Submitted by Karen Grealy Metro Denver Parker Although our Daisy Troop 67744 has been meeting remotely since cookies season, they still needed to celebrate bridging to Brownies! The troop leaders visited all of the bridging Girl Scouts at their homes with a portable bridge. Even though the troop would have preferred a party, these girls were treated to a gift basket and a small ceremony. They are excited to see each other again soon! We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #Parker #Daisy #Brownie #Brownies #bridging #Daisies #MetroDenver #youngergirls

Are you passionate about Girl Scouts? Are you passionate about learning about other cultures and the world beyond the United States? The Global Action Team invites you to join us! The concept of “global” is present in everything Girl Scouts do. From earning your Violet Petal as a Daisy and learning how to be a sister to every Girl Scout to celebrating World Thinking Day to completing the Justice Journey as an Ambassador and exploring global environmental issues. The mission of the Global Action Team is to bring awareness of and create action steps on global issues that impact the lives of girls and women to make the world a better place through the worldwide sisterhood. The Global Action Team meets virtually once a month to take action and try to infuse global ideas and concepts into everything Girl Scouts of Colorado does. Over the last few months, the Global Action Team has: Assisted service units across the state with their regional World Thinking Day programs Planned and executed a virtual World Environment Day program: http://gscoblog.org/2020/05/2020-world-environment-day-activities/ Launched a new educational video all about global Girl Scouts: https://youtu.be/_93QbBqvJ8g Published a week-long series of activities for Girl Scouts to celebrate Our Chalet’s birthday: http://gscoblog.org/?s=happy+birthday+our+chalet Published information about women’s voting rights around the world in celebration of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial in the U.S.: http://gscoblog.org/2020/08/a-closer-look-at-womens-voting-rights-around-the-world/ As we embark on a new membership year, we look forward to planning a virtual program for International Day of the Girl and (hopefully!) planning an in-person World Environment Day program at Meadow Mountain Ranch. As we work to serve Girl Scouts across Colorado, we also are looking for members from across the state and we want you to join us! This is a wonderful opportunity to give back to the Girl Scout community and tap into your passion for all things global. If interested, please review the position description and email the Global Action Team staff liaison, Aimee Artzer, at aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GlobalActionTeam #GlobalGirlScouts #GSCOGlobalActionTeam #VolunteerNews

When Daisies earn the Space Science Explorer badge, they’ll have explored and observed the Sun, Moon, and stars. Time to meet the last thing in our sky, the stars! Did you know that the Sun is the closest star to us? Most of the stars in the sky are very far away, trillions of miles away! Step One: Explore the Sun Step Two: Observe the Moon Step Three: Meet the Stars Watch this video to learn how to make your own constellation. Constellations are patterns in the stars that people see shapes in. Some of the most seen are Ursa Major (aka the Big Dipper or the Great Bear) and Orion’s Belt. You can make your own constellation, starting with your hand. Place stars at the tips of your fingers, palm, and wrist. Connect the stars in a pattern that makes sense to you, and then name your new start pattern! We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #spacescience #Daisybadge #DaisySpaceScienceExplorerbadge #GirlScoutingatHome #STEM #Daisybadges #GirlScoutDaisy #GirlScoutsatHome #GirlScoutDaisies #badge #STEMbadges #badges

Submitted by Wendy Theys Southwestern CO Pagosa Springs Girl Scout Brownie Olivia is feeling adventurous while social distancing, and completing the steps required for the Girl Scouts Love The Outdoors Challenge patch. Not only is Olivia proud and having a blast tackling each task, the whole family is enjoying time together making Girl Scout memories. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #PagosaSprings #GirlScoutsLovetheOutdoorsChallenge #2020GirlScoutsLovetheOutdoorsChallenge #SouthwesternCO #gsoutdoors

Submitted by Marie Merrill-Exton Southwestern CO Pagosa Springs Girl Scout Brownie Sage picked up trash to not only work towards earning the Eco Friend badge, but to make a difference and hopefully encourage others to do the same. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #PagosaSprings #SouthwesternCO

Leaders, are you debating going virtual for some or all your troop’s badge earning? Let us help you translate the program! In August 2020, we hosted a live chat about how to blend our virtual Badge Series program into your troop experience. We covered: Overview of Badge Series program Benefits of earning badges virtually Four Different ways to use the Badge Series program This recording is now available in gsLearn for everyone to view! You will also find under the “additional resources” tab, the slide deck with notes, an overview of all of the badges we will be offering this year, and an outline on how to introduce this program in a family meeting. If you have not accessed gsLearn before, follow these steps: Go to the GSCO website. Click on the “MY GS” tab. Log into your account. Click on gsLearn. Go to Content Library, then click the small “courses” button. You will see a course titled “512- Blending Badge Series in your Troop Experience.” Questions? Email GirlExperience@gscolorado.org . We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #VolunteerNews #GirlScoutingatHome #GirlScoutsatHome #gsLearn #volunteers

Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors from across the country and beyond are invited to hangout, get to know each other, and talk about the first G-Team TV episode—“A Community of Girls.” Join us virtually on August 31, 2020 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. for community and conversations, new ideas, and friends! Catch the first episode of G-Team TV on GSUSA’s Instagram TV on August 27 at 5 p.m. Episodes will also be recorded and be available on Girl Scouts of the USA’s YouTube channel, so girls can watch at any time! In our virtual hangout, we will take a deeper dive into topics and give you a chance to connect with girls from across the country. Episode One: A Community of Girls – Let’s talk mental health and how girls and women can come together to support each other. Hear from Girl Scout alum Alexis Jones “I Am That Human/I Am That Girl” about how her work brings women together to support each other, plus take a speedy tour of the WAGGGS World Centers! Register TODAY:  https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/hangout_for_episode_.html Who is the G-Team? The G-Team is Girl Scouts of the USA’s older girl advisory team, which is made up of 26 Seniors and Ambassadors from across our Movement. Ordinarily, they would be planning our national convention, but this year, they’ve decided to pivot and bring you G-Team TV! G-Team TV G-Team TV is a new, weekly, online talk show created by girls, for girls. Produced by GSUSA’s G-Team, this project is more than just a show! The G-Team is creating a community where middle and high school girls will feel connected and accepted, while discovering new ideas and empowering each other to change the world. Each weekly 25-minute episode features interviews and segments with girls and women focused on issues important to girls with content linked to our program areas (STEM, Outdoors, Life Skills, and Entrepreneurship). We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #GirlScoutingatHome #GSCOevents #GSUSA #oldergirls #GTEAM #GirlScoutsatHome #GTeamTV

Women’s Equality Day is August 26 each year and commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted the right to vote to women. This year, we commemorate 100 years of women’s voting rights in the United States and we invite you to help us! The deadline to submit your photos and videos is Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 4 p.m. Option One – Join our video celebration Ask your parent or caregiver to help make a video of you answering one or more of the questions below. Your video submission will be included in a special video to premiere during GSCO’s Civics Month in October 2020. What makes you wish you could vote? (If you are not 18 yet and wish you could vote!) What would you do first if you were an elected official? What is something you believe in enough to advocate or march for? Please wear your Girl Scout vest or sash in your video, if you have one. Videos should be made horizontally ONLY and uploaded at: https://www.dropbox.com/request/u5ZkyaABV8J3ysQwXMkg. By uploading a video, you are providing consent for Girl Scouts of Colorado to share your video publically. Option Two – Make a sign showing your passion for women and girl’s equality People fighting for women’s right to vote 100 years ago made signs that said things like, “Equality for women!” and “Votes for Women!” Consider decorating your sign with the colors of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States: purple, white, and gold. Ask your parent or caregiver to snap a photo of you in your Girl Scout vest or sash holding your sign and email it to girlsexperience@gscolorado.org. Please include the Girl Scout’s first name only, city, and troop number in the email. By emailing your photo to us, you are providing consent for Girl Scouts of Colorado to share the photo publically. Option Three – Color a suffrage cat “Did you know that the cat was a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement? In April of 1916, suffragists Nell Richardson and Alice Burke started a cross-country road trip. Setting out from New York, these two women stopped in cities and towns across America to talk about the importance of women’s suffrage. Along the way, the women adopted a cat that became their unofficial mascot. The cat became a symbol of suffrage!”- National Parks Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/suffrage-cat.htm Color and decorate your own suffrage cat and send us a photo of your completed artwork! Ask your parent or caregiver to email your completed cat to girlsexperience@gscolorado.org. Please include the Girl Scout’s first name only, city, and troop number in the email. By emailing your photo to us, you are providing consent for Girl Scouts of Colorado to share the photo publically. Please note: While we celebrate 100 years of women’s voting rights in the United States, we also need to take a closer look at the history of women of color’s voting rights. Did you know . . . Full exercise of Black voting rights was intended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Native American women were largely excluded from voting before the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924; some states and localities still passed laws effectively barring Natives from voting until the late 1940s. Not until the late 1940s and 1950s were restrictions on Asian American voting removed. Interested in learning more about the Women’s Suffrage Centennial? Check out the following: Women’s Suffrage Centennial Patch Program Girl Scouts 19th Amendment Ranger Patch Webinars about the Women’s Suffrage Centennial with the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame and the League of Women Voters of Colorado Webinar with the National Women’s Rights Historic Park Resource: 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative – https://www.2020centennial.org/faq#q6 Questions? Email aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GirlScoutingatHome #WomensSuffrageCentennial #womensrights #votingrights #GirlScoutsatHome #WomensEqualityDay #womenssuffrage #voting #centennialsuffrage

Submitted by Beatrice L., Girl Scout Gold Award candidate Longmont Northern & Northeastern CO Bringing Global to Girls is a FREE event for Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies to begin developing their skills as a global citizen and their connection to the rest of the world. This workshop was developed as a part of my Girl Scout Gold Award project, and I will be hosting two events to promote this workshop and global thinking. On Saturday, September 12, 2020 from 10 – 11 a.m.,  Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies can participate in a Bringing Global to Girls workshop! Register your girl HERE! On Saturday, September 26, 2020 from 10 – 11 a.m., older girls and adult volunteers are invited to learn how to run the Bringing Global to Girls workshop, so they can run it as a money-earning activity, with their troop, as part of their LiA requirements, or more! Register you or your older girl HERE! If you have any questions regarding Bringing Global to Girls or these two events, please contact bringingglobaltogirls@gmail.com. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GoldAward #VolunteerNews #GSCOevents #GirlScoutGoldAwardProject #NorthernampNortheasternCO #Longmont #GirlScoutGoldAward

Submitted by  Safiya D., Girl Scout Gold Award candidate Metro Denver Aurora * Safiya became a Gold Award Girl Scout, earning the highest honor in Girl Scouts, in January 2021. I have been a Girl Scout for 10 years. Currently, I am working on my Gold Award, which is the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. The Gold Award focuses on addressing a community-based problem. My project, The E-waste Recycling Exposé, tackles the lack of education regarding technology recycling (e-recycling) in my city of Aurora. I am developing a curriculum for fourth and fifth graders that teaches them what technology recycling is and why it is important. When I was researching my project, I was disappointed to learn that in comparison to paper, plastic,  and glass recycling, only 20% of electronics actually get recycled in the United States. I thought that if I could educate kids and get them excited about e-recycling, it might make them think more about actually recycling their old electronics. My curriculum is comprised of : An introductory video that shows me taking an old family computer to be recycled A PowerPoint that explains the technology recycling process A video I created that shows how to take apart a laptop computer and find the recyclable parts Interactive and hands on games that I created for the kids that will make understanding e-recycling fun Pre and post surveys to evaluate what the participants have learned from the program In creating my curriculum, I had a few goals in mind. I wanted students to get excited about electronics recycling.  And most importantly, I wanted them to go home and talk to their families about its importance and encourage them to participate in the recycling of their old electronics. If we care about our planet, participating in technology recycling is important. When you look at the statistics, many landfills are filled with electronics and the more we care about this issue, the easier it will become to have a clean Earth. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GoldAward #erecycling #HighestAwards #recycling #Aurora #GirlScoutGoldAward #environment #MetroDenver #GirlScoutGoldAwardcandidate #TakeAction

Submitted by Marty Allison, Chair of the Girl Scouts of Colorado Global Action Team As we recognize the centennial of the 19th amendment and the women’s suffrage movement, Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Global Action Team takes a closer look at women’s voting rights around the world . Can you believe that in 1689 women landowners in the State of Friesland, what we call the Netherlands today, were first able to vote! Throughout history, women have had many restrictions to their right to vote. Age and marital status were just two of them. Younger men could vote before women could. Women could vote, but not run for elections. Single women or widows could only vote in local elections. A woman’s level of education might determine her eligibility to cast a vote. Or, how about how only mothers with legitimate children could vote in local elections? In South West Africa, only white women could vote and not the native African women. In 1945 in the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia today, only European women could vote. In Liberia, Africa, in 1946 indigenous men and women did not get to vote until 1951 while American women could vote much earlier than that. In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in 1952, they enacted the Convention of the Political Rights of Women. But, still it was 1962 before Australia allowed Aboriginal men and women to vote when South Australian women of European descent were able to vote way back in 1894! In Kuwait, women were able to vote in 1985, but it was revoked in 1999 only to regain the vote in 2005. In Afghanistan, the Taliban revoked women’s right to vote in 1996 and after their fall in 2001, women regained the right to vote. Saudi Arabian women gained the right to vote in local elections in 2015 and be appointed to local positions. While we celebrate 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the United States, we also take a closer look at the history of women of color’s voting rights. Did you know . . . Full exercise of Black voting rights was intended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Native American women were largely excluded from voting before the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924; some states and localities still passed laws effectively barring Natives from voting until the late 1940s. Not until the late 1940s and 1950s were restrictions on Asian American voting removed. Today, we are proud that women in all of the 150 countries of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) (https://www.wagggs.org/en/our-world/) have the right to vote! Resources 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative Women’s Suffrage Movement Women’s Suffrage Interested in joining the Global Action Team? Email GSCO staff liaison, Aimee Artzer, at aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GlobalGirlScouts #GlobalActionTeam #WorldAssociationofGirlGuidesandGirlScouts #GirlScoutingatHome #womensrights #WAGGGS #WorldAssociationofGirlGuidesandGirlScoutsWAGGGS #votingrights #GirlScoutsatHome #suffrage #centennialsuffrage

Girl Scouts of all ages are invited to a special, one-hour webinar to meet Girl Scout alum and former Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, Donna Lynne on Thursday, October 8, 2020 at  4 p.m. Register now: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/meet_an_expert_speci.html Girls will learn how the governor’s office functions, what the day-to-day looks like in the office, and about the former Lieutenant Governor’s background and education. Following the former Lt. Governor’s presentation, girls will participate in a live Q&A session moderated by Girl Scout staff. Participating in this webinar will fulfill Step Two of the NEW democracy badges for all levels, find out about state government (https://www.girlscoutshop.com/BADGES-PROGRAM/NEW-FEATURED-ITEMS4/new-civics-badges). We will use Zoom to host this webinar. All information on how to join online or via phone will be emailed out to registrants the day before the webinar. Each individual participant should be registered so we can track participation. Please do not share the information on how to join with others who have not registered. The webinar will be recorded and posted to GSCO’s YouTube channel for girls to access in the future. Questions? Email aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. Learn more about Donna Lynne Donna Lynne, DrPH, is the Chief Operating Officer of Columbia University Medical Center and the CEO of Columbia Doctors, an 1800 member faculty practice organization. Until early 2019, she was Colorado’s 49th Lieutenant Governor and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to assuming her roles in Colorado state government, Dr. Lynne served as the executive vice president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and as group president responsible for its Colorado, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii regions – overseeing an $8 billion budget, 1.4 million members and 16,000 employees. She participated in numerous boards and commissions during her time at Kaiser Permanente, including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Public Schools Foundation Board, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and many others. She has been recognized as one of the top women business leaders in Denver and one of the top 25 Women in Healthcare in the nation. Dr. Lynne also spent 20 years working in various positions in New York City government including First Deputy Commissioner at the Office of Labor Relations, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, and Senior Vice President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from University of New Hampshire, a Masters of Public Administration from George Washington University, and a Doctor of Public Health from Columbia University. In 2014, Dr. Lynne received an honorary doctorate of public service from the University of Denver, and in 2017 an honorary bachelor of science degree in nursing from Colorado Mountain College. She has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University since 2005. She resides in New York and Colorado with her husband and enjoys activities such as climbing all of Colorado’s fourteeners, participating in Ride the Rockies and going on ski challenges around the world. Dr. Lynne has three children and two stepchildren. We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here. #GirlScoutingatHome #GSCOevents #LieutenantGovernorofColoradoDonnaLynne #LieutenantGovernorofColorado #Communitypartnerships #GirlScoutsatHome #Meetanexpert #communitypartners #DonnaLynne #MeetanexpertWebinarSeries #alumnaenews