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Blog Entry 28 of 31 Musings, Ramblings and Scout Stuff

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Happy 96th birthday to Girl Scouts of America

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Contributed by: Joshua Godinez on 4/28/2008

It's a belated wish since the officalGirl Scouts of America birthday is March 12, but we choose to celebrate it in April because March is cookie-selling season and we're more than busy during that time.

For the sixth year in a row, our Mission Hills troop, Cadette Troop 1328, held a birthday banquet to commemorate the birthday of Girl Scouts of America.

The event was held at the San Fernando Elks Lodge on Sunday, April 27. As we have for the past few occasions we invited other Mission Hills troops to join us. We had Junior Troop 1722, Brownie Troop 292, and Daisy Troop 141. Our theme for this year was "Magic."

We use the birthday of Girl Scouts to give awards to the girls, thank the leaders and parents for their help, have a fun silent auction, let the girls perform acts to entertain the crowd and honor a woman in our community for her work.

The first thing we did after decorating the lodge's banquet room was eat. We needed to get that done first, so we could get down to the festivities. I always enjoy myself more on a full stomach.

The leaders and parents were thanked first with home-made awards: a rower's megaphone, a visor with a rubber duck, a decorated clothespin and the like were given out to a dozen parents for their help in keeping the troops functioning and providing oversight for the girls so they can enjoy their Girl Scout experience.

Three of the girls read essays to the assembly, discussing their magic wishes or magical moments they experienced. These girls were being honored by their peers as the Scout of the Year in their respective troops.

For Troop 1328, Elizabeth Brekke was selected to receive the Scout Achievement Award for her participation and embodiment of the values the other girls in the troop wished to honor.

All of the nominees and winners were given trophies to memorialize the occasion.

Girls received their merit badges and participation patches for accomplishing different skill sets and for attending various troop outings such as campouts, cook-offs, scavenger hunts and world culture celebrations.

In our troop, many girls also received special star patches for planning and leading an outing.

Part of the transition for cadette-level Girl Scouts, who basically fall into the middle-school age range, is to take over the planning and leadership of the troop leaving the adults merely to oversee their activities.

By the time the girls reach the highest age level in the GSA, they should be able to call for and conduct meetings, plan their own outings and become ready for adulthood.

As part of that leadership, the girls were put in charge of leading the entire banquet which finally gave my wife, Cici, a chance to sit down and watch instead of servings as emcee for the event.

My daughter, Cassandra, as past president of the troop, along with Amanda, the current president, and Lorena, the current vice president, took turns introducing acts and ceremonies.

With magic as the theme, the skits and acts variously used top hats, rabbits and magic spells to entertain the audience. My daughter's patrol became live-action enchanted dolls set to the music of Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Their favorite part was when they had to plunge their faces in cream pies.

With the support of the community, our troops received gifts and services from business that we bundled into baskets that everyone could bid on in a silent auction.

My wife purchased a romance basket that included a gift card from Outback, the Australian-themed restaurant. My youngest son also purchased a basket that had dinosaurs in it. He's very happy.

The girls of Troop 1328 nominated three women for our Woman of the Year, but it was Kelly Mobeck of Granada Hills that was selected by the troop for her work as a life coach, mother of three and service projects volunteer.

Kelly talked to the girls about how life coaching works and how she learned many of the lessons she now uses in her personal and professional life from Girl Scouts of America when she was a member.

We had an exciting time when the main fuse for the building's lights blew out and we had to conduct part of the banquet in darkness. Ever resourceful, people used ambient light and cell phones to make their way through the rest of the celebration.

The day was long, but fun and I even got to play a genie for one act.

Mission Hills is becoming such a great resource for Girl Scout troops that we're probably going to cut back Troop 1328 birthday celebrations to only our single troop.

We were starting to overflow the capacity of the banquet hall with more than 130 people. The carboard castle is put away, crystal balls packed and everyone is resting up this week before we head out on yet another outing next weekend.

Happy birthday to us!

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Submitted By: Jackie Houchin

posted on 5/16/2008 @ 9:34:57 PM

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Good story. What a nice thing for Troop 1328 to do for everyone. Shows they are learning some principles for being good citizens. And the skits and magic acts sound like fun. Thanks girl scouts!!!

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Joshua Godinez

Mission Hills , CA

Joshua Godinez has posted 31 blog entries and 13 comments since joining on 5/17/2007. Joshua Godinez 's average blog rating is 4.92.

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