My Journey to Become a Citizen Scientist

Let's start out by thinking about what it means to be a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) thinker (not an expert). As a Co-leader, we are expected to take on roles that we might not be familiar with. Thankfully, Girl Scouts offers instructional materials via their gsLearn portal, so that volunteers like ourselves can feel confident teaching our future girl leaders topics that we might not have much knowledge about. 

I was in the Coast Guard for 6 years as an Information Systems Technician second class, so I have a lot of knowledge in the areas of telephony and computers. After I got out and got my BFA in animation and visual effects, I went on to work for KiwiCo as a technical illustrator, illustrating instructions for kids DIY projects for 6 years. I love STEM.

The field of Citizen Science is a great place for girls to explore and help other scientists around the world work on STEM projects and contribute to meaningful research and make a difference in their community.

Girls will need to complete a Take Action project and come up with an initiative that has a lasting impact on their community, long after their initial Citizen Scientist Journey is complete. 

Our local council, North Carolina Coastal Pines is hosting a Journey of a Journey Citizen Scientist event on November 20, 2021 at the Havelock campus of Craven Community College for 80+ registered girls representing Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow and Pamlico counties. All levels, Daisy-Ambassador will be represented, so it is going to be an AWESOME event. 

I contributed two worksheets for the girls participating, so they could have a clear understanding of where they need to start, for their Take Action project after the event. Girls are encouraged to use the project finder on the scistarter or zooniverse platforms to find a project and make it happen!

You can download the two worksheets here, if you couldn't make it to the event , but still want a resource for your troop to have for the Citizen Scientist Journey. 

Want to join a Girl Scout troop in your area? Use the Girl Scout Council Finder and get started!

Here is the PDF download for the Citizen Scientist Worksheets (All Levels):

 

 

All About Me | Getting to Know Your Troop

Getting started as a new Co-leader in a new multi-level troop, you might feel a bit overwhelmed about how to approach your curriculum when it comes to badgework. In the Volunteer Toolkit on your councils website, you can choose Pre-selected Tracks such as K-5 | 6-12 level Journeys for a multi-level troops, Daisy Petals and Leaves, Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador level plans that you can use to set-up your meetings. I think that these tools are awesome and I was really impressed when I started going through the individual levels. But how does this help us to understand what interests our girls have and their goals as a Girl Scout? 

I, myself, am an absolute lover of journals, planners, stickers, gel pens, and all things that help my day flow a little better (with a sprinkling of cuteness and color). So, I decided that our girls should have what I like to call a Guidebook, to help them stay organized at our bi-weekly meetings. The Guidebook is more or less, like a plastic 3-prong journal for the girls to keep track of their progress throughout the year. Before each meeting, I'll add new badgework material and they can keep track of their accomplishments throughout the year. The girls then return their Guidebook back into me at the end of our meetings, so they don't get misplaced. They will be able to take their Guidebooks home at the end of the year. 

Also in the Guidebooks, I gave every girl a copy of the Girl Scout Promise and Law, so they could follow along at each meeting, even hadn't memorized them yet. I want them to have the knowledge at their fingertips and know that they can always look back at their Guidebooks for reference.   

I know that my 6 year old Daisy and 8 year old Brownie REALLY love to complete journal style handouts and I couldn't help but design an "About Me" for them and the other girls in our troop as their first creative way to express themselves and their interests. Looking online, I found some really great layouts/ideas, but it seemed that most were still not zeroing in on who our girls were and how I was going to tailor our curriculum to meet the collective interests of the whole troop.

Here is the PDF version of our "About Me" I really hope your girls have as much fun completing it as our girls did. I have also formatted the "This is me!" 2" x 3" rectangle (they can also draw a self-portrait) for a neat little camera that I purchased called a Kodiak Smile Instant Print Digital Camera. Oh wow! The girls LOVED watching their photos print out and they are sticky backed, so the girls could add them to their Guidebooks right away. What a fun time we had that meeting!

When I brought all of the Guidebooks back home and started looking over them, I was excited to find out that the girls were really into the Outdoors, Computers and Cooking. Our two Cadettes are very interested in obtaining their Gold Award and our troop is very excited about that!  

With this small exercise, I feel like I have a way forward with my first year as a new Co-leader. I can't wait to share more ideas with everyone about my experience as a new Co-leader with troop 1063.

Drop a comment below if this helped your troop or you have any ideas to make it better...I'm always open to new suggestions.

-Stacey W. Porter | Co-leader Troop 1063

Want to join a Girl Scout troop in your area? Use the Girl Scout Council Finder and get started!

Here is the PDF version of our "About Me"     

Welcome to Adventures in Girl Scouting

My name is Co-leader Stacey, and I'm starting this blog to not only help our new Girl Scout troop 1063 better connect to our learning materials, but to also help any other Girl Scout troops and grown-ups that might want to download some of our materials and follow along. 

I'm quite new to being a Girl Scout leader, but I think that I can use my skills as a technical illustrator (www.treehousekidsmagazine.com) to better help Girl Scout Co-leaders and their troops with their own collective learning goals. I'll still use and follow the materials provided by Girl Scouts of America, but I will create additional handouts, puzzles, step-by-step illustrated instructions or even create new games to navigate the badgework. 

hope you will join us on the AMAZING journey together into the fantastic world of Girl Scouts!

Co-Leader Mrs. Stacey | Troop 1063

Want to join a Girl Scout troop in your area? Use the Girl Scout Council Finder and get started!