The November 2018 VINE

By Girl Scouts of Central Maryland on November 14, 2018 • ( 1 Comment )

Be a G.I.R.L. Boss Marketplace Event

Girl Scout Brownies – Cadettes are invited to attend this event!

Date & Time: Thursday, Nov 29, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Location: GSCM Program Center

Girl Fee: $20

Adult Fee: FREE

Bring a friend and celebrate National Women’s Entrepreneur Day.

The evening is focused on helping girls expand their knowledge of customer service and branding, setting and meeting goals and, learning how community service supports the business community.

Three of our leading cookie sellers will be sharing business success tips along with experienced businesswomen who will share insights and an activity that will help girls discover strategies to help them realize their goals.

After you’ve heard from the experts, you’ll receive $5 in G.I.R.L. bucks to spend in the vendor marketplace where local girl and women business owners will have their products on display for purchase.

It’s a great opportunity to learn business skills and shop for holiday items for you, your friends and family members.

If you are an entrepreneur and would like to be a vendor at this event fill out this form.

Girl Scout Chorus to Perform at Inner Harbor Tree Lighting

The Girl Scout Chorus will be performing at the official Inner Harbor Tree Lighting Ceremony on Saturday, November 17, 2018! Their first performance will be from 4:30 – 4:45pm and then they will perform again from 5:20 – 5:35pm.

Join them as they help Baltimore welcome the holiday season. The event will take place near the Pandora Ice Rink which can be found at:

Top of the Amphitheater, Inner Harbor
Located between the Harborplace Pavilions
201 E Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

Get Ready for Girls STEAM Ahead!

Come and be inspired by female professionals in the field of robotics, engineering, biology, architecture, computer science, graphic design, finance, and many other STEM fields at the 4th Annual Girls STEAM Ahead: Women in STEAM Festival!

Girls and will engage in hands-on workshops, learn about exciting careers, and hear inspirational stories from women in STEAM, including Alice Bowman, Mission Operations Manager for the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

While girls are immersed in the world of STEAM, parents will attend special sessions just for them!

Lunch, event patch, giveaways, and workshops for girls and parents included in registration. Event sponsors: Raytheon, WR Grace, Maryland Department of Commerce

Adventure is fueled by the Girl Scout Cookie Sale

We have just a few weeks left in the 2018-2019 Girl Scout Cookie season.

Did you know that selling more cookies means more opportunities for adventure?

Girls that sell 1,800 boxes of cookies earn a spot on our Wisp Snow Tubing Overnight OR 100 Adventure Bucks. Want even MORE adventure? Girls that sell 2,500 boxes earn a spot on the Overnight trip to Kalahari, America’s Largest Indoor Waterpark in Pocono Manor, PA OR 100 Adventure Bucks.

Adventure bucks can be redeemed for all kinds of exciting things including resident camp credits, GS411 activity credits, the Amazon Echo Dot, and so much more! Get the details here.

Here are some ideas to help you keep up the momentum:

Do additional booth sales: Secure more booths through Smartcookies.
Promote Cookies from the Heart at your booths to increase sales through donations.
Use the direct ship platform if girls haven’t already. Sending just a few emails could result in more orders.
Consider making a video like this one by GSCM Cookie Boss, Morgan!
Girls can still send emails through the direct ship platform accepting additional orders until December 14th.
Girls can contact their initial order customers and ask if they want more cookies before the season ends. Remind customers they won’t be available until next year!
Have girls contact local businesses and ask if they want to purchase cookies as holiday gifts for their customers, employees or guests. Girl Scout Cookies make great gifts!

Remember this is a GIRL-LED program. Please provide all girls in your troop the opportunity to continue to sell so they can reach their personal sales goals.

Computer Science Journey Impact Study

We’ve teamed up with Girl Scouts of the USA and Raytheon to assess the impact of the 6-12 Computer Science Journey. We need troops (Cadette, Senior, Ambassador, and multi-level troops) to complete the 6-12 Computer Science Journey as well as the leader and girl post-surveys.

Why participate? Your girls will…

Complete a new STEM Journey.
Receive, at no cost, the Computer Science Journey and Take Action patches.
Earn a $25 Amazon gift card for their troop to support troop-related program expenses.

What’s Involved:
Each troop will be required to complete the 6-12 Computer Science Journey (3 computer science activity meetings and a Take Action project) between October 1, 2018, and May 1, 2019, and complete the required leader and girl post-surveys.

Troop Participation Requirements:

Program Activities

Obtain materials from the VTK
Review program materials, gather any needed supplies and prepare to do activities
Complete the Journey (3 computer science activity meetings & Take Action project)

Research Activities

Have each girl complete a post-program feedback survey
Complete a leader post-program feedback survey

Interested in Participating?
Fill out this brief form to apply.

New online Certificate of Insurance Request Form

Our certificate of insurance request form has changed! Click here to get the form now. It can also be found on gscm.org under the Volunteer Resources section.

If you are having a troop meeting, activity or event at any private property or business location, you will need to fill out a Request for Certificate of Insurance. If an outside vendor is involved in delivering the program, you will also need a separate Certificate of Insurance. Please submit 3 weeks in advance to ensure you will get the Certificate on time.

Apply for the 2019 Distinguished Women Shadow Girl Program

We invite all Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors to apply to be a Shadow Girl Scout as part of our annual Distinguished Women’s Award Celebration. Through the Distinguished Women Shadow Girl Scout program, we offer high school Girl Scouts the chance to explore career interests and learn more about the female leadership experience.

The 39^th annual Distinguished Women’s Award Celebration will take place Wednesday, April 17, 2019, at The Center Club. Through this annual signature fundraiser, we honor five successful women from across central Maryland and provide five Girl Scouts the opportunity to shadow them for a day. This year, we also have an honorary Distinguished Woman, so six lucky girls will have the opportunity to participate! A Distinguished Women Shadow Girl Scout will spend the day with one of the Honorees and experience first-hand a typical day in her professional role, and learn more about how she navigated her career. The Distinguished Women Honorees and Shadow Girl Scouts will share their experiences at the event on April 17.

Over the years many Distinguished Women Honorees and Shadow Girl Scouts have developed long-term mentor-mentee relationships, providing girls with a source of support as they navigate college and careers. Former Shadow Girl Scouts are now pursuing careers in medicine, law, and marketing, and value the experience they had through this program.

“While I am not thinking of going into law at this moment, I will always keep an open mind to any career path…You never know where life may take you.” – 2018 Shadow Girl Scout

The 2019 Honorees are:

Regina Curry, Chief Diversity Officer, Legg Mason
Tere Geckle, Community Philanthropist
Marian Hwang, Principal, Miles & Stockbridge
Carole Miller, Cancer Institute Director, St. Agnes Healthcare
Alicia Wilson, Senior Vice President & Senior Legal Counsel, Sagamore Devlopment
Honorary Distinguished Woman: Frances Hesselbein, Former CEO, GSUSA and, Chairman, The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum

Click here for the 2019 Shadow Girl Application!

For more information, please contact Kristi S. Halford, Chief Development Officer, at khalford@gscm.org, or Emma Williams, Development Associate, at ewilliams@gscm.org.

Upcoming VTK Webinar

Leaders and Co-leaders – Have you discovered and explored your digital assistant, the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK)?

Join us on December 5 at 7pm to discover how the VTK can make the process of running a troop easier and more efficient. Learn how you can plan your year, download activities, track attendance and recognition and even communicate with parents.

Register Here

While you wait, check out our Volunteer Resources page for more information about the VTK.

Updates from the GSCM Store

Both store locations will be closed:
November 16th – Staff meeting
November 23rd and 24th – Thanksgiving
December 21st – (closed after 12 noon)
December 24th and 25th Christmas

Tax-exempt card
Please remember to bring your tax exempt card for troop purchases. IF you do not have one, please ask your Service Unit Manager.

What’s new
For our first-ever Book Talk event, we invited Meredith Rojas, Girl Scout alum, to talk about her new book Selfie Made – a guide to internet stardom. A limited number of signed copies of her book and Social Media Savvy patches are available in both stores for $15. Stay tuned for the next Book Talk announcement.

The holidays are right around the corner–both locations are now stocked with new ornaments!

Coming soon by popular demand: Leader Vests!