Brownie Troop 1157, Austin, Texas


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Organization

Dues: Dues will be $20.00 for the year. See below.

Our Current Organizational Breakdown:

  • Co-leaders - Sandra Webendorfer, Patricia Trimble
  • Assistant leader - Monica Muniga
  • Treasurer - Patricia Trimble
  • Web page - Linda Law
  • Fall Product - Sandra Webendorfer
  • Keeping track of the Badge activities completed by each girl - Sandra Webendorfer
  • Meeting Activities - All parents (sign up)
  • Cookie Coordinators -
  • First Aiders - Stephan Davis and Anne Jarriel

 Announcements

News:

Preparing for our Cadette troop. Patricia recently went to a training in preparation for the older Girl Scout years. There are many. We hope to have a Parent meeting later this Spring to share the different opportunities that are available to the older scout. With the girls going to different Middle Schools and new after school activities, we will have to decide on best time and frequency of meetings. Obviously, after school will not be an option for many.

Meeting Place and Time: We will meet at the Gullett playground picnic tables. We realize that many of you serve on Gullett's Safety Patrol. Arrive as soon after your duty and backpack retrieval for snack. The formal meeting will begin at 3:15 p.m. This year we will strive to end the meeting promptly at 4:45 pm so that we can leave Gullett by 5:00 p.m. Please make arrangements with a friend if your pickup will be delayed or talk to Patricia if you have special circumstances for an after 5:00 pm pick-up.

Books and Badges: Please bring scout books to each meeting; be sure your name is on your books. Those girls who went to camp or worked on badges during the summer need to bring the records of their badge work. If they complete badge requirements at home, a parent needs to sign the requirement in the Badge Book, then the girls can show this to Sandra at the meetings and she'll record it. Six requirements must be completed to earn a badge.

Dues: The girls have opted to collect $20.00 in lump sum for their meeting dues this year. They didn't want to have to remember dues for each meeting. The troop will accept unused Cookie Credits (they expire 12/1/04), cash or check. The dues are to come from the girls efforts. They have been asked to help with extra chores to earn the money. This year the Treasurer will send out reminders.

Scout Leadership Positions: There will be 3 patrols, each with a patrol leader (PL). There will also be a troop treasurer. The PL's and the treasurer will each serve for half a year. This year, to involve the girls more in decision making, Patricia plans to meet with the patrol leaders briefly one afternoon after each meeting (after school until approximately 3:30 pm) to discuss agenda items for the next meeting.

Uniforms and Handbooks: These can be purchased at the Council shop at 7537 Cameron Rd., or online at www.girlscouts.org. A troop shirt was handed out at our first meeting on 9/2. If your daughter earned cookie credits, these can be used for purchases at the shop. If you need financial assistance, let Sandra know and we can apply through the council. So, your shopping list is:

  • Sash
  • Council Identification Set (goes on the sash)
  • Troop numbers (1157, goes on the sash)
  • Junior insignia tab (this is optional to hold the pins, or the pins can go directly on the shirt)
  • Skirt, skort, shorts, or culottes (any style in green)
  • Junior Handbook (page 15 shows where everything goes on the sash and uniform)
  • Junior Badgebook

Program Goals and Awards: There are four program goals:

  1. The first program goal is for you to become the very best person you can. You should feel good about yourself and your accomplishments, be able to try new activities and be open to new challenges, and use your talents and skills in new ways.
  2. The second program goal is for you to respect other people, build strong friendships, and to learn to understand and appreciate people who are different from yourself.
  3. The third program goal is for you to build your own set of values that will help you to make decisions and that will guide your actions.
  4. The fourth program goal is for you to build leadership skills and to contribute to your society by helping other people.

The first level of awards is the Badge. There are well over 100 different badges to work on; these are all explained in the Badgebook. To earn a badge you must complete six different activities. THOSE GIRLS GOING TO GIRL SCOUT SUMMER CAMPS WILL GET A SHEET WITH THE BADGE REQUIREMENTS THEY HAVE COMPLETED CHECKED OFF. RETURN THESE SHEETS TO A LEADER IN THE FALL SO WE CAN AWARD THE BADGES YOU HAVE EARNED.

The rest of the Junior Girl Scout Awards are explained at the end of the Handbook (starting on page 189). There are four Signs, one to correlate with each program goal listed above. There are five steps to complete each Sign, such as earning a complimentary badge, completing activities in the handbook, and so forth. There are two leadership awards: The Junior Aide Award and Junior Girl Scout Leadership Award. There are several steps to completing these awards, which help to build leadership skills. As the girls complete the steps toward these awards, they write in their books what they have done and learned, then they bring their book to a leader to be signed off. The final and highest award at the Junior level is the Bronze Award. Earning badges, signs, and leadership awards are the prerequisites for the Bronze award, which also requires a service project of at least 15 hours (7-8 hours of planning, and 7-8 hours of execution). The Bronze Award can be completed individually or as a group project. If it is a group project it must be something that each girl can take charge of a portion of, and each girl needs to contribute 15 hours of work. Girls do not have to earn the Bronze Award to participate in the troop. If they want to earn this award, they need to set that goal and work toward it because it won’t just happen by itself.

Snacks: Please provide for 11 girls. Snacks should be individually bagged for each girl (with the size of our troop this is necessary to eliminate girl squabbles and leader headaches & madness). Snacks should be healthful items; fruits, veggies, crackers, cheese, yogurt, granola bars, trail mix, etc. Water is provided at each meeting, so drinks are NOT necessary. Refer to the snack assignment list (or ask Patricia) to find out when you are scheduled to provide snacks.

Parent Participation: Parent participation is needed at each troop meeting. Patricia and Sandra will be at each meeting, and we need one more parent so we have 3 adults. If everyone does one meeting during the year (mom or dad) we are covered. We'd also like all the parents to think of what skills they may be able bring to these meetings, i.e. sewing, gardening, pocket knife skills, camping skills, wood working, outdoor or indoor cooking, collecting, acting, dance, art projects, science projects, community service projects. Please let Sandra or Patricia know which meeting you'd like to help with, and any skills you'd like to share.

Troop Travel Fund: We have established individual girl Troop Travel Fund accounts to begin saving for more elaborate travel in the middle school years. You may have heard you daughter speak about this. At the last meeting each girl was handed a private statement of amount in her fund. The Court of Honor voted on the best way to come up with a fair figure. The statement includes the formula used to compute the amount. If you have any questions about this, contact Patricia. The troop will vote on the percentage of profit from Fall Product sales that will be deposited into these accounts after the sale is over.

Troop Bank Account: Our troop has it's own bank account. Checks to the troop should be made payable to Girl Scout Troop 1157.

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Calendar
 

Thursday, 5/12/05, 3:15 - 4:45 p.m. (after Safety Patrol): Meeting. Location: Gullett playground picnic tables.

Sunday, 5/15/05, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.: Midtown Service Unit Court of Awards and Bridging. Location: the new Girl Scout Program Center. PLEASE HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER WEAR HER FULL UNIFORM AND BE ON TIME! We have several girls being awarded their Bronze Award and we will bridge to Cadettes. The address for new Girl Scout Program Center is 12012 Park Thirty-Five Circle. Travel IH35 North, take the Yager Lane Exit, cross over IH35 and turn left onto the IH35 South access road. See page 2 in the recent Possibilities Book for a map. Also, please bring a small plate of finger food, cookies, fruit or veggies to share.

Friday, 5/27/05, Sleep-over

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Resource List (Sandra has these)

Books:

Games for Girl Scouts
The Story of Juliette Low
Let's Swap
Cub Scout Leader How-to Book

Song books with cassette tape or CD: various

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website by Ace Webster
last updated 5/9/2005