Senior
Troop 258
All of Troop 258’s members have graduated from high school and most will be going on to college. They haven’t left Girl Scouts behind however, five of the girls have become lifetime members, and would like to stay active in scouting in some way.
We held our last Court of Awards in June, 2003. The girls designed their own ceremony, singing some of their favorite songs & recounting their fondest memories of their years as a Girl Scout. Afterwards we had one last friendship circle and sang “Make New Friends”. Appropriately the girls chose “Linger” as their very last song. The words say it all: “...and as the years go by.....I’ll think of you and sigh......this is goodnight and not goodbye...”
I have decided to keep this page instead of removing it, in the hopes that some other cadettes or seniors, or their leaders, may stumble across it and get some ideas for their troop. Over the years many other leaders helped me out with ideas and I hope I can return the favor.
These are some
of our activities since we became Cadettes.........
The fall is usually the
busiest time for our troop. In the middle of September we take our
annual canoe trip on Cedar Creek. This is a very winding creek with
many sharp turns and overhanging branches to avoid. Luckily we've always
had beautiful weather and it's something we look forward to doing.
As 2nd year Cadettes, some
of our girls went rock climbing outdoors after taking lessons on an indoor wall. They finished off the month with the High
Adventure encampment where they completed the obstacle course
and the high and low ropes course and earned their
IPA.
October is the time for the annual camporee at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in
Jackson, New Jersey. Some years we have camped for the weekend, and other years we have just gone there for the day since it is not far from us. Either way we have always had fun. The girls work on a badge and then spend the rest of the day going on the rides. Some of the IPAs they have earned here are: Build A Better Future, Public Relations, and Graphic Arts.
Every few years our council creates a Haunted House . Our girls love to take part in this, and have volunteered to
decorate the basement of our program center at camp and come up with
their own skits and costumes. They put on their "performances" for the Brownies and loved
every minute of it! Other years they have helped out as "actors" at our town's haunted
house and hayride instead.
At the end of
the month they worked at our council's Harvest Moon fundraiser which
helps to fund older girl trips. Some of our girls went on a
council sponsored Wider Op trip to Arizona for 10 days in July, 1999, and some others went on one to Florida in the summer of 2001.Our whole troop also went on a trip to London and Paris in July, 2000. In July of 2002 six of the girls went on a 15 day trip to Italy. In their final year, two of the girls went on a trip to Ireland and another two went to New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. As you can see we love to travel, and the council fundraisers help us out.
We started with the mascot program as first year Cadettes. The first mascot we hosted was a local one -Jimmy the Jersey Devil from Tuckerton, New
Jersey. Since then we have had 31 different mascots from around the world visiting our troop. This is the first year we will be sending our mascot overseas-to the UK for a year.
In
November they worked on 2 more IPA's as first year Cadettes. They completed the Paperworks
IPA at a workshop our council set up, and they earned the Car Care
IPA when they went to the service department of a very friendly Saturn
dealership. Last year they earned the Child Care IPA.
We also went to
our local nursing home and gave the women manicures for Thanksgiving.
The girls are a big hit with the ladies-they all line up to get their
nails done!
Working on a council's own badge- the Sweet Shoppe IPA, gave the girls a chance to show their creativity with chocolate. We spent the whole meeting making candy in all different shapes, sizes and colors. The salt water taffy didn't come out as planned, but it did keep us busy trying to unstick it from our teeth and hands!
For the fourth
year in a row, our council took over a local fitness center on a
Friday night and we got to use all the equipment, take aerobics
classes and swim in the pool. We all had a great time and look
forward to doing it again in the spring.
We took
some trips this month. Our first one was to Radio City Music Hall in
New York to see the famous Christmas show and the second was to
Medieval Times where the girls enjoyed eating dinner with their hands and cheering for their favorite knight.
We also made Christmas ornaments and decorations which we sold at a craft fair to raise money for our London/Paris trip.
We finished off
the month by attending our service unit's Mother-Daughter Tea which
is a great opportunity for us all to just sit and talk with each
other.
In December
two more of our girls took the Program Aide training and two others
went back for training in specific areas. They are now able to work
with younger girls on programs such as camping skills, songs and
games, Girls are Great, GS against smoking, Say no to drugs, Health
& Fitness and Safe Play.
For 5 years, the girls have run the township's Breakfast with Santa Claus to
raise money for their trips. It's a lot of work, but it turns out
to be very profitable for them.We also joined a few other troops to go caroling at our local nursing home.
January
is the time for skiiing, and the dads have been the ones chaperoning this trip. They've been to Craigmeur, NJ, Shawnee, PA, & Big Boulder, PA and had fun snowboarding and snowblading as well as skiing.
Our cookie sale
always starts late January or early February, usually when it's very cold and sometimes snowy. Despite the weather, the girls did a great job selling door to door
and at booth sales to earn money for their year end trips. We also went on a tour of our local Sony movie theater and enjoyed watching "Toy Story 2" more than we thought we would.
In
February, they earned their Photography IPA at a council workshop.
They all brought their cameras and had a lot of fun taking pictures
of each other, while learning about composition and proper lighting. Last year they had earned IPAs in Conflict Resolution
and the Food Connection.The girls also ran a Valentine dance for the middle school as another fundraiser and found out that it is a lot of work acting as chaperones.
For 5 years we have taken part in the Thinking Day postcard
exchange
Over the years we have received postcards from troops in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, as well as from girls in
Ireland, Barbados, England, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Spain, Kuwait, Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. It's always so interesting to read about what all the other troops are
doing.
Again they
started off the month of March, by going ice skating at their favorite
indoor rink. They have been doing this every year since their first
year of Brownies, and they never get tired of it.
The second
Saturday in March is the day our council hosts Girl Scouts on the
Mall. Each year there is a theme and each service unit sets up a
table with displays. In the past, three of our girls have modeled outfits in the fashion show, and many troops put on skits or sang songs. We've also set up a table set up to sell GS cookies. Fundraising again!
For Girl
Scout's birthday one of our girls planned a "baby sprinkle"
meeting complete with games and food. This is similar to a baby
shower only on a smaller scale. It started out with the girls just
bringing in a small baby item, but the gifts kept coming and our
basket grew! The idea was to present it to a girl born on March 12th.
However our hospital had just opened their maternity wing and we had to
wait until March 24th for a girl to finally be born! We hope baby
Madison and her family enjoyed their gifts. This idea came to us from a
troop in Connecticut . They had written about it in our mascot's
journal when he visited them last year.
We finished off
the month by working at the Carnival. This is a major fundraiser for
our older girl's Wider Op Program and was held for the Brownies and
Juniors in our council.
During
Easter vacation in April they got together and went roller-skating at
a local rink. They hope to make this an annual tradition. Our council
also held a fun crafts program where they made a lot of useful items
which they can use to decorate their rooms.
Last year some
girls went to the Backpacking Clinic, and learned about the
different types of packs and what to bring and not bring with them on
a trip.
This month they
finished working on the Cookies & Dough IPA and the cookie pin,
and started on the From Fitness to Fashion IPA. At one meeting they
made their own glitter and lip gloss. It didn't turn out the way it
was intended but it seemed they had more fun with their mistakes than
they would have if it had turned out right!
The weekend before Easter the girls host the township's Breakfast with the Easter Bunny. They provide the pancake breakfast, work on a craft with the children and each child gets their picture taken sitting on the Bunny's lap. It is always a big hit in our area, and is a great fundraiser for them.
The girls finished up on the quilts they were making. This was an ongoing project that took up a good part of the year. Material was donated by various groups and individuals and the girls washed and ironed it all. Then they chose the fabrics that they would like for their quilts. When they were all finished they had 18 quilts which they donated to the
ABC Project which distributes them to at-risk children.
As first year cadettes, one
of their favorite trips was a tour of radio station B98.5. They even
managed to stay perfectly quiet when they were in the studio while
the DJ was broadcasting. Most of the girls were surprised to find out
that the station prefers its employees, including the DJ, to have a
college degree.
Some of the girls in our troop that are on the council's canoe racing team, the Jersy River Runners, went up to NY on Memorial Day weekend for their big canoe race . They have been practicing hard and one of the 4 girl teams placed first in the 10 mile race.
In their last year of cadettes they were treated to an afternoon at the
local beauty parlor, where they had their nails polished
and their hair done in fancy upsweeps.
They looked
so grown up!
At the service unit's camporee at Camp
Amity Acres in June, they worked on the Paddle, Pole and Roll IPA. They
spent 2 days in and on the water, learning different strokes and how to get back into a canoe once you have fallen out. It's a lot harder than it looks!
For the third time we
went on a whitewater rafting trip on the Lehigh River in
Pennsylvania. The first time we didn't know any better and we
were soaked by some Boy Scouts before we even got on the river. Now the girls know enough to come prepared with buckets and they get even!
.
We
ended up our first year by going to TW Sports Center. The go-karts and laser tag
were the biggest hits with the girls.. We've also spent a day on the rides at the Wildwood Amusement Piers as our last trip of the year.
For the past 4 years however, we have been going on a major trips in the summer so we consider that our "end of year event".
Over the years, five of our girls have earned
their Silver
Award and four of them have achieved the
Gold
Award
Check out our trips....
Arizona Trip
London & Paris Trip
Florida Trip
Italy Trip
New Zealand, Australia, & Hawaii Trip
Ireland/England Trip
Shore Odyssey Wider Op
Home
E-mail me for more information