By Alice deViveiros
Guide- and Pathfinder-age girls are unique in their abilities to take on challenges and find a way to make them fun, while creating friendships that often last into adulthood.
They play a big part in their program planning, giving them true ownership. They love planning social activities, such as theme parties, karaoke, and feasting on their cooking creations, to name just a few.
There is a vast variety of badges to work on to build strong future leaders. Below are two that we are currently completing.
This year the girls are having fun earning their Citizenship Badge. We’ve broken it down into the following challenges:
• Each must write to a province or territory requesting information.
• Each must learn about the Famous Five with a “Pink Tea” on Women’s Day (March 8).
• Each must use the Charter of Rights as a defence against unlawful charges in a mock court.
• Each must use a test similar to one taken by someone wishing to become a Canadian citizen.
• There will be a celebration dinner, serving a dish from each province and territory.
Finally, there will be an official Citizenship Reaffirmation Ceremony.
Survivor has nothing on what the girls will learn about camping, including cooking pizza in a cardboard oven, locating a snack with a compass or GPS, what to do when encountering animals, and environmental stewardship.
Basically, these girls “just wanna have fun!”
Alice deViveiros is the Forest Grove Guiding leader.