Attention all 8th grade Cadettes, Seniors, Ambassadors, Troop Leaders and parents in the Denver metro-area. If you (or your girl) is thinking about going for her Gold Award, don’t miss Gold Award Training on Saturday, April 18, 2015! This is a free training that is mandatory for Seniors and Ambassadors, who plan to submit a Gold Award proposal within 6-12 months.  Supporting adults are strongly encouraged to attend as well. The training starts at 9:00 a.m. and will be held at Waterstone Community Church in Littleton. Register online HERE! View on our activity finder HERE! You may be asking yourself . . . What is the Gold Award? Why would I want to go for the Gold? Should I encourage the girls in my troop to go Gold? The Gold Award training will answer all of these questions and more! At training you will learn about the benefits of earning your Gold Award, the steps you must take from beginning to end, how you will work with a Gold Award mentor, and get any and all of your questions answered.  Girls and adults will participate in different trainings, concurrently, which will provide valuable information to make your Gold Award experience successful. You can also check out these awesome resources online: The Girl Scout Awards – Frequently Asked Questions Gold Award Guidelines for Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors Girl Scout Gold Award Adult Volunteer Guide Gold Award Fact Sheet Sample Proposal “50 Girl Scouts Earn the Gold Award” – recent blog post! If you have specific questions about the Gold Award feel free to contact your regional staff contact. #GoldAward #Cadette #HighestAwards #seniors #GoldAwardTraining #Cadettes #Ambassador #senior #ambassadors

Submitted by Linda Robinson Our Cabana 2016 is a girl planned trip to our closest World Center.  This trip is for Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors.  We will be attending the Adventure at Our Cabana Summer Friendship Event in June 2016.  This event is 8 days long and includes girls from around the globe. Participants will have fun at Our Cabana swimming, playing tennis or volleyball, doing crafts in the well-stocked craft house, enjoying the beautiful gardens and participating in campfires, ceremonies, games, singing and much more.  There will be cultural activities planned by the Our Cabana staff as well as a service project for the local community.  We will also take day trips to Cuernavaca, Taxco, Tepoztlan and a traditional craft market.  Girls will also have the opportunity to plan additional sightseeing activities. Girls interested in going on this trip should be experienced travelers who have taken a trip without a parent and have a passport that expires after December 2016. Group leaders will be Marti Shuster and Linda Robinson.  We are longtime Girl Scout volunteers and former troop leaders.  We have both taken many national and international trips with girls and adults and are interested in taking a group of girls to Our Cabana. Cost for this trip is around $1,400.00 plus airfare.  This includes the cost of the event and lodging before the event and transportation to and from the airport.  All lodging and transportation will be with reliable companies that work with Girl Guides of Mexico and Our Cabana. To register, or for more information, please email Linda at gscocabana2016@gmail.com.  We will have several planning meetings beginning in soon.  Exact time and date to be decided.  Girls may attend meetings via conference or Skype type calls if they are unable to attend in person. We will be at the Travel and Adventure Minipalooza on April 18, 2015.  Please register for our session Nuestra Cabana 2016 from 1:30 to 2:30 or stop by our table in the travel fair. #seniors #InternationalTravel #GirlScoutstravel #travel #TripandTravelCamps #ambassadors

Submitted by Jennifer Gillespie Dillon Mountain Communities Part of the Girl Scout Law is to respect authority. Our Daisy Troop 50262 got a visit from three local heroes to help drive the point home! Our local Police Dept and a local Firefighter made it an exciting meeting for the girls, packed with fun and lots of learning! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #Daisies #Dillon

Leaders are the extraordinary force that make Girl Scouting possible every day—and that is truly amazing. They give their time, spark, and hearts to make a difference in the lives of girls who in turn help make the world a better place. Volunteer Appreciation Day is April 22, 2015 and we want girls to help us honor outstanding leaders. Girls should write a short essay about why they love their leader. Girls 12-years-old and younger can have a parent help them. Girls 13-years-old and older should write their essay themselves. Submit your essay through Share Your Stories on the Girl Scouts of Colorado web-site and be sure to include a photo of your leader, preferably involved in a Girl Scout-related activity. However, any photo will do. You may also submit a link to a YouTube or Vimeo video. All submissions must be received by Thursday April 23, 2015. The best stories will be shared on the Girl Scouts of Colorado blog and social media networks. We also have a special prize for the best submissions to show our leaders just how much we appreciate them. If you have questions, please email Girl Scouts of Colorado Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper. #VolunteerAppreciationWeek #VolunteerAppreciationDay #leader #VolunteerAppreciation #adultvolunteers #GirlScoutvolunteers

Submitted by Judy Curtis Arvada Denver Metro When: Saturday, May 2, 2015 from 5 – 8:30 p.m. Where: Arvada United Methodist Church, 6750 Carr, Arvada Theme:  Masquerade Ball – A Night to Dress to Impress Dress Code:  Fancy dress (long or short), eye masks.  Shirt & tie or suit & tie Cost:  $25 ($30 at the door) Please reserve & pay for your spot by April 28,. *Also, please bring canned goods to be donated to the Arvada Food Bank. This is a “sell out” annual event that is WAYYYY TOO MUCH fun! Girl Scouts and their friends attend a dinner catered by White Fence Farm, dance to music provided by Russell & Cameron from Notorious Sights & Sounds. The cake decorating contest are cakes that the girls have made and decorated and are judged by the other girls in attendance. Prizes flow freely and Door Prizes are everywhere! This year’s theme is “Masquerade”, so get those fancy dresses out, grab your special guy and put a tie on him! There is a special photo op spot for you to capture the “special” night with your “special” guy. Special guys can be dads, uncles, grandpas, special men in the girls’ life that will treat her to a “special” date! To reserve your spot, please email Judy Curtis. Be sure to include a list of the girls attending and the name of their Special Guy. Make checks payable to:  Troop 3301 Send them to Judy Curtis at:  14237 W 58th Pl., Arvada, CO 80004 This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. Me and My Special Guy Dance flyer 2015 #Arvada #MeandMyGuy

Submitted by Jodee Cronk Grand Junction Western Slope By the time they were all in 6th grade, the life of every girl in Troop 3940 had been affected by bullying and suicide. They chose to tackle these two taboo topics as their Silver Award Project and created a video to educate people about these issues and provide resources to get help. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #SilverAward

Submitted by Jonathan Baker Fruita Western Slope When our daughter entered Girl Scouts last year we were clueless. After a somewhat rocky start we began this year with training, allies, and excited young girls. I have been a leader for a year and a half now and am working hard to help the girls grow and expand. Already feeling overwhelmed and cookie season approaching, my husband stepped forward and went to multiple trainings and did research online to be our cookie manager. He proudly carries his Samoa clipboard and purple cookie tote to every meeting. He helped plan and conduct our local cookie rally where he allowed the girls to paint his fingernails all of the corresponding cookie colors. He helped the girls learn how to be gracious and professional, as well as, how to have fun while reaching their goals. He has tracked sales and done all of the accounting without a flaw. He has been an asset to our troop. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #CookieDad #Fruita

Submitted by Jayden Thomason Cortez Southwestern Colorado My dad is the BEST Cookie Dad! Ever since I became a Girl Scout, my dad has been the my cookie boss sales coach. For the last three years my dad has even helped me to achieve my goal of going to the Top Seller Events which are a blast. One year I got to go rock climbing in Durango and last year we went to the amusement park in Glenwood Springs. Glenwood Springs was a lot of fun. I am going there again this year we liked it so much! As soon as cookie season starts, my dad and I load up the back of our van with cookies and we are off to town. We leave early in the morning and are out selling just like a regular job. He says that he loves to take me around to all the local businesses, his clients and our family and friends to show off how proud of me he is. He tells me that he is going to show me what going to a regular job is like. I am only allowed to take short breaks and we have a regular lunch hour. (I get to pick where we eat out…yumm!) As for me, I just love to spend this time with my dad. Our time selling cookies is special to me and I really love my dad. My dad is really friendly and he knows a lot of people in our hometown. He encourages me to not be so shy and is trying to help me so that I am more comfortable talking to people and asking them if they would like to buy cookies. This is sometimes hard for me. After my dad helps me to achieve my Top Seller Goal then he somehow manages to find time to help the other Girl Scouts in my troop to achieve their goals too and to make sure that our troop doesn’t get stuck with unwanted cookies at the end of the season. He is teaching me about helping my sister Girl Scouts and what teamwork is all about. I have the BEST Cookie Dad ever!! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #CookieDad #Cortez

Submitted by Marianne Albright Colorado Springs Pikes Peak My daddy is awesome and the best Girl Scout Cookie Dad because he helped me sell lots of Girl Scout Cookies this season. He took me to lots of My Site Booths to help me sell cookies. My favorite place to sell was Colorado College. I liked it because we had fun and he helped me talk to the college students. He is really nice and I love him. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #ColoradoSprings #CookieDad

Submitted by Jennifer Knapp Colorado Springs Pikes Peak This is our daughter’s second year selling cookies and this year Rick has been one amazing cookie Dad! From bringing cookies when we were running out, to braving the bad weather, to driving and being at the booth with Callie helping with money management and selling to reach her goal. The greatest story of this season is when he started his “My Guy and I” booth at a furniture store on a Sunday with horrible roads and heavy snow. There was a lead for a grocery store so in a matter of minutes Rick and Callie tore down and packed up in the car to get down to the store so she would have as much time as she could to sell at the new location. They then set back up and sold more cookies than expected on such a bad weather day. He did booths and even took her on a walkaround when I became ill and unable to take her. Callie and Rick worked together to get her goal accomplished and did so with little complaint. Callie and myself are so very proud to call Rick our Cookie Dad and can’t wait for year 3 with him! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #CookieDad #PikesPeak

To provide better access for volunteers and staff, Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Northern and Northeastern Colorado office is moving from Fort Collins to Loveland on April 1. The new office is right off of I-25 near the Loveland Outlets in the Centerra area at 2755 Rocky Mountain Ave., Suite 420. It’s also just 15 minutes east of GSCO’s History Center. The new smaller, more professional space is perfect for the region’s needs and is in a more populous area. Staff contact info will be the same, as will the main phone number, 970-493-5469. Watch soon for open house details. #Centerra #Loveland #NorthernandNortheasternColorado

Register for the Colfax Marathon (or 5K, 10-miler, Half or Relay) today and you’ll get this fun, custom Girl Scouts team shirt to show your GSCO pride! This shirt is in addition to the awesome official marathon shirt! We’re ordering shirts the week of March 30, so get signed up (along with your friends and family) NOW.  This is a great troop healthy living activity, and kids’ 5K registrations are only $20. Only the first 30 to register with GSCO as their charity get the team shirt for free! For more information on the Colfax Marathon or to join Team Thin Mint, click here.  Don’t forget to select Girl Scouts of Colorado as your charity. Already signed up? Great! There’s still time to choose GSCO. #ColfaxMarathon #MetroDenver #TeamThinMint