Happy Thanksgiving! :D

Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday and remind you all to give thanks for the special people in your lives!

When you spend time with your loved ones this weekend, try making a list of all of the things you're thankful for together! I guarantee that you'll all have tons of fun while counting your blessings! Tomorrow, I know that my family and I will be making a HUGE list of all that we're thankful for!

Since I go back to college next week and don't come back home until the 20th of December, my family and I are decorating for Christmas tomorrow before and after our turkey dinner! (Can you believe that it's that time of year already!?). So if you find that you're getting bored with eating tons of food, make some cool holiday decorations-the way that I see it, it's never too early to get into the holiday spirit! :)

Image From: <http://www.aldiko.com/blog/happy-thanksgiving>

Have fun and please remember-Thanksgiving is not about turkey and cornucopias. It's about spending time with loved ones and appreciating what you have. Remember to give thanks for all of those special people who make our lives so wonderful-parents, siblings, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family, Girl Scout Leaders and Mentors...The list is seemingly endless!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah to all! Count your blessings! <3

Image From: <http://yummyplants.com/vegan-holidays/happy-hanukkah-time-for-vegan-latkes-hanukkah-gelt/>

Love,

Gold Girl Allie <3

Thrift Shopping...Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun!

Have trouble coming up with a way to spend all of that cookie money?
Looking for a fun activity to do with the Scouts?
Look no further!

Thrift Shopping. It's the latest trend!
Here at college, everyone loves to go thrifting! We have several local thrift stores as well as a Salvation Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army

Take the girls to a Thrift Shop and have them pick out interesting shirts, skirts, shoes, jackets, etc. for cheap prices! Then, bring all of the clothes to your next meeting and completely redesign them! Go to your local craft store and go to the sale section-buy tons of crazy ribbons, sequins, buttons, scarves, fabric paint, glitter, rick-rack-anything!

Picture From: http://madamenoire.com/185434/the-joys-of-thrift-shopping-why-i-shop-at-goodwill-and-not-forever-21/

This is probably a better activity for older girls in middle school or high school. Teach the girls different sewing stitches and let them create their own fashions!

Picture From: http://www.debutanteclothing.com/how-to-shop-at-thrift-stores/

This can be tons of fun and is a super creative way to bond! Afterwards, have a fashion show and let everyone show off their new styles!

Hope you enjoy my suggestions and ideas!
Have an awesome week!

~Gold Girl Allie

P.S. If you are super interested in Thrifting...I found this great blog that gives awesome Thrift-Shopping Tips! Check it out for more info: http://www.debutanteclothing.com/how-to-shop-at-thrift-stores/

Stay Beautiful Girlies <3

Communications! :D

Sooo...hey everyone!

Midterms are next week for me! (Wow has time flown!?) This weekend will be filled to the brim with studying, I can assure you!

I really am in love with my major so far-currently I am majoring in Communications! (possibly doubling in Art or writing). I know that most students change their major once or twice before graduation, but I'm feeling pretty good about mine right now!

Anyways, I just wanted to tell you all about how much Girl Scouting has helped me and has made me feel comfortable with my major!

Throughout the Gold Award process, I learned much about technology, blogging and public relations.

Since my project was focused on promoting GSA and encouraging Girls to stick with Scouting, I was immersed in the world of communications, and ended up learning skills that are integral to my major!

Today, two alumnus from my college came to give my Strategic Communications class a talk about their jobs and companies.

They began to tell us about their jobs in the public relations field-promoting products and brand names using the Internet, mass media and advertising.

Blogging and promoting the Girl Scout organization at events and fairs has lead me to have a better understanding of the Communications world.

Because of Girl Scouts, I also now know how to network! I used to be nervous about talking to important people and putting myself out there, but now I know that it is important to get past your fears and to speak with new people who could help you in the future!

I actually got to meet the CEO of Disney-Bob Iger-last week! I was nervous about talking to him at first, but I quickly realized that speaking with him would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and may one day help me to get an awesome job!


He was extremely personable and awesome, and encouraged everyone to work hard. He told my class that with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve their dreams!

Bob Iger, the current CEO of Disney, Skyping my S*Park class at Ithaca College!

Girl Scouting helped me to become who I am today, and has helped me to succeed through my first month and a half of college! I encourage you all to stick with Scouting and not to be afraid of new things!

Love,
Gold Girl Allie <3

Camping in College! :D

Hellooooo Girl Scouts!

I just wanted to give you all a quick update and some words of encouragement!
I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the new school year!

To all of the Gold Girls and perspective Gold Girls out there-work hard and stick with it! All the hard work is going to pay off!

I've actually met quite a few Gold Girls in my dorm and at my school...

Sooo next weekend I will be participating in one of my favorite Girl Scout activities...CAMPING!

The Honors program at my college is taking a small group of students into the wilderness for a weekend (did you know that you can actually get a college minor in outdoor leisure activities!?).

I'm really excited! We're going to go backpacking up in the Cayuga region of New York! The College is going to supply us with backpacks and sleeping bags and the like...and I can't wait to show everyone what a Girl Scout can do!

Pic from: http://www.contactez.net/gurleyalabama/girlsscoutsgurley.html

One of my best friends attending the trip is an Eagle Scout (The Boy Scout equivalent of the Gold Award), so I'm interested to see who'll be the better wilderness camper! It'll be fun to learn what BSA does differently from GSA! :D

If your troop ever has an opportunity to go camping-please go! You'll really enjoy it :) Girl Scouts taught me TONS about camping. I can cook outside, start campfires, build shelters with twigs and greenery, identify star patterns and (of course!) make s'mores!

pic from: http://postcardy.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

Back in the summer before eighth grade, I went to a Girl Scout sleep away camp-Camp BlueBay-for a week with a group of my friends.

The camp was soooo much fun! We learned how to canoe, how to survive in the wilderness, how to use a compass and tons of other useful skills that I still use today :) We slept in platform tents and swam in a really pretty lake (the only drawback to sleeping in the tents was the morning wake-up call...if you didn't get out of bed the counselors would threaten to squirt you with a water-blaster which was hilarious). :)

Camp BlueBay Link: http://www.gsnc.org/camp/bluebay.asp

Stay Tuned-in for an update about my camping experience next week! Hopefully it won't rain and I'll have tons of awesome stories to tell you all when I get back! :D

~Gold Girl Allie :)

I'm at College!! Woot Woot :)

Okay, so I've officially been going to college for two weeks now! I wanted to take a break from hangin' with my friends in the dorm lounge to give you guys a bit of an update! :)

I hope everyone is doing well! Hope all of you new Gold Girls aren't feeling too overwhelmed (Don't worry, you can do it!). Hope that all of you graduated Gold Girls are having fun in college and working in the real world (Congrats!). And I hope that all of you potential Gold Girls stick with Girl Scouting and start thinking of good ideas (can't wait to see you change the world!)!

I want to once again underscore the importance of writing "Girl Scout" or "Gold Award Recipient" on your college application. Colleges want  people who are actively involved with community service and national organizations like Scouting!

You should definitely stick with Scouting through High School-it shows colleges that you are committed, hard-working, and community-oriented. Many colleges have special scholarships for Gold Award Girl Scouts-I know one girl who gets $3,000 a year just for getting her Gold Award!

As a result of my Gold project, I have chosen to become a Communications Major. :)  Girl Scouting definitely helped me to learn about networking, public speaking and the field of communications. Every day at college, I use skills that I developed while Girl Scouting. Today, I used my public speaking skills to audition for a Campus television show! I had to speak to a camera and use a teleprompter as I interviewed a musician about his aspirations and collegiate career. I was nervous-but I had to talk and give a lot of speeches during my past twelve years as a Girl Scout, so I think that I was well prepared! :)

Keep working hard-Girl Scouting is a very useful organization that will open up doors and lead you to do things that you never thought you were capable of!

Scouting made me who I am today. I remember beginning my Gold Award three years ago-I was apprehensive, stressed-out, and convinced that my communication skills would never be up to par. I've changed a lot in the past few years, and have really come into my own as a result of GSA.

As I write this, I feel like all of my work has finally paid off. My dreams as a sophomore Girl Scout have come to fruition, and I am finally settled into a college filled with opportunities and people I love.

Keep being amazing and never give up-I promise you that your hard work will pay off in the end.

*Keep dreaming. Keep working hard. Keep smiling. Keep setting goals. Keep imagining. *

And I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way-I couldn't have done it without you.

VICTORY.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aO8ILLDFKv4/UQb08_I2JkI/AAAAAAAAPEU/RvEo5lNHDvs/s200/Victory.jpg

Street Fair Year 2! Operation: Face Painting!

Last weekend I was asked to volunteer and face paint at my local street fair! Despite the rainy weather, I grabbed my standard-issue GSA vest and set off for my next Girl Scout adventure!

If you've been following my Blog, you may recall that I presented my project and GSA info at the street fair last year! Community functions are great places to display GSA projects, hand out fliers, and spread the word about an issue you are trying to address.

At the fair, another Scout and I set up a small table and some neon signs advertising our face-painting booth.

For those of you working on your Gold Award or any other project, here's anothser useful tip-people love free stuff! (and food, but we'll talk about that bit later). 

Whenever we drew a heart on a kid's hand or a spiderman mask on a face, the parents would offer to pay us-they were all impressed when we told them that we were painting for fun! After word spread of our free face-painting, more and more kids came to us for our painting services! :)

Everyone was interested to hear about how we were Girl Scouts. The face-painting was a great way to promote Scouting and show how cool we are!

Next time you go to a community event to show off a project or set up a booth or something, consider bringing along a set of face-paint or a small craft. Kids love to get involved-especially if you find a way to make an educational experience fun! For example, if you are trying to teach people about the dangers of pollution in the ocean, enlist an artistic friend's help and have her paint sea creatures on people's hands while you explain how plastic bags destroy the ecosystem of Fiji or something of the like!
There are tons of ways to get people interested in your cause, you just have to remember to think outside of the box!

All in all, it was a truly successful (and fun-filled!) day. :)

Before I sign off, I'd like to give all of you a quote to think about from one of my favorite authors:


“Not knowing you can't do something, is sometimes all it takes to do it.” ~Ally Carter

An example of my painting expertise haha. From top to bottom-sunshine, heart, peace sign, and butterfly. :) 

~ Gold Girl Allie

Fourth Of July Parade 2013!

It has been over a year that I have been helping with parades and other events with Girl Scouts! Last month, I helped coordinate/marched in my local Fourth of July Parade! It was the last parade that I will help to put together as the official local Girl Scout Parade Chair-and it was awesome!

Necklaces with GSA info attached that the Girls and I handed out-they were a big hit!

Last year, when I began my campaign to increase the amount of Girls attending local parades in order to promote Girl Scouting and show off our organization to the community, we only had 3 or 4 Girl Scouts marching in our 4th of July Parade. Since Girl Scout troops do not generally do many activities in the summer, we don't usually have a large turn-out for this particular parade. However, this year we had almost 30 Girl Scouts marching!

It took lots of fliers, e-mails, meetings, blog posts, texts, and phone calls to get this far, but I have successfully achieved one of my many Gold Award Goals-to increase GSA parade attendance in my community! If you are reading this right now, I want to encourage you to march in your own parades! Everyone loves to see the Girl Scouts out and about, and there's a certain sense of pride that comes with donning your uniform and walking with your GSA sisters!

The parade, as always, was so much fun! There were tons of American flags, smiling faces, and laughter! I will definitely be marching with the Girl Scouts again after I come home from my freshman year of college next year!

On a different note, I want to encourage all of you readers out there to set plenty of goals in life. Remember:

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”-Les Brown

 

Oh, and here's a picture of the car that was in front of us at the parade-that guy on top of the pick-up truck cab played "Star Wars" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the bagpipes for the entirety of the parade. He rocked, and we all enjoyed the interesting music! :)

 ~Gold Girl Allie :) 

Gold Award Ceremony! :D

Tonight I will finally receive my Gold Award!!!!! I can't believe it! It's taken several years, a lot of energy, time and hard work for me to earn the highest honor in Girl Scouting!

I would like to congratulate the 9 other seniors in my school that have earned their Gold Awards as well! It's been a long and rewarding journey for all of us and I cannot believe that it is coming to an end!

Tonight we will all go up on stage to show off all of our projects and to receive our official Gold Award patches. I can't wait!

Thank you all for following my journey to Gold for the past year, and I encourage all of you Girl Scouts out there to go for Gold and to never give up! This has been such an amazing and rewarding experience and I'm sure that you will all enjoy earning your Gold as much as I have!

Yesterday, all of the Gold Girls in my school were awarded with "Certificates of Achievement" from our Principal. It feels great to be recognized by the high school for all of the hard work that we have done over the years! I'd like to say thank you to out principal Dr. Williams for being so awesome these past four years!

I'll keep you all updated on my project and Girl Scouting and I'll let you know how the award ceremony went!

I am truly blessed to have such awesome family and friends who have helped me to achieve so much and to receive this award! Special thanks to my Gold mentor Beth! She is an amazing woman and has helped so many people to achieve their dreams and to help others!

Congrats to all of the Spring 2013 Gold Award Recipients-I wish you all the best!
~Gold Girl Allie

Pictures of the Principal's Certificate of Achievement all of the Gold Girls at our high school received!

Girl Scouts Coin! :)

It's Cookie Delivery Season once again! Sadly, this will be my last year of cookie-selling as an Ambassador Girl Scout. I will, however, continue to purchase and enjoy the awesomeness of GSA cookies next year in college! (And FYI, contrary to popular belief, Thin Mints do not make you any thinner!)


Picture from:
http://www.thegloss.com/2010/04/01/odds-and-ends/10-reasons-thin-mint-cookies-are-clearly-the-best-girl-scout-cookies/

I was just perusing the Girl Scouts of America Website (you should, too! There's a lot of interesting GS info on there!), when I came across something that I found particularly awesome!

According to girlscouts.org, the United States Mint will be creating up to 350,000 silver dollar coins to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of Girl Scouting!

Picture from: http://www.girlscouts.org/something_big.asp
 

On the heads side, the words "courage, confidence, and character" adorn the top of the coin, inspired by the GSA mission statement: "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place." Beneath these words, three Girl Scouts of different ages are depicted smiling. The 100th anniversary Trefoil symbol underneath the girls signifies the centennial anniversary of our organization!! :D

Minted on the reverse side is "the iconic Profiles of Girl Scouts of the USA with the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, $1 and GIRL SCOUTS."

You can purchase the collectible coin either from the GSA Website or from the US Mint Website.

Info From:

GSA Website: http://www.girlscouts.org/something_big.asp
United States Mint Website: http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&mpe_id=12101&productId=16830&intv_id=15552&evtype=CpgnClick&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&ddkey=ClickInfo

Stay Beautiful Everyone! <3
~Gold Girl Allie

Girl Scouts During WW2 Facts

Hello everybody!  :)

As you know, I am very interested in Girl Scout History! This week, I decided to gather some information about the Girl Scouts of America and the role that they played in World War Two. All the websites that I found this info on are listed at the bottom of this post-so click any one of them for more information if you're interested! The Girl Scout Website has tons more facts from GSA history @ http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/ ! Check it out! Have a great week!

• Girl Scout Cookies were sold annually by local councils around the country until World War II, when sugar, flour, and butter shortages led Girl Scouts to begin selling Girl Scout calendars to raise money for their activities.

• During World War II, 1943–1945, many young Japanese-American girls were confined in internment camps with their families. Girl Scout troops were organized, even in these camps. 

• When World War II began the Girl Scouts aided their communities and war-torn Europe. The group began a new publication-Senior Girl Scouting in Wartime. This program educated older girls on projects like Hospital, Child Care and Emergency Outdoor Aide. The Girl Scouts also collected clothes to send to victims of war.

Girl Scouts Collecting Scrap Metal for the War Effort
Picture From:
http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/timeline/1940s.asp
 

• During the war, Girl Scouts operated bicycle courier services, invested more than 48,000 hours in Farm Aide projects, collected fat and scrap metal, and grew Victory Gardens.
  
• Girl Scouts sponsored Defense Institutes, which taught 10,000 women survival skills and techniques for comforting children during blackouts and air raids.
  
• Girls collected 1.5 million articles of clothing that were then shipped overseas to children and adult victims of war.

This Intermediate Girl Scout uniform (ages 10-14) is the style worn from 1939-1948. Due to wartime shortages, a button down front replaced the metal zipper of previous years. The many badges earned by this scout include First Aid, Hostess, Handywoman and Child Care.
Picture and info from: http://www.nww2m.com/2012/03/girls-scouts-and-wwii/

• The Liberty ship USS Juliette Low, named after the founder of the Girl Scouts, was launched on May 12, 1944.

Information from/For More Information:

• http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/cookie_history/1940s.asp
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA
• http://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/girl-scouts/
• http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/timeline/1940s.asp
• http://sarahsundin.blogspot.com/2012/03/girl-scouts-in-world-war-ii.html

Radio Show :)

Hey All!

Last year I was given an amazing opportunity-I was asked to speak on the radio about Girl Scouting and my experiences with the organization!

Along with several other Girl Scouts, I was featured on WRHU's award winning women's issues program A League Of Our Own, hosted by Fran Spencer.
The executive producer has never had Girl Scouts on the show before.

You can listen to the show @:
http://franspencer.com

Click radio show and it is the second show "the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts."

It was an awesome experience! The radio studio was really cool and we got to use the special microphones and equipment when recording the show. We spoke all about the benefits of Girl Scouting and all of the great experiences that the Scouts and I had had over the years.
Please take a listen!

This just goes to show you...Girl Scouts holds so many opportunities and opens so many doors!
As my Gold Award counselor says..."You never know where the Gold Award Journey will take you!"

To all of you Gold Girls-I know that the deadline is soon! (I myself in in the midst of filling out my final paperwork)
Good luck ladies! Stick with it-we're almost there!

~Gold Girl Allie :D