Girl Scouts announces 2013 Pikes Peak Women of Distinction and Women to Watch

Girl Scouts of Colorado is announcing the 2013 inductees into the esteemed Women of Distinction and Women to Watch program in the Pikes Peak area at a private reception on June 25 at Stewart House at Colorado College. This year’s eight honorees were selected by a committee of their peers led by Selection Chair Renita Wolf with Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Board of Directors, and chosen based on their contributions to the community, both professionally and personally. The Women of Distinction and Women to Watch commit to supporting Girl Scouts of Colorado and serving Girl Scouts today.

The Women of Distinction program began in the area in 2000, though 56 area women were named Women of Distinction in 1994 during Girl Scouts’ 75 Anniversary. Including this year’s honorees, Girl Scouts of Colorado has recognized 108 area women with this honor. New to the program last year was the naming of area women under the age of 40 as “Women to Watch.” This year three additional Women to Watch honorees will join the two named in 2012. The Women of Distinction program brings together a group of women dedicated to raising funds to support Girl Scout leadership programs. More than $300,000 has been raised in 12 years.

Later this year, Girl Scouts of Colorado will publicly honor these inductees at the 2013 Thin Mint Dinner in Colorado Springs. This event will be on Sept. 12 at the Antlers Hilton. Claire Garcia, Woman of Distinction 2012, is the event chair and Kari Kilroy is serving as the event sponsorship chair.

For more information on the Sept. 12 event, including how you can help, please contact Karen Burghart at 719-304-8322 or karen.burghart@gscolorado.org. You can also visit our website for more information or to purchase tickets and/or sponsorships at girlscoutsofcolorado.org/women-of-distinction-pikes-peak.

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Pikes Peak 2013 Women of Distinction: 

• Lindy Conter, Community Volunteer Leader for Women’s Resource Agency, Women’s Foundation of Colorado and Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
• Lynette Crow-Iverson, President/CEO, Conspire!
• Margaret Sabin, President & CEO, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services
• Barbara J. Winter, Executive Vice President, Organizational Resources, Ent Federal Credit Union
• Dr. Adis Maria Vila, First Chief Diversity Officer, USAFA, Nov. 2010 – June 2013

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Pikes Peak 2013 Women to Watch: 

• Ann Cesare, Community Outreach Director, Memorial Hospital, University of Colorado Health
• Amber Ptak, Director of Education Programs, Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, a program of the Gill Foundation
• Shannon Rogers, Relationship Manager, Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado

Girl Scouts helping Girl Scouts

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Submitted by Rachel Whitmire
Denver

Jessica Whitmire and Angelina Akdis, rising Juniors from Troop 75 in Denver, spent an afternoon – as well as their hard earned Cookie Credits – helping others. Together they contributed $450 to buy supplies for a newly formed multi-age troop in need. The girls gathered the vests, requisite insignia and Journey books for each girl, then had a great time on a shopping spree for fun Girl Scout goodies for the troop. They saw how fun it was to help their Girl Scout sisters, and hope the girls from the new troop enjoy Girl Scouts (and lip gloss) as much as they do!

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

Coronado Girl Scouts win national Junior Citizen Award

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Submitted by Shoshana Nash
Coronado Elementary School – Littleton

You covered this awhile back on Facebook, but FYI… the project was chosen and submitted it for a Junior Citizen award and we won local, then state, and then national. Go Girl Scouts!

Despite the article, the win is definitely NOT only Troop 4451′s, it is the win of every Girl Scout and Girl Scout Leader at Coronado Elementary who made this event possible… without their support it wouldn’t have happened! Troop 4451 conceived and hosted, but over 70 girls and many leaders attended and donated to the cause!

For us, the best part was the end result. Troop 4451 shipped 600 flags overseas to deserving men and women. It was so great showing the girls that women can be strong and DO something. The servicewomen who joined us were nothing short of inspiring and having financial support from strong women groups, such as the ALA and DAR, further showed the Girl Scouts that strength. Finally, seeing all the different ages of Girl Scouts in one place, so many leaders, and supporters of Girl Scouts helps to make what we do at every meeting so much more amazing and enriches the experience. The girls know that they can continue on and they aren’t alone or uncool. The servicewomen were past Girl Scouts and the girls had stars in their eyes. But the end result was not empowering our group of girls, it was the work they did… it was significant, worthwhile, notable, and unexpected. Now, we hope they walk through their Girl Scout career trying to think of ways of making the world a better place in a large, tangible way.

We are thankful that it shines light on the good that Girl Scouts and the Coronado community are doing! We are also very thankful for the support of the school, the many Girl Scouts and leaders, and the ALA and DAR.

Here’s a link:
http://yourhub.denverpost.com/southjeffco/littleton-girl-scouts-win-national-award/DZKR3cK0XfslQkPRSuvezJ-story

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

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Troop 3821 delivers to Hometown Heroes

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Submitted by Cricket Hawkins

Top of the World Summit Troop 3821 chose Swan Center Outreach as their Hometown Hero this year.  They recently visited the horse rescue and proudly donated a check for $356.28 plus 13 boxes of cookies to the center.  What a fabulous experience for the girls!

 

Eagle Valley Troop 1727 helps community clean up

Girls from Eagle Valley Troop 1727 helped with the Eagle Community Clean-up Day in April.

troop1727 helping with eagle community cleanup day in april

Girl Scouts of Colorado moves retail focus to online shops; most physical stores to close

Girl Scouts of Colorado (GSCO) is moving the focus of retail merchandise sales to our online shop as we close all physical stores as of June 6, 2013, except for the corporate headquarters location. Our organization is working hard to reduce operational expenses so we can focus our resources on serving our membership.

 The volume of customer traffic and sales in the shops outside of our headquarters is low and the costs of staffing and maintaining inventory on the floor is high; so the best use of our resources is to provide merchandise online and improve our online services. We are excited to launch a new online store by June 15.

 GSCO will offer our customers great savings through a liquidation sale through June 6 at our shop locations in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. In addition to an improved online shopping experience, GSCO pIans to offer mobile shops in each of these locations several times per year in conjunction with major events, etc.

In more savings for customers, during July 2013, we will offer free shipping on any phone orders placed through the corporate headquarters location. Please call 303-607-4837 in July to take advantage of this offer.

Western Slope Canoe Experience!

Are you ready to learn basic canoeing and water safety skills? How about how to paddle a canoe so it goes where you want it to go? Me too! Come join other girls as we begin to explore canoeing!

Date: July 12, 2013

Location: TBD (working on Connected Lakes in the GJ Area)

Time: 7:30 Sign in, READY to go at 8:00 am  Finish at Noon.

Minimum: 25 girls

Max: 70 Girls

Ages: Brownies and up (No Daisy GS, per Safety Activity Checkpoints)

Cost $25/girl plus GSUSA registration if not a currently registered GS.

Must wear closed toed shoes, water shoes are fine.  No flip flops or open toed sandals. Bring a water bottle with your name on it! A snack will be provided.

To Register, Contact: Virginia Brown (970) 628-8009

 

Safety Activity Checkpoint reference: http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/assets/upload/files/Canoeing_Safety_Activity_Checkpoints_2011.pdf

Meadow Mt Ranch Summer Camp

Howdy to all older Girl Scouts! We have room in our camp sessions for this upcoming summer! We have room in our Rocks and Ropes session as well as some of our other outdoor high adventure back packing sessions. Come spend week rock climbing and get away from the climbing wall!  Come climb in nature as intended and see amazing views of the continental divide and sit at top of the world where eagles soar. . .

Because of Girl Scout Camp … part 6

This week’s “Because of Girl Scout Camp” Entry is from Ash, who is our Art Program Director at Magic Sky Ranch! Sometimes it’s hard to tell who gets more out of camp…the campers or the staff and volunteers!

Cliff Lake 

As we came over that final dirt covered hill, our excitement began to build. I hadn’t been back to the crystal blue Cliff Lake in a whole year, and the anticipation was killing me. I was a Counselor-in-Training (CIT) at Magic Sky Ranch the summer before my junior year in high school. My unit was filled with girls who loved camping and nature, so I was excited to show them the lake. I hoped that the graham cracker beaches hadn’t changed, and that I could still stick my feet in the pockets of warmth hidden in the sand.

Thankfully it was as beautiful as I could remember. Its stone cold cliff raised high above the lake and left a stunning reflection on the surface of the water. It dwarfed the evergreen trees standing next to it like an army of soldiers preparing to protect their peace of utopia. I knew I was back, and I never wanted to leave again. We walked along it perfect shore until we came to a water-stained bridge that seemed as if it had been there since the beginning of time. It looked as if it was made of the same wood that protected the lake from all the elements, unfortunately the army of evergreens did not protect its wooden counterpart. We had to go across one-by-one in fear that the bridge might break loose of its screws and fall into the flawless water below. Once every girl had crossed the lake safely, we continued on a small

one

person

path

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that lead to the bronzed beaches I had longed for. We hopped across the limestone boulders to the center of the lake where the counselors and I pulled out the art supplies so the girls could draw whatever they desired in this slice of perfection. They dumped out the crayola crayons, and unexpectedly they rolled into the lake. Flashes of candy apple red, periwinkle, granny smith apple, and other crazily named crayons reflected in the water stained sand below. I knew that it would be my job to retrieve them. That was our jobs as CIT’s, we needed to protect out girls, and I wanted to make sure that none of their first memories of Cliff Lake were bad. I removed my digital watch, and thrust my hand into the sparkling water. A frosty chill crept up my arm, and a shiver ran through my body. The crayons were a great deal deeper then I thought they would be. It felt like it would take me an eternity to fetch the crayons from the bottom of the flawless lake.I thrust my hand deeper,

 

        and deeper,

 

                                                                    and deeper into the water until I felt my fingers wrap around the crayons. I jerked my hand up in a sharp, speedy movement until I could no longer feel the stabbing chill of the icy water against my arm. I opened my hand and the brown sand leaked from my palm as if it had never belonged there in the first place, leaving only the crazily named crayons behind. I put the crayons back in the box and closed it up while I instructed the girls to only take one crayon out of the box at a time. I hopped backed to the beaches, took my shoes off and plunged my feet into the sunburned sand I had longed for. The pocket of warmth heated my toes up to a toasty temperature. I sat basking in the warmth of my personal slice of perfection, dreaming of other moments in time as perfect as this one. 

GSCO HOOF NOTES Horse Program newsletter/blog

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The Girl Scouts of Colorado Horse Program will be maintaining a blog full of information on upcoming horse events. . . .keep reading our “Hoof Notes” for what the GSCO Horse Program is running around doing!   We are gearing up for summer camp season but our hourly riding program will return August 17th.

You can see ALL horse related activities at the following link

http://gsusa.ebiz.uapps.net/vp/ProgramActivitiesEvents/tabid/720/default.aspx?pid=23&ProductCode=HORSEB

In June and July we have half day events for Brownies “Horse Fun in the sun” and Daisies “Ponies and  Pals” in Parker, CO – check out them in the activity finder or the above link.

Keep checking the activity finder link above to see what riding options we are offering at Tomahawk and Meadow Mt this Fall season.  We will be offering trailrides as well as lessons for all level of riders in western instruction.   We will also be able to offer half day and all day trailrides at Meadow Mt.  Be sure to contact Julie Fischer for more information.

http://gsusa.ebiz.uapps.net/vp/ProgramActivitiesEvents/tabid/720/default.aspx?pid=23&ProductCode=HORSEB

We also have list of Colorado  Instructors who are offering 3 beginner lessons at $20 per lesson.  Be sure to see our list on horse page.  http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/horses

We will also be putting any events and upcoming information on the horse page.

We will be starting a year round WIT program.  In the Fall WITs can volunteer with the riding program during year and earn hours of experience.  Starting in August, contact Julie Fischer if you are interested in volunteering outside of summer camp and get more experience.  We are also looking into a Jr WIT program for younger girls. Check back for developments on our future horse programs, some starting in 2014!

If you are over 18 and LOVE teaching kids how to ride, we will be hosting a CHA Instructor Certification clinic August 12-16th at Tomahawk for GSCO members and non members.  You can find out more information at the GSCO horse page or activity finder link

http://gsusa.ebiz.uapps.net/vp/OnlineStore/GSProductDetail/tabid/497/ProductId/128021838/Default.aspx

We still have room in two of our horse camps at Meadow Mt: Blazing Saddles I and Rodeo Riders I.   Come spend a week at Meadow Mt and ride ALL DAY!  Rodeo Riders will learn advanced drill team patterns ad well rodeo events and do gymkhana. . .they will perform a drill team show for the parents to music end of their session.  The Blazing Saddles camp will spend week riding the trails into RMNP and will have a slide show mailed with photos of their rides.  This camp will also learn about packing, trail etiquette and Leave No Trace camping skills.

Check back in week or so for more updates on what the horse program is doing horsing around!