This is a letter I give to my parents every year to set out our troop policies. Feel free to cut, paste, add and delete if you'd like to adopt this for your troop.
Barb
Junior Leader, Trainer, Service Unit Manager, etc.
(feel free to email me with any comments at: BDHunter@aol.com)
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JUNIOR TROOP 338
2000-2001 Version
THE BASICS
Our troop meets the first and third Wednesday of each month from 7 – 8:30pm at Mahan’s home ( address inserted here). A newsletter is published for each meeting, and should be read by both the Scout and her parents. Newsletters and all other information are kept in a file box with the scout’s name.
ADMINISTRATION
REGISTRATION COSTS: Troop 338 collects annual dues of $25.00. This is normally done in September. The $25.00 helps defray the costs of badges and patches (normally $1. or more per patch, badge or pin). In addition, there is a $7.00 fee for annual national dues. There is also often a small fee associated with specific camping trips or field trips. The troop underwrites part of the cost; we ask the participating scout to pay a portion as well.
FUND RAISING: There are several formal fund raising programs during the year:
Cookie Sales Calendar Sales QSP SHARE
The most famous fund-raiser in Girl Scouting is Cookies. Scouts take orders in January, make deliveries in February, and do booth sales in March of each year. This is our major fund-raising source, and the troop normally sees a profit of close to $1000. from this annual event.
The Troop also sells Girl Scout calendars in the fall ($1 per calendar stays in the troop funds). This is a low-pressure campaign, but the calendars make excellent gifts!
The QSP program comes in late Spring. QSP is a magazine ordering program, and is NOT a door-to-door fund raiser. QSP is intended for scouters and their families to order or renew magazines they would normally get. Ordering through QSP (as opposed to Publishers Clearing House, etc., allows approximately 40% of the magazine costs to go directly to support the five Girl Scout campgrounds in the Washington, D.C. area.
Finally, the Council runs a “SHARE” program in the fall. SHARE is “Share Her Annual Real Expenses”. Families are asked to contribute to the cost of training troop leaders, providing printed materials such as the Safety-Wise guidelines used by each troop, and other administrative and program costs. Donations are entirely voluntary and private, done in sealed envelopes, but the council recommends a contribution of $25 per family, a real bargain when compared to ballet, soccer, gymnastics costs – and a bargain when one realizes that it costs over $100 per girl to maintain an active Girl Scout program in this area.
The troop will also do fund raising activities this year, in light of our planned Savannah trip.
FINANCIAL AID: Of all organizations I know, Girl Scouting has perhaps the easiest-to-obtain financial aid program. If a parent ever feels the cost of scouting is becoming too much on their budget, please let me know. With that, I can make a request to Council for funds to pay for that scout’s activities – no documentation is required from the family.
PERMISSION SLIPS: Whenever the troop meets outside of the normal meeting location, a permission slip is required. Normally, these need to be signed and filled out prior to the activity (which also lets adults know how many girls will attend).
HEALTH FORMS: At the beginning of the year, you will be asked to fill out a Health History Form and Emergency Consent Form. We take these on every trip, so that should something happen to a scout, we will have all needed medical information at our fingertips. Adults who travel with the troop should also fill these forms out.
UNIFORMS: There is only one “required” uniform item in Girl Scouting, and that’s the Girl Scout pin (provided by the troop). However, in Junior Girl Scouts, girls enjoy wearing the uniform items, and at certain events, we look best if we wear whatever “official” items we own.
Experience has shown the vest is easier to wear than the sash (doesn’t fall off the shoulder), and it holds more badges and patches than a sash. If you buy a vest/sash, you also need to buy the following “doo-dads” to be sewn on the vest, all in the Junior “teal” color:
“GSUSA” Strip
“GSCNC” Strip
Numbers “338”
Nice, but not necessary: Felt tab for Girl Scout and World pin
The troop provides:
Troop Crest (Falling Stars)
Girl Scout and World Pins (if they don’t already have them)
If she was a Brownie, the “Fly Up” wings go on the front of the Junior vest, as well as the Bridging Rainbow, if she completed the bridging requirements. Those should have been provided by her Brownie Troop. They can be re-purchased, if they were lost.
Uniforms can be purchased at the Council Shop, 4301 Connecticut Ave NW (Van Ness/UDC Metro stop on the Red Line). The shop also has a website http://www.gscnc.org/gscnc/shop.htm, and you can phone or fax your orders to them. J.C. Penney's also has online and a mail order section for scout uniforms.
In addition, Girls are encouraged, but not required, to buy both the Junior Girl Scout Handbook and the Junior Guide to Badges and Signs. We don’t use these books at every meeting, and the girls can get any information they need from a buddy; however, for those who miss meetings and wish to catch up on missed badge work, or wish to do badges on their own, the books would be a necessity. Each book is less than $10, and are well-written. Even girls who don’t enjoy reading will enjoy these books. The books also include pictures of how items are to be worn on the Girl Scout uniform.
JUNIOR GIRL SCOUT BADGES AND RECOGNITIONS
JUNIOR BADGES: The majority of the badges are found in the Junior Guide to Badges and Signs (about a dozen are found in the Handbook, and are referred to as “Handbook badges”.) The green-backed badges are easier to complete than the tan-backed badges. Often, it takes more than one meeting to complete a badge. Badges were previously divided by their border color, depending on the interest area they represent but are now all phasing to a solid green border. Badges always go on the front of the vest or sash.
My personal philosophy is that I will not have badges be the “be all, end all” of our program, but rather, they give me a guide to things we can learn about as a troop and an outline of what to teach.
Some scouts are very motivated by badges, and if this is the case, they are welcomed to earn badges on their own outside the troop. Those in programs such as SACC often do arts and science programs that are directly linked to badge requirements. Girls in music, dance, or sports programs also find they have met all the badge requirements through that activity. If this is the case with your scout, she simply needs to tell Brenda or me what she has done to meet the requirements. Sometimes she may need to write things down, bring in the art work, or just be able to articulate to me what she’s done and we’ll give her the credit.
If scouts miss a meeting where badge work is done, we will try to help them make it up later, but that can’t always be done. For instance, for one badge requirement, we had older girl scouts come to our meeting. Obviously, we can’t have them come back for the girls who missed that meeting, but in all badges, there are other requirements that can be done in place of the missed requirement. If (and only if) it is important to your daughter to earn the badge that “everyone else got”, she simply needs to complete a missed requirement on her own. We will do our best to keep everyone posted when they’re missing something in plenty of time for a Court of Awards ceremony. Some badges are pre-requisites for other special badges, and that may influence whether a requirement should be made up or not.
PATCHES: Patches commemorate an activity we did, and normally signify just participation in the event. This can be participation in cookie or calendar sales, Thinking Day, a trip to a special event (Mt Vernon, etc.), or camping. Patches always go on the back of the vest/sash.
OTHER “DOO-DADS”: We will also work to allow our scouts to earn special recognitions such as the “Junior Aide” badge (for helping Brownie Troops learn about Juniors), the Leadership Pin (for carrying out leadership projects and learning more about leadership), and the four “Signs” (Sign of the Rainbow, World, Satellite, and Sun). The four different signs signify different collective areas of interest, normally require earning several related badges, and participating in specific projects). Should your daughter earn any of these, you should be quite proud, as they represent the culmination of much effort.
COURT OF AWARDS: Troop 338 normally holds at 2-3 Courts of Award each year. These are special times when our Scouts are formally recognized for their accomplishments and any other awards. These are family events and the chance for your daughter to shine. We normally have the girls plan these ceremonies themselves, which adds even more enjoyment to the evening.
PROGRAM
PROGRAM: As scouts grow older, we try to shift more and more of the planning and ideas from adults to girls. This still requires some adult idea input, but once the scouts seize upon the idea, we encourage them to be active participants in the planning.
LEADERSHIP: We want the girls to take responsibility more and more for running the troop. Girls will be given leadership jobs within the troop – everything from attendance taking to Troop President. Sometimes this requires parental aid, and feel free to call me whenever you find your scout has a job that you don’t understand. A common job requiring parent help would be when we ask a scout to teach a portion of a badge. She would take one requirement of her choosing and learn about it and teach it to the other scouts. For example, if the scouts were working on a Money Management badge, a requirement might be learn about checking accounts. The Scout would most likely need Mom or Dad’s help for this, and would only need to present a short overview about checking accounts to the other scouts.
TRIPS: We try to do some activities on weekends. There are normally 2-3 camping trips a year, and another 4-5 one-day trips per year. In 99-00, we took 3 overnight trips: local camping in September, camping at Brighton Woods (a Girl Scout Camp) in April, and the Service Unit encampment in the May. The bulk of this year will be devoted towards preparing for our trip to Savannah, Georgia in Jun-Jul 2001.
A note on participation: There are no awards for “100% attendance” in this troop. Rather, we try to offer lots of different opportunities with the knowledge that family, school work, church, soccer, ballet, sickness, etc., etc. will always impact someone in the troop, and we can’t always arrange the timing to meet the schedules of 13 girls. If a badge activity happens on the trip, we’ll let the girls who didn’t go know what they missed to make up later. We don’t want anyone to ever feel pressured that attendance is mandatory. Scouts must first and foremost always be something fun that your daughter WANTS to do.
PARENT SUPPORT
We can’t do it without the help of many. Here are the areas we always welcome help:
Fundraising (Calendars, Cookies, SHARE, or QSP – each needs someone to run it)
First Aiders (Although I’m First Aid Qualified, our rules highly recommend someone besides the leader be First Aid Qualified… we can get you the training for free!)
Drivers
Parents (Mom or Dad) willing to camp overnight with us
Parents with expertise in a specific badge area who could teach it (Car Care? Ms Fix It? Pet Care? Sky Search?)
With a large troop, it’s often most productive to split them into small groups and rotate them through activities at a meeting. When we do this, we need at least 4 adults to work each small group session. Please feel free to stay for meetings and let me know if you’re ready to be put to work!
Thinking Day Resource person – we always learn about another country in the month of February. We always need a parent who can lead us on our journey of learning about another country during that month.
What talents do you have that can help make this a better program for your daughter?
OUTDOOR ACTIVITY
Not every person is comfortable in the out-of-doors, but millions of girls who have passed through Girl Scouting say camping is what they remember the most. First, if your daughter absolutely does not like to go camping, that’s ok. She can be an active member of our troop and elect to not go on our campouts. Our campouts range from the primitive (latrines) to the deluxe (annual service unit encampment at Prince William Forest Park, with cabins, cots, and flush toilets.) Camping gives girls an exposure to nature they don’t get in their backyard, but more significantly, the things we do at campouts (hiking, firebuilding, outdoor cooking, etc.) gives them self-confidence that adults who go with me can visibly see form before our eyes on our camping weekends.
EQUIPMENT: To maintain a minimum comfort level, your scout will always need the following items when we go camping. All major items can be easily rented at Ft Belvoir (if you have a military affiliation) or at any of the major camping equipment stores (Gaylans, EMS, REI, etc.)
Sleeping bag: Should be rated to 40 degrees as an absolute minimum standard. (I personally would not put my daughter in a 40-degree bag, as I know she would be cold.) For guaranteed comfort in all cases, I would recommend a “20 degree” bag. The degree ratings are averages, and some people sleep colder or warmer than others. For the trips we take, no one should complain of being cold in a 20 degree bag; some may be cold in a 40 degree bag – and others who sleep “hot” may be fine in a 40 degree bag.
Sleeping pad: Can be purchased at any Target, Walmart, Kmart, or outdoor supply store, normally for less than $15. Pads are much more for insulation from the ground than for comfort when you are 9-11 years old. If you are an adult, you’ll need a better pad if you intend to be able to move in the morning! :-) For the scouts, a pad will provide great and much-needed insulation from the cold ground, and help protect the sleeping bag.
Mess Kit: Don’t worry about getting the old aluminum mess kit sold at camping stores. In fact, when we put hot food in those, the entire dish sometimes becomes too hot for a scout to handle. A Cool-Whip container will work great for a bowl. A cheap picnic plate will work for a dish. Pick up extra spoons, forks, and knives at the dollar store or a garage sale. Scouts need a mug (for hot cocoa, which we almost always have) and a drip bag along with their mess kit. The best mugs are the insulated travel mugs with lids (available everywhere). A drip bag can be a hoisery bag, available in the laundry section of any grocery store or Target/Walmart, etc. You could also use an old mesh bag that oranges or onions often come in. The bag should have a string so we can hang it up (with wet dishes inside) to drip dry. (Best string: old shoelace from those sneakers your daughter grew out of).
Water bottle: Can be an old syrup bottle, a one-half liter bottle of water from the grocery story, or a sports water bottle. Best if there’s a way to carry it hands-free, whether that be with a strap, a fanny pack, or small backpack.
Backpack: Not required. However, give it some thought. Today’s youth backpacks are desiged to be expandable (e.g., they grow lengthwise with the child). The girls who move into cadettes with me will be taking backpacking trips of increasing length. From a practical standpoint, even though we only “car camp” right now, it’s still a challenge to carry a duffle bag, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and anything else from a car parking lot to a campsite. A backpack is much easier to manage. A Kelty backpack designed for youth normally retails for about $70.
In addition, a packing list will be provided for each trip. PLEASE always put names on EVERYTHING your scout takes. Socks, bandanas, eating utensils, and underwear are often separated from their owner!
A final note: My personal pet peeve is to hear a scout say “My mom forgot to pack that”. My favorite answer is: “Is this your mom’s trip or yours? How come YOU didn’t pack it?” (Ask your girls – I’ve had the opportunity to say that to at least half the girls this past year!) For most all of the girls, packing isn’t done entirely on their own, but I recommend they set everything out, when they think they’ve got it all, call mom or dad to check their list with them. I’m a firm believer that this will help them accept more responsibility.
GIRL SCOUT ORGANIZATION
NATIONAL: The Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) is located in New York, and is administered by a national staff of professional Girl Scouters. Local Girl Scout Councils direct activities in cities and communities.
COUNCIL: The Girl Scout program for the Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Metropolitan Maryland area is administered by the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capitol (GSCNC), headquartered in Washington, D.C. They have a primary office at 4301 Connecticut Ave NW, and a couple of small, outreach offices (the closest to us is in Manassas).
ASSOCIATION: The Council is divided into geographic associations to provide better support to the large number of Scouts in the Washington D.C. area. Our association is known as “Association 52”, and there are 8 Service Units within our Association, generally in the Burke / Springfield / Annandale / Falls Church area.
SERVICE UNIT: This is the unit we most often interact with. Our Service Unit is made up of the area in the Silverbrook and Halley Elementary School boundaries, and there are currently over 30 Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette and Senior Girl Scout troops in our Service Unit. We are known as “Service Unit 52-8”. Throughout each year, the Service Unit sponsors activities, ranging from our annual Spring Encampment, to service projects, to dances and badge workshops. Service Unit events are an opportunity for the girls in a troop to see and work with other girls they normally know from school or their neighborhoods.
TROOP: The troop is the basic unit for Scouting activities. It is composed of girls who live in the same area, and often, but not necessarily, go to the same school. We are “Troop 338”, and have girls from Halley, Silverbrook, and Westminster schools. The size of troops and frequency of troop meeting times are dependent upon the Troop Leader.
PATROL: We use patrols in our troop, but in a loosely-structured basis. Patrols give girls a leadership experience, and provide a convenient way to divide up the scouts into smaller groups.