Submitted by Lisa Svede Centennial Denver Metro Junior Scout Troop 60762 made and donated baby blankets to the Love Does It and Babies of Juarez organizations during the month of December. The Troop has been focusing on service and helping others this year. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #babiesofjuarez #Centennial #lovedoesit

Submitted by Nancy Clary My Girl Scout ”chapter” began in first grade. I was living in Holyoke, Colorado, and they accepted Brownies a year early. We sang songs, such as, “I have something in my pocket that belongs across my face…it’s a great big Brownie smile!” Then, my family moved to Denver, where I continued my scouting education. My life changed dramatically. I had just turned ten when my mother died. Five months later, my father suffered a stroke, hospitalizing him for a year. Yet, Girl Scouts continued to support me in Manchester, Connecticut. My father was partially paralyzed when my two brothers and I returned to Denver. I was considered to be the “Lady of the House,” even though I was a tom-boy who loved the out-of-doors and camping. Girl Scouts helped me do both. By age 14, I was a “Prospector” at Flying ‘G’ Ranch when a fire broke out in a tent, about a mile from the main lodge. Our patrol rushed to put the fire out, while two members ran to the lodge for help. There was no water at the camp, so we soaked blankets in a near-by one foot wide stream to beat the flames. We were well-prepared for the “emergency response” experience. Time flew by and I entered high school. I was chosen to attend the 1965 Roundup – the last one, as 10,000 Girl Scouts relied on the Army for security, and the Vietnam War was intensifying. 10,000 Girl Scouts sang together as an American flag rose on five flag poles. Even soldiers were moved. The entire Roundup experience was magical. Our patrol trained for a year, practicing cooking on charcoal, gathering and packing equipment, and even putting up baker-style tents. Our patrol hosted two Girl Scouts from Mexico. They arrived the night of the 1965 Denver flood, so our first adventure before Roundup was to assist flood victims. One lasting memory of Roundup of mine was of all the Colorado Girl Scouts assembling around the Colorado state flag to sing and dance together. In my senior year of high school, I volunteered, a Girl Scout requirement, at a home for severely challenged children. That experience inspired the next chapter in my life. Thank you Girl Scouts. Early in my career as a Special Education teacher, I participated in an Outward Bound course especially designed for teachers. Through them I was able to write grants to enable disabled and inner-city students to experience mountain wilderness and river adventures. For the first trip, students had to raise $50, which was a lot of money for each. One student started his “account” with 13-cents. He brought in a few cents each day to finally earn $54. With the extra money, he bought wool pants and socks at an Army Surplus store. When a deaf student, along the Green River, asked, “Are these rocks man-made?” all I did was smile. He also washed dishes for the first time in his life. I have many fond memories of students experiencing the out-of-doors for the first time in their lives. Thank you Girl Scouts. Then, marriage and children happily enveloped my life. My husband and I raised two sons, but not to worry. My husband is an Eagle Scout, and both of our sons became Eagle Scouts. Scouting is in our blood and family life. We moved to Conifer when our older son was 18-months-old. Our life was filled with scout activities from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Of course, our sons were also involved in sports, music, and academics. Our children grew up in the out-of-doors, embracing scouting values. Now, they are both successful adults living on their own. The next chapter of my life is retirement. I volunteer for CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate, to work with neglected and abused children in the Court system. I also volunteer for Park County Search and Rescue. My Girl Scout experiences continue to influence my life. I co-authored a couple of articles about Search and Rescue and safety for summer adventures and wrote another about a Girl Scout experience 50 years ago. I am grateful for all of my Girl Scout experiences, values, and adventures I have experienced over the years. My final chapter will never be written. At a friend’s Memorial Service, we all sang, “I Know a Place.” In a sense, that is my legacy too. “I know a place where no one ever goes. There’s peace and quiet, beauty and repose. It’s hidden in a valley beyond a mountain stream…Now I know that God made this world for me.” Thank you Girl Scouts. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

Year-round, you support our efforts to build girls of courage, confidence, and character.  Next week, on December 8, 2015, you can make your gift go even further. Colorado Gives Day is an annual statewide effort to celebrate and increase philanthropy through online giving. To make giving even easier, schedule your donation TODAY by using this link: https://www.coloradogives.org/GirlScouts/overview By supporting Girl Scouts of Colorado on Colorado Gives Day, your donation dollars go further than they would on any other day of the year. That’s because the FirstBank Incentive Fund increases all donations made on December 8!  Every nonprofit receiving a donation on Colorado Gives Day receives a portion of the incentive fund, which increases the value of every dollar donated. Schedule your donation today or give on December 8 at ColoradoGives.org. Once you do, change your Facebook Profile picture to one of these two images. They’ll remind your friends and family to join you in helping Girl Scouts of Colorado provide programming that builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. #ColoradoGivesDay #ColoradoGivesDay2015 #funddevelopment

Submitted by Andi Salinas Denver Denver Metro Did you know that the largest water reservoir ever discovered was in space? Pretty amazing, right? If you’d like to learn crazy fun facts like these, and anything else related to engineering or space exploration, join us at Colorado Adventure Point for our Engineering and Space Exploration Merit Badge Workshop! And no, you don’t have to be a Girl Scout to take this class. It’s open to girls and boys, ages 11-17. This two-day course is taught by a team of AIAA educators trained in Colorado Adventure Point educational methods. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. The AIAA is the leading publisher of cutting-edge aerospace articles and books, and has over 30,000 members. Many of the members teaching this CAP workshop are active or retired engineers from Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, and other local aerospace companies. They will introduce our participants to the exciting world of engineering and space exploration through discussion topics, experiments, and creative projects. Some of the topics include satellite and transfer orbits, satellite communications, reverse engineering and current space missions, ending in an out of this world space cook-off! The class is January 16th and 17th, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The price is $45 per participant and everyone that completes the course will receive physical merit badges to recognize their work! Sign up at www.coloradoadventurepoint.org. The class will be held at our facility at 10455 W 6th Ave, Denver, CO 80215. Colorado Adventure Point is Denver’s newest indoor adventure facility, featuring over 20,000 square feet of adventure! We teach everything from rock climbing and archery to robotics and life skills using our proprietary theory of Adventure Education, which combines adventure activities, rigorous academics, and intentional character development into incredible learning experiences. Come check us out today! If you have any questions, contact us at 720-266-2179 or visit our website at www.coloradoadventurepoint.org! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #ColoradoAdventurePoint #Denver

Submitted by Shelly Steele-Morehead Frederick Northern and Northeastern Colorado As part of the Teddy Bear Project, we collected, tagged, and delivered 500 Beanie Babies to Children’s Hospital, 500 to Kempe Center, and 200 to Warren Village. These Girl Scouts certainly found out what it means to give from the heart! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

Submitted by Celeste Amarosa Denver Denver Metro Me & my guy dance (hosted by troop 51202) Friday November 20th, 2015 from 6-8pm Hodgkins Elementary school 3475 w. 67th Ave. Denver, CO 80221 Theme is Dress the Decades (pick your favorite decade and dress from it ) Cost is $10 per person payable at the door. Food, crafts, pictures, patch (for girl scouts), dancing and fun included!! Non- girl scouts are welcome. Any questions email Celeste at pinktink4 This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Denver #MeandMyGuy

Submitted by Stephanie Jaramillo Morrison Denver Metro Troop 60185 collected, tagged and donated over 40 stuffed animals to The Teddy Bear Project. Great work, girls! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Denvermetro #Morrison #TeddyBearProject

Submitted by Jody Clair Colorado Springs Pikes Peak This trip is open to girls in all of CO, to explore and have some excitement this summer while getting some hands on education.Join us June 21st- June 28th for a California Adventure under the sun! We will spend 2 days at Disneyland, a day by the ocean investigating tide pools and whale watching, a sleepover at Sea World, a day at the San Diego zoo and more! Trip will depart and return from Denver. All the details and deadlines are here in the activity finder. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #California #Disneyland #SanDiego

What did you do for your Gold Award project? For my Gold Award Project, I addressed the noticeable lack of easy to use, inexpensive, and well-written STEM materials really made available to upper-elementary homeschool educators and students. To positively and meaningfully address this issue, I wrote, tested with homeschool students and parents, and distributed an almost 80-page booklet that includes ten, original chemistry experiments for students along with a parent manual for homeschool educators. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? In order to measure project impact, I can review the SurveyMonkey survey link I set up for this project and incorporated in the final pages of the parent booklet. Additionally, I can measure my impact from looking at the number of booklets I have distributed over Amazon using Kindle Direct Publishing’s “Reports” feature. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? By partnering with Colorado’s Academy School District 20, posting my booklet on Amazon using their Kindle Direct Publishing service, and sending a digital copy to the Assistant Director of Youth Education at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I ensured local and national availability of the project materials. As a result, the project will be sustained beyond my involvement through these three outlets. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? Two national project connections came in the form of self-publishing the booklet in two parts on Amazon, as eBooks. Additionally, the Houston Museum of Natural Science received a copy of the books and a flash drive for use in their education department. As a result, my project is available on a national eBook distribution website, Amazon, and for use at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located in Houston, TX, with  robust educational outreach to homeschool students as well as private and public school students in one of the five largest cities in our nation. What did you learn about yourself? This project reinforced my passions for learning, teaching, and STEM subjects. Moreover, I discovered I am capable of developing clearly written, engaging, hands on, pertinent, and practical curriculum. This was my first curriculum design experience and completing this project allowed me to round out my communication skills, leadership capabilities, and interpersonal skills, before I went to college. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? This project gave me new confidence in my leadership abilities. Confidence provided by positive project experiences, I feel, is a vital step on the path towards becoming a capable leader. Through the practice my Gold Award project gave me, I now have developed leadership capabilities I will use my entire life. Skills such as seeking meaningful opportunities to make a positive difference, goal setting, project planning and development, listening to others, seeking partnership and feedback, creativity, commitment, and communication skills. As I go through college and eventually enter the workplace, I will have the chance to apply those capabilities, honing and refining them more completely. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? As a fourth-generation Girl Scout who has participated in Girl Scouts since I was a Daisy, earning my Gold Award represents my ultimate scouting capstone experience. My Gold Award project grew into so much more than an eighty-hour leadership and service project; rather, this Gold Award capped over a decade of scouting and became a poignant reflection of just how much Girl Scouts has taught me over the years. From leading groups of students to embracing my unique capabilities, from newfound self-confidence in my abilities to make the world a better place to the self-actualization of a personal dream, my Gold Award completed my understanding of what it means to be a Girl Scout and allowed me to thrive as one. **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 #GoldAward #GoldAwardee #STEM #ColoradoSprings #GoldAwardCentennial #GoldAwardees #PikesPeak

What did you do for your Gold Award project? I addressed the issue of underdeveloped reading skills in the community involving children from low-resource families. I had hoped that by donating, working with a children’s center, and giving them books to read and keep that they would become more excited to read. In turn, the Loaves and Fishes Ministries of Fremont County benefited greatly by gaining a newly renovated lobby, including an area for children to play while their parents are in meetings or filling out paperwork. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? During the project my team and I came across many thanks and encouragement, which I feel made me even more motivated. I received many compliments from the staff, people using the facility, and the community. People who read the story and those who I personally came in contact with would spread the word about my project, and I would hear stories about people donating just to be able to see my work. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? My project is being continued in a partnership between Loaves and Fishes Ministries of Fremont County and the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) of Canon City High School. The students of that group, who are being led by Mrs. Deb Crockett, will hold drives throughout the school to donate newer books, toys, or stuffed animals to the shelter, so the children may always have those items to enjoy. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? My main connection is through Loaves and Fishes’ newsletter that is sent out every quarter to people in the community and further. The newsletter contains before and after photos of my project, and information about what I accomplished. I have sent information about my project to various other shelters in the state encouraging them to do something similar to what I have accomplished. My hope is that shelters and businesses will create an area in their building similar to mine and help more people. What did you learn about yourself? I am not quite as shy, I am independent, and I can do whatever I desire! My project brought me out of my comfort zone and helped me learn new things I may have never learned otherwise! I know that sounds cheesy or cliché, but it’s true! How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? On a serious note, it has helped me develop a work ethic, positive attitude, critical thinking process, and many other things that will help me get through college now, and through jobs and life later down the road. It could also lead to scholarships, job opportunities, and many other things! Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? I feel that it was important because I got to see a different side of Girl Scouts. Of course, I love going to camp, the activities like World Thinking Day, or Bridging ceremonies, but the Gold Award was different. It encourages girls to follow through to the end of scouting and to do an amazing project in their community, which is needed even though many people won’t ever know who filled that need. Girls can learn so many things from doing a project on this scale, and I really appreciate the opportunities is has given me. **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 #GoldAward #HighestAwards #GoldAwardee #GoldAwardCentennial #PuebloandSoutheasternColorado #HighestAwardsProgram #CanonCity

Submitted by Sadie Fowers Brighton After seeing details about the National Park Scout Badges, we arranged for our troop to spend a day with some Rocky Mountain National Park Rangers. We were excited to get out in the clear blue sky, clean air, and back to basics Ranger Christie and Ranger Paige took us on an adventure. We started by talking about safety points, reviewing what was needed when out on our own, and then headed to the “wild” to study animals. We searched for what animals were not in hibernation by finding their tracks, scat, and habitats. We had lunch by the beautiful frozen lake taking in the peaceful picnic spot. We searched the area for what kind of conditions the animals survived during the winter and then we even made our own habitats for our “animals” to survive. Each girl said that they had a great time. Our Girl Scouts behaved well and learned a lot. We cannot wait to go again. I love when learning and playing goes hand in hand. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Brighton #Denvermetro #RockyMountainNationalPark

Hosting an event, such as a father daughter camp, archery clinic, or other money-earning activity? Collecting items for a troop service project? Need help getting the word out about your Gold Award or other Highest Awards project? Girl Scouts of Colorado is here to help. We have several ways to help you spread the news, especially to your Girl Scout sisters! Events Calendar One of the best ways to get started, particularly if you are hosting an event, is to list it in the Events Calendar on the Girl Scouts of Colorado website. To post your event or learn which events qualify to be posted, use this link: http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/for-volunteers/forms-and-resources/activity-posting-request.html Girl Scouts of Colorado blog Write something for the Girl Scouts of Colorado blog. Your blog must be at least 250 words and include all the important information about your event, such as: Who is hosting it When and where it is happening Why Girl Scouts should attend How people can sign up You’re also highly encouraged to include photos. Make sure these are photos which you took or the photographer has given Girl Scouts of Colorado permission to share. To submit your blog and photos, use this link: www.gscoblog.org/share All blogs are shared on the Girl Scouts of Colorado Facebook and Twitter pages. Depending on the quality of the photos you submit, we may also share your story on Instagram. Reach out to Service Units directly Depending on the time of year, it may be possible for you to speak about your event/activity at a service unit meeting, where you could pass out fliers and talk directly with fellow Girl Scouts. To coordinate this, please contact your Volunteer Support Specialist. Don’t know who yours is? Email inquiry@gscolorado.org, or call our Customer Support line at 877-404-5708 M-F, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. #eventscalendar #GirlScoutnews