Elizabeth Burr from Collinsville Has Earned the Girl Scout Gold Award

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois (GSSI) is pleased to announce that Elizabeth Burr from Collinsville has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can receive. 

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called Camps in Motion, Elizabeth visited GSSI’s camps and filmed the camp properties and facilities as well as girls enjoying various programs and activities held at camp. Through her Girl Scout Gold Award, Elizabeth produced four promotion camp videos that GSSI can use to share information about the camp properties for girls and parents or to show potential funders who support outdoors and camping for girls. “I’ve always had a passion for film making, and I thought I would combine that with my passion for camps to complete my Girl Scout Gold Award,” Elizabeth said.

“I feel as though I learned to be a good leader and role model, as I saw many young Girl Scouts looking up to me as I filmed at camp throughout this project,” Elizabeth added.

Elizabeth is the daughter of Marvin and Allyson Burr. She will graduate from Collinsville High School in 2017 and has been a Girl Scout for 13 years.

The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, recognizes a Girl Scout's commitment to excellence as she develops skills and values to meet present and future challenges in her life. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, a Girl Scout Senior or Girl Scout Ambassador must design and carry out a project that fulfills a need within a girl’s community, creates change, and is sustainable. The project must be completed with a suggested minimum of 80 hours of work. Only about 5 percent of eligible girls earn the prestigious Gold Award.

Lauren Carter from Collinsville Has Earned the Girl Scout Gold Award

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois (GSSI) is pleased to announce that Lauren Carter from Collinsville has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can receive.

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called Nursery Reboot, Lauren worked with her church to improve and remodel the nursery. As part of her project, she removed broken furniture and toys and replaced them with age appropriate ones. Also concerned about children’s safety, she replaced the old carpet with new carpet and a thicker pad to protect the children if they fell while playing. In addition, Lauren scheduled a CPR class which would teach nursery staff and other church members life-saving skills. And finally, she updated the church nursery policy manual and set up a check “in and out” policy for the nursery.

“I learned that you can’t let the bumps in the road get in your way while trying to get something accomplished,” Lauren said. “You will always have bumps along the way in life, but they shouldn’t stop you from getting to your goals. You have to work around them and find a way to solve the problem yourself,” she said.

Lauren is the daughter of Warren and Laurie Carter. She will graduate from Collinsville High School in 2017 and has been a Girl Scout for 12 years.

The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, recognizes a Girl Scout's commitment to excellence as she develops skills and values to meet present and future challenges in her life. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, a Girl Scout Senior or Girl Scout Ambassador must design and carry out a project that fulfills a need within a girl’s community, creates change, and is sustainable. The project must be completed with a suggested minimum of 80 hours of work. Only about 5 percent of eligible girls earn the prestigious Gold Award.

Emily Baima from Collinsville Has Earned the Girl Scout Gold Award

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois (GSSI) is pleased to announce that Emily Baima from Collinsville has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can receive. 

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called Mammal Enclosure, Emily built an enclosure to aid in the rehabilitation of small mammals at TreeHouse Wildlife Center. Based on the needs of the center at any given time, the enclosure could also be used to accommodate temporary or permanent residents. Emily knew how TreeHouse Wildlife Center relied on volunteers for projects, and her project would be a worthwhile contribution that would benefit the facility for years to come.

Through her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Emily learned the importance of following through with a project to achieve the end result. “I learned that persistence pays off,” said Emily. “Projects don’t always go as planned, but if you take initiative to solve a problem, the end result is worth it,” she added.

Emily is the daughter of Scott and Tammy Baima. She is currently a senior at Collinsville High School. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Emily has been a Girl Scout for 13 years.

The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, recognizes a Girl Scout's commitment to excellence as she develops skills and values to meet present and future challenges in her life. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, a Girl Scout Senior or Girl Scout Ambassador must design and carry out a project that fulfills a need within a girl’s community, creates change, and is sustainable. The project must be completed with a suggested minimum of 80 hours of work. Only about 5 percent of eligible girls earn the prestigious Gold Award.

Troop #180 Invites All GSSI Juniors-Ambassadors to Scrapbooking Event

Laura Keiser Honored for 11 Years of Day Camp Service

Laura Keiser from Edwardsville was recognized by Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois for 11 years of outstanding service to girls at various Girl Scout day camps.    For the past 4 years she was the Assistant Day Camp Director and then the Day Camp Director for Collinsville Day camp which was held at Camp Torqua in Edwardsville.  In addition, Laura has volunteered at several other day camps throughout the years.  “We are so pleased to recognize Laura for her dedication and volunteer leadership skills to ensure so many girls had the opportunity to have a camp and outdoor experience,” said Villie M. Appoo, GSSI Chief Executive Officer.  “It’s volunteers like Laura who help Girl Scouts provide and affordable and accessible outdoor experience where girls can experience the wonders of nature, explore the natural environment and develop outdoor and leadership skills,” Appoo added.

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Providing STEM Programming in East St. Louis and Collinsville

This fall, Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois has been providing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming at East St. Louis Senior High School and Collinsville High School as part of the "Imagine Your STEM Future" program.

 

Imagine Your STEM Future is designed to increase girls' interest in STEM careers and inspire them to become leaders through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. This programming was funded by a grant from AT&T and Girl Scouts of the USA.   At least 200 girls will have been served by the time GSSI completes the series.

 

For more information about GSSI's STEM programs, please contact STEM Program Managers: Emily Stanley at 800.345.6858, ext. 1111 or e-mail estanley@gsofsi.org or Mary Buchanan at 800.345.6858, ext. 1115 or e-mail mbuchanan@gsofsi.org.

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GSSI Hosts Southwestern Illinois Jr FIRST LEGO League Expo

 

 

 

GSSI held it’s second annual Southwestern Illinois JrFLL Expo on Saturday, March 8, 2014. Thirteens teams from throughout southern Illinois participated in the Expo. All ten of the GSSI teams that participated displayed exceptional work. These teams of kindergarten – 3rd grade girls spent several weeks studying natural disasters and simple machines. They then displayed their work at the Expo through creating a "Show Me" science-fair type poster and a LEGO model with a simple machine and a motorized part.

Congratulations to the following teams and coaches:

The Lego Girls of Washington Park coached by Aleta Placide

The Pink Tigers of Effingham coached by Derek Hudson and Mindy Jenkins

The Flood Girls of Mascoutah coached by Dawn Waller and Jessica Silvia

The Tornado Girls of Mascoutah coached by Dawn Waller and Jessica Silvia

The Blizzard Busters of Maryville/Collinsville coached by Lisa Ferguson

Team LEGO of Charleston coached by Diane Ratliff

8548 Earthquakes of Anna coached by Betsy Back

The Blue Robot Cat Machines of Highland coached by Yumi Hohm

The Knights of the Round Lego of O’Fallon coached by Winnie Kenney

The Creative Kitties of O’Fallon coached by Megan Terrell

 

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For more information about encouraging a love of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through GSSI robotics teams contact Mary Buchanan at mbuchanan@gsofsi.org.