Girls Determine Environmental Priorities at Summit

On Saturday, March 29, 49 Girl Scouts assembled at the first annual Environmental Leadership Summit at Camp Roy Weller.

Girl Scout Juniors and Cadettes had a fun-filled day learning about the importance of using resources wisely to help make the world a better place. Girls participated in sessions that focused on natural resources, energy conservation, career exploration, and citizen science. They learned about the treatment of water from long-time volunteer Josephine Posti by taking "The Great Filter Challenge," where they created water filtration systems out of commonly used household items.

Girls created their very own wind turbines, formed CSI teams and set out on missions to learn how energy was being used at camp. They also hiked to the nearby pond to gather fresh-water macro invertebrates and microorganisms to examine under the microscope to determine water quality.

Two Cadette troops presented take action projects and received final Journey awards during the event. Cadette Troop 52570 from Woodland Hills, were presented with the Alert and Affirm awards from the Breathe Journey after they presented their take action project on flu prevention.

Troop 11390 from Ellwood City, presented their take action project on "Planting Flowers to Clean the Air." Lizzie Polojac and Jade Morehouse of Troop 11390 received their Cadette Journey Summit Awards, Kimberly Roberts presented the Cadettes with their awards.

Also during the summit, girls separated into small groups to determine GSWPA's environmental priorities for the next two years. We will focus on these priorities throughout the next two years at educational events and urge you to conduct service projects relating to these priorities.

Water

• Conservation
• Reducing pollution
• Ensuring access to clean, safe water for all

Air

• Supporting "No Smoking" campaigns to keep second hand smoke out of their lungs.
• Reducing air pollution from vehicles

Waste Management

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle 

Gold Success: Jocelyn Perry

Jocelyn Perry, a senior at West Allegheny High School, began her Girl Scout career as a Daisy. Although friends in her troops came and went, Jocelyn stuck with Girl Scouting.

A busy girl herself, she felt that there were not enough opportunities for kids in the summer. So for her Bronze Award project, she created a camp for kids for one morning a week for four hours over a 4-week period. Her leadership skills blossomed each week as she led her team of volunteer helpers to make the camp fun.

The Bronze Award experience gave her the courage that she needed when she began her Silver Award project. For the award, she discovered that there was a need for local moms who couldn’t afford to pay for babysitting. Jocelyn went to her local food pantry and got approval to pass out flyers to moms who used the services of the food pantry. She created the same kind of camp that she did for the Bronze Award, but this time she worked with local parks to use pavilions free of charge, and secured a sponsor to offer the children breakfast and lunch while they were in her care. At this summer camp, Jocelyn actually met two little girls who were struggling with difficult situations. Still to this day, Jocelyn is involved in their lives as a positive role model.

In order to begin working on her Gold Award, Jocelyn had to complete a Take Action Project through a Girl Scout Journey. Her Take Action Project was centered on the Dove Self-Esteem Campaign. Through this campaign, Dove hopes to teach girls that self-esteem is not centered just on how a girl looks. Jocelyn created a workshop utilizing the Dove campaign materials, for area middle school girls promoted through her local library.

She conducted two weekend workshops where the girls completed activities to learn to appreciate themselves for who they are and not to try to be what they see in magazines and on television.

Jocelyn'a Gold Award also focused on helping people gain confidence. She organized the Pittsburgh Pro Stars, a competitive cheerleading team for kids and adults with special needs.

Jocelyn is a hardworking, compassionate, dedicated Girl Scout. She strives to be the best person she can be while helping others achieve the same goal, which is why Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania presented Jocelyn Perry with the Girl of Distinction Award in May 2013.