Gabriella Holmes from Millstadt Has Earned the Girl Scout Gold Award

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

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called Softball Pitching Fun and Exercise, Gabriella said she wanted to take her love for the game of softball and share it with youth to get them to exercise more and eat healthier. According to Gabriella one of the root causes her project was child obesity and her Gold Award project gave kids a fun way to exercise and taught them healthy eating habits. During her Softball Pitching Camp for youth, she taught exercise and fitness and gave the children healthy eating tips and provided them with a snack each day.

Gabriella said she learned how to work with and teach younger children. “Through this project, I have learned that I enjoy helping younger people and that I can be a leader,” she said.

Gabriella is the daughter of Rick and Tracy Holmes. She is a junior at Belleville West High School 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.

GSSI STEM Camp Still Has Spots Available

Come out to Girl Scout STEM Camp for an experience that's out of this world!  To celebrate the coming total solar eclipse, this year's camp theme is SPACE!   There are two camp options - one for younger girls entering K-3 in the fall, and another for older girls entering 4th-12th grades.  Both camps offer tons of science, technology, engineering and math fun and a cool t-shirt!  Sign up by June 7 and get ready to have a BLAST (yes, we'll be launching rockets)! 

Mini STEM Camp
July 6-7, 2017
9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Camp Torqua - Edwardsville, IL
Ages:  K-3rd Grade (Fall 2017) 

Join us for our fourth Mini STEM camp, just for Daisies and Brownies! Let's explode rockets, build a Mars Rover, glow in the dark and a whole lot more! Cost includes lunch both days, two snacks and a t-shirt. 

Girl Scout Fee: $40
Non-Girl Scout Fee: an additional $15 per girl

Adult volunteers are needed to make this camp a success. Full time volunteers who work both days will receive a camp shirt and be reimbursed $20 for one camper at the close of camp. If interested in volunteering, a volunteer application and health history form should be mailed in with your payment and daughter's registration form. 

Deadline to Register: 06/07/17

STEM Camp: Destined for Infinity

July 17-21, 2017
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Camp Torqua - Edwardsville, IL
Ages: 4th-12th grade (Fall 2017)

How do you organize a space themed camp?? You PLANet! It only gets better at this year's space themed STEM camp. Let's shoot rockets, defy physics and get our inventor brains warmed up with more littleBits. If that doesn't sound like fun, how about an Escape the Room: Space Station module? We will also do a field trip to Boeing's Prolouge room to get a feel for aerospace and history. 

Girl Scout Fee: $74
Non-Girl Scout Fee: an additional $15

Adult volunteer are needed to make this camp a success. Full time volunteers who work five days will receive a camp shirt and be reimbursed $35 for one camper at the close of camp. If interested in volunteering, a volunteer application and health history form should be mailed in with your payment and girl's registration form.

Deadline to Register: 06/07/17