Bat Boxes for the Gold

(Excerpted from the GSUSA blog 12-19-12)

"Girl Scout Sara Koran, 17, installed bat houses at Pioneer Park in Loachapoka and educated the public on their purpose as her Girl Scout Gold Award project about environmental community awareness.  (She learned from her aunt that bats were becoming endangered in Alabama.)

  

The project includes research, construction and installation of the (bat) houses, and was designed with the intent of helping the species of bats in the area that are becoming endangered. She not only intended to help keep them safer, but to move them to the park where they could do some good for the area.

“The main reason for the bat houses is to keep them out of homes and unwanted places for people,” she said. “Bats prefer to be outside where they can hunt instead of inside. So it’s kind of a pest control kind of thing … but another benefit was that [at the park] they can eat mosquitoes and unwanted bugs for people.”

“What my project was supposed to do was make these bat houses and then also educate people on them,” Koran said. “So I made a PowerPoint and presented it to schools and I’ve done presentations on Second Saturdays at Pioneer Park to educate the people that came out.”

Pioneer Park is a project of the Lee County Historical Society, a nonprofit organization established in 1968 to promote the history of the county."

Is this up to the Gold Award Take Action Project standard?  Probably.  As I've said before, the only info I have is from a newspaper write-up!  Here's what I have to hope Sara also did!

(Potential) Issue:  Bats moving into people homes.   Too many mosquitoes/bad bugs in the open spaces.

Root cause: Suburban sprawl into bat's natural habitats.  Residents not knowing how to bat-proof their buildings.

Team:  The article doesn't say, but I hope that Sara got together a team of (non-Girl Scout) peers to help educate the community, and in presenting the information, making and installing the bat boxes. Sara would be the leader, but she could assign duties to her team to help.

Non-profit Partner:  I hope it was the Lee County Historical Society or perhaps a city department that was able to provide information and services.

Funding:  Perhaps from Sara's cookie money? Funds from the city?  Historical Society?  The article didn't say how many she built, but I hope that it was enough to make a sizeable difference in the bat population!

Measurability:  What could Sara measure?  Number of batboxes built, for sure.  Maybe number of people presented to at schools and community fair days?  Perhaps number of inhabited bat boxes? Reduction of visible bats in the neighborhood?  Reduction of calls to city dept. asking for bat removal?

Sustainability:  I would hope that the Historical Society would take on this role.  Remember, it is required for all Gold Award Projects that the girl ensure sustainability.  Thinking back to a friend's Eagle project, the batboxes he made were pretty much self-sustaining over many years.  Perhaps Sara also put together a video about the bat boxes and how to secure a residence against bats?  She could link that to school and city websites to drive residents to the information.

Global:  Now, Sara doesn't need to provide batboxes to the world! But if she is truly making a sustainable change in her community, then she needs to think, and talk about, how could this work if her work went further into the greater community?  What if every park in the county had bat boxes?  Would there be a visible reduction in bad bugs, and/or diseases caused by these bugs?  Would bats go back to foraging in the parklands, instead of in urban settings?  It's a conversation to have, so that  Sara understands the global implications.     

Year-end Donations

I was going through the mail this week, and as I sorted the bills from the holiday cards from the magazines, I noticed that I had a pile of year-end donation requests.

March of Dimes, Alzheimer's, Girl's Inc., American Heart Association, Human Options and Girl Scouts, to name a few.  My knee jerk response to the GSOC request was sort of, "well, I already give time and talent to the organization, that's enough."  

But then I got to thinking, no, that isn't enough. Sure, I participate on council and other volunteer committees, interview girls for the Gold, work on series, help train. But that doesn't help the council provide service to the girls we serve.  The girls sell cookies, and a percentage of each box goes to council operations.

And here's the rub, that's not enough money to provide service to over 25,000 members in Orange County.  It's not enough to provide additional outreach to underserved communities.  It's not even enough to open the doors every day at the service centers and the headquarters.  It's true, it takes funding from corporations who give back to a community.  It takes funding from older Girl Scouts who want to give back to a program they've loved with all their hearts for 30-40-50+ years.

And it takes funding from every adult who believes in the Girl Scout program.  Every adult like me, who had the absolute BEST time growing up in Scouting. Every adult who knows that Girl Scouting saves lives.  Every adult who sees his/her daughter growing up strong, and sees that some of that strength comes from the Scouting program.

Don't we have a desire to see every girl succeed?  And doesn't she deserve an opportunity to grow up with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place?  Don't we want each of these girls to have the HUGE benefits of the Journey Leadership Experiences, badges, Awards, travel opportunities, destinations, and the proud distinction of being a Girl Scout.  I do. And I bet there are many more of you who do too.

As you're sorting the holiday mail, please consider a donation of any amount to Girl Scouts of Orange County.  Please make a difference in a girl's life. Not only your own daughter's, but every girl's who stands up tall and proud, and says, "On my honor, I will try..."

Gold Award Interviews

We had Gold Award Interviews a couple weeks ago, and I was positively impressed by just about every girl I interviewed.  Most of them had really thought out their projects well, and their applications were really complete.  Mostly....

Please, advisors, a couple key issues:

Remind your girls that this application is important!  It is not meant to be filled in with illegible pencil.  It is meant to be word processed, using complete sentences!  Or at least bullet points.  And not to be too picky, but spell check is a valuable tool to use!!!!

The timeline, or plan of action, should be there, even if it's only in a general manner.  We interviewers should be able to read the application, and have a pretty good idea of what is to be done, who will do it, and how long it will take.  I sent one application back for just that reason.  She had done a great project board with the info and her plan of attack, but it was not reflected in her application.  It was clear from the interview that she had done the work, thought it through and spent the time, but not on the application.  She replied to me within the week with the typed up info.  I made a copy to add to her file, and she was instantly approved!

Be sure that the Project Advisor has been trained!  We have at least 6 trainings coming up in the next year, so please be sure that the girl's advisor takes it!  We need to be sure that the Project Advisor is going to hear the high standards to which s/he must hold the girl.  

Be sure the girl knows that SHE is to do the work!  I had one girl say that she was waiting for the librarian to tell her what to do.  My response was that the GIRL needed to take the lead, chat with the librarian, and then create a curriculum to present for approval.  Again, if the librarian had taken the training (I wish!) she would have known how she could have coached the girl to do the work.

The more you can coach the girl to do a good job, the more likely she'll write a good app, have a great interview and be approved.  We interviewers want the girls to succeed, and we balance that with our duty to hold the girls to the raised bar standard.  These are great girls, and we want them to have a fantastic Gold Award Take Action Project experience, to be sure!

Golden for this Girl!

Excerpted from the GSUSA blog Dec.11, 20121

Kim Crawford, a Girl Scout from Brighton, has earned Girl Scouts’ highest honor, the Gold Award, for a project she did to collect 600+ toothbrushes and toothpaste for those in need in Africa. What makes this accomplishment even more special is Kim, who is a junior in high school, is developmentally delayed (she only reads at 1st grade level), but hasn’t let her disability hold her back.

Kim spent months on her project and received a lot of support from her Brighton community. Everyone who donated to the project signed a poster, which Kim sent to Africa with the donations. And all the people who received her donations in Africa also signed the poster and returned it at the end of the project. When talking to Kim, she uses the words “happy and proud” to describe how it made her feel to help others through this project. In fact, helping others is one of the main reasons she likes being a Girl Scout.

Kim is part of the Special Olympics and other organizations in her community, but Girl Scouts by far is her favorite where she’s been able to interact with peers who are not like herself.

I love to read about how every girl can have success in Girl Scouts!  This girl did the best she could, to the best of her ability. And she had success. I congratulate her on achieving her Gold Award!

Was this an appropriate Gold Award Project for an able-body/mind girl? No, it's really just a large collection project, but for Kim, it was a stretch.  But she truly connected to the project, and made a personal touch to those she served.

This is what we want all our girls to do:  make a difference in their community.  Touch those they mean to serve. Learn about needs, and choose one to fill.  As Kim did, they will lead with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place. '

And that's what it's all about.