Senior and Ambassador troops to try this event. They know that it is a lot of work to learn the necessary skills, but so worth it. Reach for the Peak judges: Watch out for Troop 54313 next year! #MountainCommuni #PikesPeak #ReachforthePeak #SteamboatSprings

Submitted by Cricket Hawkins Mountain Communities Steamboat Springs On August 10, 2016, returning and potential new Daisy Girl Scouts experienced an evening of fun activities with girls from Cadette Troop 54313 while staff met with parents. Service Unit Manager Nancy Mucklow provided hot dogs and s’mores cooked on a real campfire while families enjoyed a warm midsummer’s evening in Lincoln Park in the ‘boat’. #mountaincommunities #NationalSmoresDay #recruitment #SteamboatSprings

Submitted by Alyssa and Mia, Troop 3671 Pikes Peak Colorado Springs Our Girl Scout Silver Award Take Action project was a lot of fun, especially when we got to drop off the result and see how grateful they were. It took a long time to complete, but it was worth it. Alyssa and I, Mia, decided to build a feral cat shelter for the Pikes Peak Humane Society with the help of Mr. Sonnenberg, our builder. We were able to create an everlasting change in our community as planned by helping feral cats in need of shelter from the harsh weather in Colorado. Both of us learned that doing projects like this weren’t as easy as they looked. We had to do a lot of coordination and planning to complete this project all in the span of a couple of days. Yet, it really did teach us that directing someone was harder than expected! A lot of times, we had to help with positioning something correctly or holding a board in place to be drilled. Overall, though, it was worth the effort to finally finish it all. Alyssa and I are excited to see what’s in it for us when we get around to our Gold Award. #ColoradoSprings #PikesPeak #PikesPeakHumaneSociety #SilverAward

Submitted by Julie Romney Denver Metro Aurora Who wants to join these cute synchronized swimmers and learn the OLYMPIC sport of SYNCHRO! Have your girls been watching the Olympics and are ready to dive in and try it!!?? Rocky Mountain Splash is hosting their 11th annual Girl Scout Synchro Day on September 10, 2016 from 1:30-4:30 p.m. (at Range View High School in Aurora). This fun filled afternoon will give your Girl Scout an opportunity to MEET an Olympic Synchro swimmer, learn a routine in the water with our nationally ranked synchro team, discover the secret how synchronized swimmers keep their hair perfect in the water, and even get their hair and make-up done just like the Olympians! For just $25, you get three hours of fun, a healthy snack and a fun patch! Space is limited to the first 50 girls! Register now at njromney@gmail.com. #Aurora #Denvermetro #GirlScoutSynchronizedSwimmingDay

The Colorado Avalanche invite Girl Scouts, friends, and family to join their community Family Movie Night on Sept. 10, 2016 at 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center and an upcoming Colorado Avalanche Hockey game!  Here are the event details: Date & Time: Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Movie: “Inside Out” Pixar movie and will have some small concessions open. Seats are in the lower level of the Pepsi Center. Additional Bonus: Ticket buyers can redeem an additional ticket for one of two Avalanche game choices on 10/28 or 1/6 (both weekend choices) in the upper level admission section. Cost: $30/person (includes both the Family Movie Night event and the game ticket – 2 events for the price of one!) Registration: Purchase tickets through this link – www.avstix.com/FMN2016 Questions?: Please contact Kiley Long at 303-405-7625 or Kiley.Long@TeamKSE.com See this flyer for more info. Hope you enjoy these fun events! Family Movie Night1617 Save the date for our own Girl Scout Day with the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, January 14, 2017! More details about fun program opportunities and the game are coming soon! #ColoradoAvalanche #Denver #Denvermetro

From Girl Scouts of the USA Something magical happened at Walt Disney World. On Thursday, the Crown Princess Elena of Avalor—Disney’s first Latina princess and star of Disney Channel’s new animated series Elena of Avalor—made her royal debut at Magic Kingdom. And Girl Scouts of Citrus was there to give her a royal welcome! As part of the royal debut, the inaugural Elena of Avalor—Scepter of Light Award was presented at the Cinderella Castle stage to Orlando Girl Scout Ashley Chico, who recently received her Girl Scout Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest recognition a Girl Scout can earn, with recipients completing Take Action projects that demonstrate extraordinary leadership, including compassion, critical thinking, collaboration, and courage—the very leadership qualities that Elena of Avalor models. For her project, 17-year-old Ashley developed the CHICO HealthCare app, which allows patients who are illiterate to share their personal and medical information via tablet, using voice recognition in any language, so that they can register to receive medical care. Ashley celebrated her incredible achievement by spending the day at Magic Kingdom with her sisters (who are also Girl Scouts!) where they met Jenna Ortega, the voice of Princess Isabel! Members of the Girl Scouts of Citrus council were on stage to represent Girl Scouts of the USA’s and Disney Channel’s new collaboration, a week after the two organizations announced they are teaming up to inspire girls and their families to practice leadership with the debut of The Elena of Avalor Leadership Guide by Girl Scouts and Disney Channel. Available in English and Spanish, the guide showcases activities and conversations parents and caregivers can engage their preschool through fifth-grade girls in to boost their everyday leadership skills and prepare them to create the future they imagine. Check out more magical highlights from Thursday’s event below: Ready to help your girl take the lead and make the world a better place? Join the Movement. #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #GoldAward #ElenaofAvalor #ScepterofLightAward #DisneyWorld

Region Pikes Peak Colorado Springs With some searching, Madison and I found our Silver Award project at Our Lady of the Pines, a church which needed benches built for little children. Mrs. Vrooman, the director of the Youth Ministry, was our project advisor. She suggested the project to us because she thought the benches would help children focus better, and they could be useful in events such as Vacation Bible School and story time. The project is sustainable because after we finished the building, the benches can continue to be of use for many years. Our first step in making the benches was to create our plans. We planned all of the steps that were required for making the benches from buying the materials to who would do the work. After buying the supplies, we hired our dads to construct the benches. They suggested a change to our design so the benches would be sturdier, and then we supervised them as they assembled the benches. I delivered our benches to the church, after we completed our Silver Award. As Girl Scouts, Madison and I promise to “serve God”, which we have done by helping the church. We also live by the Girl Scout law, which says to “make the world a better place”, and the benches have created a better environment for children to learn. Both the promise and law say to be helpful, and building benches has helped the children by providing them with seating, and helped the church teachers by making it easier for the children to focus. During this project, we both discovered new things about ourselves as well as left a lasting change in the community. #SilverAwardHonorees #HighestAwards #SilverAward #ColoradoSprings #PikesPeak