June 23, 2003

GET OUT THAT LAST BOX of Chocolate Mint Girl Scout cookies from the freezer and settle in for an update on Sunol's Junior Girl Scout Troop #2921. Co-Leaders Lori Nielsen and Victoria Barnes are proud indeed of these busy girls and told them so at the troop's last meeting of the school year at Sunol Glen on June 4. The girls made "Friendship Soup" for their Little Sister Brownie troop and introduced the younger scouts to service by partnering and picking up litter around Sunol Glen School's yard.

Troop #2921 focused this year on earning three of the four "Sign" awards. These awards are unique to Junior-level scouting, and represent concentrations of badge activities around the four program goals of Girl Scouting. These are worthy goals for folks of any age, including becoming your best (Sign of the Star), building relationships and appreciating differences (Sign of the Rainbow), and building leadership skills and helping the community (Sign of the World). The Sign of the Sun - building your own set of values - will part of next year's program.

Sunol Junior Girl Scouts Nicola Barnes, Becca Brown, Jessica Christian, Stasia Hylas and Hayley Nielsen earned all three Sign awards. Alexa Hylas, a first year Scout and a third-grader at Sunol Glen, earned her Sign of the Rainbow award. A sure sign this is a happy troop is the fact that Nicola, Becca and Hayley attended every meeting and event this past year!

Troop #2921enjoyed some very interesting events in 2003. They attended Oakland Zoo's "Bedtime with the Beasts" overnight program and joined 400 other Scouts at the Crossroads Association Camporee over Memorial Day weekend. They toured ITC in Sunol, a testing lab and consulting firm for regulatory compliance owned by Michael Gbadebo, father of troop member Bola.

Another highlight was a visit to Sunol's CDF (California Division of Forestry) station where engineers Nathan Terrell and Chris Vasquez showed them around. Captain Ken McGeever gave the girls a very special welcome by having the dispatcher acknowledge them over the station radio. At Gateway Computer in Pleasanton, the Scouts earned their Computer Fun badge in a two-hour workshop. The program was led by Cadette level Girl Scouts from Troop #1112 as part of their Silver Award project.

That is one impressive list of activities! Such great accomplishments are rarely achieved without lots of help, and Troop 2821 would like to express their gratitude to the Little Brown Church for providing a great meeting place, Martha Carter for being their "Cookie Mom," and Helen Eberle for assisting at so many meetings, including Camporee.

A PERFECT SEGUE: Sunol Girl Scouts interested in earning a Community Service Fun badge can sign up to volunteer at Sunol Glen's Giant Summer Flea Market on July 12. Sometimes I think Lori Nielsen has cloned herself - she's co-chairing the Flea Market with Nancy Davis, and they're looking for clean, items in good condition for the event. And don't forget to mark your calendar for the big day July 12 - the all-volunteer staff will sort, price and display hundreds of items for this important fund raiser for the school arts, drama, music and library programs.

Donations are tax deductible. Please contact Lori at 925 862 2970 evenings and 510- 376-9097 in the daytime, or Nancy at 925-862-0809 for donation drop off and pick up information.