Helping babies in the NICU!

The blanket makers with their cozy blankets!

We had another AWESOME meeting on November 20, and helped make knotted fleece baby blankets for 12 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital in Gary. NICU nurse Terri Hendrickson was our speaker and said the blankets would be very much appreciated by the families receiving them. Some families coming to Gary Methodist don't even have a going-home baby outfit for their newborn, and very few have blankets and just go home with the typical thin hospital blanket. So she said, especially with the cold weather upon us, the families would treasure the blankets the girls made.

We used troop funds to purchase the fleece at Jo-Ann Fabrics (thanks to those of you who contributed coupons! :-) and had the blankets pre-cut so the girls just had to tie knots. They were great at this and had the blankets ready in no time. We might make more in the future for animals as part of their bronze project. 

Nurse Terri explained what her job as a NICU nurse is like, including what led her to become a nurse. The girls learned about saving a premature baby's life and how Terri has helped transport sick and premature infants.

They learned there are stereotypes nurses face, too, and how to overcome them. The girls got to see Terri intubate a baby doll and how equipment helps babies stay warm and breathe. They saw photos and x-rays from Terri's work. They all learned how to diaper and swaddle a baby using their baby dolls and hospital diapers and blankets. Everyone really enjoyed it!

At the end of our meeting, the girls showed off their cartoon superhero drawings. We had superheroes helping the homeless, others helping stray dogs and others that were experts on friendship. It was fun to see how each girl came up with her own superhero!

Diane gave all the girls their cookie forms so they can begin selling cookies to family over the holidays. They can start selling to the public January 1, but to relatives beginning now. We will hopefully have another booth sale this  year.

Nurse Terri Hendrickson explains how she and other NICU nurses care for premature babies

Jilli and her intubated baby doll

Ava with her diapered baby ;-)

Naomi with her swaddled baby doll

Julianna with her swaddled baby doll

These blankets turned out beautifully!

Voting and Veterans Cards!

At this meeting (Nov. 6) we had the girls vote on the area they wanted to focus on for their Bronze Project. These girls have such big hearts, they want to help a LOT of different groups -- sick babies in the neonatal unit, kids in orphanages, animal shelters, seniors, the environment/parks, underprivileged kids who don't have a lot of books or toys, etc., etc.! We needed to get them to narrow their focus so we could figure out how to best use their time and our resources for their Bronze Award.

Here's the interesting thing: Many Girl Scout troops do ONE thing for their Bronze Project. These girls have so much energy and enthusiasm we will be doing service projects all year long! How amazing is that?! Talk about the Girl Scout slogan: "Leave a place better than how you found it." They are living examples of making the world a better place!

The "vote" on a Bronze project "won" by one vote: Helping Animals. But we plan to also help many other organizations this year, including making a meal for the homeless on December 5, making blankets for Neonatal babies on November 20 and collecting books for needy kids at a Hammond School. Letters keep pouring in in response to the girls' letters to community organizations, and we're confident we will be able to help many other organizations this year.

Suzanne and I are working to give the girls choices on how they want to help animals, whether it's through the Humane Society, a group called Power Paws, or another local shelter that assists wildlife. We will keep you posted on our plans.

At the end of our meeting, with Veterans Day coming up, the girls made cards for service men and women. I am mailing them to an organization that gets letters to service men and women currently serving in our Armed Forces. I'm sure these will brighten their day!

Civic Activists!

We had a special meeting October 23 so the girls could narrow their focus for a Bronze Project. I can't even tell you how cool this meeting was! I didn't expect it would be all that exciting, since it involved them writing letters, but it was! 

It seems the girls felt empowered learning to write REAL business letters like adults to local organizations, asking how we could help. They each put their own spin on their letters, which was also very gratifying to see. I can remember back a few years ago, when writing sentences for these girls was a struggle. Now they are able to write persuasive business letters! Amazing to see how they've progressed. Hopefully this is a skill they'll be able to use as they get older, too.

We had each girl write a letter, and some that finished early wrote more than one. We only used first names in the letters and had everyone respond to my home address. We've heard back from several of the organizations and plan to do projects with more than one of them!

Painting! October 16 meeting

A few of our amazing artists! (lots more photos at the bottom of this post...keep reading!)

On Friday, October 16, we had a GREAT meeting featuring Dawn Diamontopoulos, a local artist. She was wonderful with the girls, teaching them to paint a modern "Mondrian" style painting, complete with measuring first, primary colors and canvases.

As the girls asked her questions, we learned that -- even in the art world -- stereotypes exist that male painters are somehow more talented -- or sell their work for more money -- than female artists. The girls were interested to learn that Dawn had to overcome stereotypes to make a name for herself as a female artist, and how she followed her dream to become a painter. 

We talked about gender-based stereotypes the girls might have to break through -- or already have -- in their lives. 

Several brought up the idea that boys are considered "better" at sports or math, and how they have combatted that already by practicing sports or math and proving to others that they are just as good as boys, if not better. 

They are confident girls and we want to keep that going for them, as middle school tends to bring on a loss in self-esteem for so many young girls. The more we can give them skills to break through stereotypes, and be confident in their talents, the better off they will be as they head off to middle school and the teen years.

Example of one of the girl's awesome journal entries where they had to find quotes about success and failure

Suzanne and I have been very happy to see how engaged the girls have been in our discussions. They can't wait to share thoughts from their journal, or just be a part of the discussion on all of the topics that we've covered.

A reminder that Girl Scouts may seem different to you this year because the girls are required to complete a journey (the purpose of the journals and speakers this year) in order to earn the Bronze Award for their Bronze Project, the third highest award in Girl Scouts. We've been surprised how enthusiastic they've been with the curriculum we've come up with. Girl Scouts publishes books with journeys and we have picked and chosen things we think were most relevant or interesting for the girls to do for their journey. Basically we created our own curriculum in the journals. It's meant to get them to think about themselves a bit. 

The journal activities should only take a few minutes of time and they should be doing it between meetings, not in the meeting. We are rewarding them with treats for bringing it (one piece of candy) and for filling out the sections we've asked them to fill out ahead of the meeting (second piece of candy). They really want the candy, as you can imagine!

Dawn talking to the girls

More photos from our cool painting meeting!

Camp Tecumseh September 19-20!

Camp Tecumseh is always a good idea! This year, September 19-20, was one of our best yet! We had so much fun hanging out together, exploring camp, horseback riding, doing archery, climbing, riflery, hiking through the woods and enjoying a campfire and s'mores!


It's hard to believe many of us have been returning to Camp T. for Girl Scout fun since these girls were in second grade. Time really does fly!

The weather was perfect fall weather, sunny and a little cool at night, but warm during the day. Everyone had a great weekend!

We're In The Army Now!

Military Police Officer Brooke Ellis shares one of her M.R.E.s (meals ready to eat) with the girls

Wow! What a visit we had when Brooke Ellis came to town!

Brooke is not only the daughter of Frank Hammond Principal Nancy Ellis, but she's an inspiring hero in her own right! Brooke is a trained military police officer and soon-to-become second lieutenant in the U.S. Army!

She is a senior at Purdue University, a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and a member of the National Guard!

She has won honors for her accomplishments in physical contests against her fellow students, often beating her male fellow soldiers at number of push-ups, a "hang" test, etc.!

The girls loved her visit so much they were literally begging her for more! More meals-ready-to-eat (M.R.E.s); more military-style drills (in the FHH library!), and more show-and-tell with her cool military sleeping bag system, ammo pouch, load-bearing vest and other gear!

The girls again asked some great questions as they explored the roles for women in the military.

Brooke explained that the best way to battle stereotypes that women aren't as strong as men is simply to "overcome them."

"Show guys women are just as good if not better than guys at many things," she said.

Brooke said she was inspired to go into the military by playing with GI Joe dolls growing up and the fact that her grandparents and father were in the Army. She said she has three older brothers, none of whom went into the military. Her family was supportive of her desire to be an officer, but wanted her to make sure she got an education first.

Brooke taught the girls some basic training and how to salute!

Lindsey Army crawls through as the girls "Igloo Up!"

Tori Army crawls through the troop igloo.

Brooke leads the girls through a drill called "Front! Back! Go!"

Brooke explains some of her boot-camp drills!

Who knew M.R.E.s could be so popular?! ;-)

So grateful we've had such great speakers so far!

The girls, meanwhile, are doing an awesome job filling out their journals and bringing their great ideas for a Bronze (community service) project to our meetings! Keep up the GREAT work, girls!

We got to Camp Tecumseh next weekend and then have a pause before our next meeting on Friday, October 16. The girls should be filling out their journals through "Section Three" and keep writing down any project ideas for improving our community in the Bronze (tabbed) section of the journal. If we add in any extra activities or meetings we'll keep you posted!

Moviemaker inspiration!

Kendall Goldberg, FHH graduate and 20-year-old Hollywood moviemaker!

                                     

A movie maker.

A military police officer.

A professional artist and painter.

A neonatal nurse.

What do these women have in common?

They are all busy inspiring Troop 10265 this year!

Our girls are hearing from many incredible young women as they learn about different roles for women, part of a Girl Scout journey they are taking. This leadership journey is designed to help them learn who they are now and who they may want to become in the future. 

Our first guest was the awesome Kendall Goldberg, a former Frank Hammond student and MHS 2013 graduate who is a real Hollywood moviemaker!

An award-winning director at the ripe old age of 20, Kendall has already made several short films that have been shown at film festivals. Some of her films can be seen on her website www.kendallgoldbergfilms.com. They include Washing Away, which she made while at junior at Munster High School, Water, and Bark Mitzvah. She just filmed her very first feature-length film over the summer in Michigan called Lake Effect. 

Kendall is in her junior year of film school at Chapman University in California. She spoke to the girls via FaceTime, and they were able to interview her and see her on the white board in Room 7 during our meeting. One of her filmmaking friends, Trevor, also stopped by to talk about how Kendall's work ethic and persistence inspired him to never give up on his filmmaking dreams.

Kendall on the set of her feature film, The Lake Effect

                   

                               

The girls asked Kendall all about her life as a movie maker and if she faced stereotypes and how she overcame them. Kendall said she faced stereotypes "every day" as one of a small number of female film students at her university. But she said they don't stand in her way as a filmmaker. "If anyone ever tells me I can't do something, it just motivated me and I think, 'Someday, you'll be watching my movies,' " she said.

"I'm a filmmaker who happens to be a girl," she said.

Kendall shooting her movie Water

                                  

                                              

While growing up she said her mom and grandmother inspired her to follow her dreams and work hard. "You can do anything if you put your mind to it!" they told her.

She started making movies when she was just five years old! She went on to act in plays at Wilbur Wright Middle School and Munster High School and to be a part of the high school speech and debate team. She said both helped her to be more confident when talking to people in Holkywood as a filmmaker.

After our girls talked about their favorite characters from movies or books and other entries from their journals, Kendall shared her favorites, including Katniss from the Hunger Games, Merida from Brave, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect and Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean.

As the girls mentioned their favorites and we compared them later with Kendall's answers, we noticed a common theme: They were all brave, confident young women. Just like the girls of Troop 10265!

The girls made collages representing themselves

         

Kendall's great advice!

       

                              

Kendall directing a movie

                       

                                             

Make Your Own Cookie/Lemonade Stand (August 30)

This is an example of how to sell those Girl Scout Cookies! In our own case, we had some extras. We saved them to give as "thank you" gifts to speakers for our troop, but also we had a feeling people might be excited to buy some in the "off season," the end of summer. On August 30 we set up a combined lemonade/cookie stand that Naomi and Julianna staffed outside our house. Cars started stopping immediately! We did very well that day. Naomi and Julianna worked hard on a very hot day!

Later in the fall, Tresa Radermacher, head of Munster Mints, bought the remainder of our cookies. 

Troop 10265 sold all of our cookies!