April 9 2020

The Yellowstone Trip: Three Years in the Making (Part Two)

Experiences as a Leader    No Comments    , , , ,

This is Part Two in a most likely five part series.   Be sure to read Part One to catch the beginning!

After a night at the Roosevelt Cabins, we got up and ate the breakfast food we bought at Walmart on our way into Yellowstone the day before.  We picked up non-refrigerated items such as muffins, pre-cooked bacon, breakfast bars, and the like for breakfast for the week along with packets of tuna and chicken, bread, and other lunch items that we could pack to take with us while we were out.  Our plan was to have a nice dinner and have the freedom to splurge for treats (more about that later!).  We ended up saving a lot more money than we thought we would by doing this.

Everyone found out that I was NOT a morning person on this trip.  We first started the day driving out to the Lamar Valley to see what we could check out animal-wise.   It didn’t disappoint!

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April 4 2020

Electronic Musings

National Governance    3 Comments    , , , , , , , ,

Recently, my mind started wandering to what the future will hold for this October’s National Council Session and G.I.R.L. 2020.  It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but GSUSA did state that at this time, it does plan on moving forward, but that there would be a reevaluation in the late spring/early summer.  Fingers crossed!

But I did start to think about what would happen to the National Council Session if G.I.R.L. 2020 was canceled.  It’s mandated in our Constitution that we have a triennial meeting (see Article V/Sessions of the National Council Session/§ 1), so it can’t be canceled.  What would the alternatives be?  I wondered if electronic meetings could be a possibility.  Our Constitution doesn’t say anything about them.  So I did some research and went to both Robert’s Rules and Washington D.C.’s nonprofit corporation act.  From my interpretation, our Constitution is specific about having to vote “in person,” and therefore, votes taken electronically wouldn’t be valid (emphasis added):  Continue reading

March 13 2020

An OFFICIAL SCARF SHOWCASE! For Real!

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    4 Comments    ,

Last week, our council had a Meet the CEO event so that we could (I bet you can guess!) meet our new CEO.   The notice said we should bring our ideas!  So I thought at first I would be funny and suggest that we dedicate a wall at our new Leadership Center to an OFFICIAL SCARF SHOWCASE! and charge admission.  People from ALL around the country would FLOCK to this SHOWCASE!, and we’d make so much money that we’d pay off all of our obligations, renovate all of our camps, and have some left over!  But when I was at the meeting, I realized that I didn’t want our new CEO to think I was insane, so I just suggested we incorporate STEM into our Leadership Center for more fund development opportunities.  How boring.  Continue reading

March 12 2020

At the Beginning

Traditional Stuff    3 Comments    , ,

Happy 108th Birthday, Girl Scouts!

If you follow my goofy Girl Scout Facebook profile, you’ll know that I love looking through old Girl Scout Leader Magazines and finding random bits of history and posting things that I find interesting.  I always attempt to publish a blog post on March 12th and October 31st, and admittedly, sometimes I am scrambling when I realize that I don’t have much time to think of something.  For this year though, I started browsing through issues last week, but nothing was really jumping out at me.   But today, something did!  Right in the nick of time!

I went back to the March 1962 issue of Leader Magazine celebrating the 50th anniversary of Girl Scouts and found an article by Page Randolph Anderson Platt, a member of the first Girl Scout troop.  She wrote an article about what it was like and her experiences.  You can find the article on pg. 10 including a picture of the first troop along with other pictures, but here’s the text:  Continue reading

February 25 2020

The New “It’s How Much?” OFFICIAL Scarf – Or Is It?

National Operations, Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    5 Comments    , , ,

This afternoon, my phone started blowing up.  Forwarded emails began piling up in my inbox.  What was going on?

THE RELEASE OF A NEW OFFICIAL SCARF!

I gasped when I saw the headline of the email sent to Lifetime Members: “Exclusive Preview of Limited-Edition Girl Scout Scarf Designed by Diane von Furstenberg.”  I had no idea who Diane Von Furstenberg was, but she sounded important!

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February 14 2020

The Early Alert for the 2020 National Council Session

National Governance    1 Comment    , , , , ,

Well, it’s here.  The Early Alert for the 2020 National Council Session has arrived.  What’s the Early Alert you ask?  Usually in February before the National Council Session, the National Board and GSUSA release what they intend on presenting as proposals and a discussion topic.

There are four – count ’em – four proposals regarding everybody’s favorite topic – membership dues.  I believe they are determined for “membership dues” to go to the top of the GSWAC (Not a Council) Tag Count.  Right now it’s at #26. Continue reading