Girl Scouts throughout our 30-county footprint spent the summer enjoying nature, indulging in reading for pleasure, earning patches, and more. Check out this month’s Mission Moments.

Exploring the outdoors

Troop 40171 from Centre County traveled to Ohiopyle State Park in Fayette County for four days of white water rafting, rock climbing, and bike riding. On their way across the state, they stopped at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site to learn about the precursor to Horseshoe Curve. They spent one day rock climbing and another day rafting on the Youghiogheny River. On their last day of camp, some of the group visited the natural waterslides in Ohiopyle State Park while others went on a 10-mile bike ride. When they weren’t out finding adventure in Ohiopyle, they learned how to build flint and steel fires from the park rangers. The girls also helped out their neighbors by sharing some cooking oil. They can’t wait to go on their next trip!

Dauphin County Girl Scouts promote reading

Troop 10840 held a book drive to stock Little Free Libraries in their community. The girls collected inventory from their own books and from family and friends to stock the Little Free Libraries around town. They also voted to use some proceeds from their cookie sale to purchase books at 2nd & Charles. The Girl Scouts then went to Adams-Ricci Community Park to stock the Little Free Library at the park with the books they had purchased. Four days later, all of the books had been claimed. Each book that was donated included a sticker to learn more about Girl Scouts in the Heart of PA. Thanks for sharing your love of reading with the community, Girl Scouts!

Tackling the Summer Stack Book Club Challenge in York County

Two Girl Scouts from York County took on the Summer Stack Book Club Challenge, a Girl Scout summer reading initiative, and achieved their Book Stack award. Junior Girl Scout Willow Estabrook and Daisy Girl Scout Mabel Estabrook logged their reading minutes using a summer reading tracker provided by their home library, Paul Smith Library of Southern York County.

Soaking up the fun in Lancaster County

Girl Scout Troop 20840 gathered for a fun day activity and picnic lunch at the Muddy Run Park Splash Pad in Holtwood. While this activity was geared toward the younger girls in the multi-level troop, two of the troop’s Cadettes joined the group and chose to pick out a book to read from the GSHPA Summer Stack Book Club! The troop set up two splash pad dates so families could pick the one that worked for them—and everyone was invited to have fun, even little brothers!

Exploring architecture in Dauphin County

In early August, members of Daisy Troop 10730 gathered to work on the Girls in AEC patch. Thank you to Kaitlyn Hillenbrand for helping the troop with the project. Kaitlyn is a former Girl Scout who earned her Gold Award. She is currently a college senior studying architecture, and she showed the girls some of her work. The girls learned what architects, civil engineers, and contractors do. They drew a city, made a blueprint of their bedrooms, and learned about some of the tools used in the field. Their final project was building a birdhouse. But first, they put on their contractor hats and created a bid for building the birdhouse. They came up with a list of materials, cost, and how long they thought it would take. What a fun way to explore a creative career!

Submit a Mission Moment today so we can showcase your Girl Scouts’ recent experiences and accomplishments next month! Visit our Mission Moment Recap webpage on the GSHPA Blog to see more Mission Moments from previous months.

*All Mission Moment information is submitted by volunteers/members. Should you have any questions regarding a submission, please email cmolitoris@gshpa.org.