Girl Scouts of Woodland Council

On Sunday, November 11, over 100 Girl Scouts, volunteers, staff and community leaders gathered at Memories Ballroom in Plover for our Annual Meeting & Recognition Dinner. Along with celebrating a successful program year and electing our new girl board member Brittany Stotmeister, attendees were given a 'sneak peek' at our developing new council, Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes (GSNWGL). There were several displays about the existing merging councils, or legacy councils, as well as a look at the jurisdiction, demographics & other information about GSNWGL (If you weren't able to make it to the annual meeting, look for the displays to make an appearance at your upcoming leader meetings.)

After a delicious dinner, GSWC publicly recognized our incredible volunteers & community support received in the 2006-2007 program year. Below is a list of the awardees:

Outstanding Volunteers:
Connie Anderson                   Kelly Kizewski
Connie Belter                        Susan Kosinski 
Rosanna Bogle                      Maggie Labarge   
Michelle Caldwell                   Kim Lehr       
Mary Jo Cartier                      Loraine Lucinski 
Michele Cassidy                    Kristen Miller    
DeeAnn Donahue                   Judy Morrow    
Dan Dondlinger                      LaDonna Nickel
Michelle Draves                     Joanne Pribnow  
Mary Edgerton                       Carla Pulvermacher
Tina Galetka                          Lisa Richmond     
Denise Haase                        Nancy A Sauerbrei
Bunny Hall                            Dawn Schultz    
Marlene Holtz                        Nancy Vlachina
Tammy Jankowski                 Bobbie Webster  
Cory Janzen                          Tammy Wilkinson
Deb Johnson                         Julie Wood
Mindy Julian                         Jennifer Young                                Connie Kehring
_____________________________________________________

Outstanding Leaders:
Edie Anderson                      Dawn Kemnetz
Shawn Behne                       Donna Kickland
Cynthia Carpenter                 Ruth Kies
Janet Crossley                     Heather L'Herault
Julie Erdman                        Kim Schweiger
Diane Guden
_____________________________________________________ 

Leadership Development Pin:
Sarah Zblewski
_____________________________________________________

Outstanding Community Service Awards:
Almond-Bancroft School          Marshfield Parks & Rec. Dept
Art Village, Stevens Point        Martial Arts America
Kristine Barteck                      McDonald's Restaurant of Berlin     Berlin Bowling Lanes               Mead School, Wisc Rapids
Berlin Journal                          Liz Page
Berlin Oil                                Dawn Putzke
Campus Girl Scouts, UWSP    Doug Putzke
Community Health Network      Rapps Moving & Storage
Jan Connor, A-B School           Shepard's Drive In, Berlin
Dairy Queen, Stevens Point     Chris Waechter
Dairy Queen, Wisc Rapids       The Walker Agency
DK Trucking                            Wal Mart, Berlin
Domino's Pizza, Berlin             Jim Walsh, RCCATV
Eskimo Comfort                      Wild Rose Lions Club
Farmers & Merchants Bank     United Methodist Church
Grace Ev. Lutheran Church      Jim Zamzow, Aladdin Cleaners  
Greenwood Lions Club                                                               
Grove School, Wisc Rapids                                                        
Boys & Girls Club of Portage County
Boys & Girls Club of Wisconsin Rapids
Central Wisconsin Children's Museum
_____________________________________________________

Troop Activity Ideas:

Troop Meeting Idea: Celebrate the holidays with your troop

The Girl Scout handbooks and guides for leaders or advisors have great activities, service projects, and party ideas for girls of all ages. Here are some suggestions for the holiday season and beyond.

Daisy Girl Scouts

Community Cards: Have girls make a list of people in their community who might be alone this season. Make greeting cards to brighten their day!

Brownie Girl Scouts

The Gift of GORP: The Brownie Girl Scout Handbook contains the recipe for GORP (Good Old Raisins & Peanuts) on page 109. Have the girls place the GORP in decorated canisters-a nice gift-giving idea or party snack!

Junior Girl Scouts

Piñata Party: Have the girls make a holiday piñata stuffed with little trinkets or handmade friendship bracelets. The piñata party would be a hit at a residential facility for children.

Girl Scouts 11-17

Mix n' Match: The STUDIO 2B Advisors' Guide is full of information on how to keep a "By Girls For Girls" approach. Do the girls want to put on a holiday fashion show? Organize babysitting services for neighborhood families? Help girls develop activities of their choosing!

Safety-Wise Spotlight:  Bullying

Safety-Wise is GSUSA's publication that lists general guidelines for Girl Scout activities, including program standards, tips for planning and, of course, keeping everyone safe. Each month we'll highlight a subject or issue that you may experience in your troop. If you have topic suggestions please email them to communications@woodgsc.org.

Children who are bullied often experience low self-esteem and depression.Those who are doing the bullying may go on to engage in more destructive antisocial behaviors as teens and adults. Each year an increasing number of volunteers have concerns of bullying and other disrespectful behaviors from girls. One of the first steps a troop can do to prevent these behaviors is to establish group rules or guidelines at the beginning of the year.Safety-Wise recommends that groups "come up with their own list of do's & don'ts or, in other words, their own list of troop rules or guidelines.This can be one of the basic items your group deals with in the first few meetings.If the girls have a say in the development of the guidelines and they agree on the consequences for violation of the guidelines before any problems happen, the results can be more positive than waiting to address an issue when everyone is in the middle of conflict. Safety-Wise includes several pages that address conflict, working with challenging girl behaviors, and tips for leading all girls on pages 18-21.Support your group as they develop the expected behaviors they will use to conduct their group.They will feel more secure knowing what is expected and you will know that you have a plan should things get off track

Woodland Canoe Council Store    
Special store hours for December & January:

• Woodland Canoe and the Service Center will be closed December 24 - January 1. We will reopen on January 2 at 8:00 am. Happy Holidays!
• Saturday, January 5:  11:30-1:30pm
  In conjunction with 95 Hours of Service Celebration
• Saturday, January 19:  11:00-1:00pm
  In conjunction with Winter Weekend in the Woods
  

Click here for more store news!

Adult Development and Training
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in our 2007 Annual Meeting and Recognition Dinner! It was a wonderful evening filled with fun, great food and fellowship!
If you have any adult development/training questions please contact Rachel Hildebrant at rhildebrant@woodgsc.org or 800.472.0073 ext. 27. Visit the training section of our Web site here.

Communications
Girl Scouts of all ages are committed to serving others in their communities - whether it's Daisies planting flowers for a troop sponsor, Brownies planning and leading an activity with residents at the local nursing home, Juniors 'adopting' the local animal shelter (collecting food and supplies, cleaning cages, etc.) or GS 11-17 planning and implementing an annual community clean up day. Please help us spread the word about all of the great ways that Girl Scouts help their communities by sending details of your troops' service projects to communications@woodgsc.org as soon as possible!

The next issue of Pathways, our newsletter for GSWC families, will be an e-newsletter and will be sent by January 1, 2008. Please encourage your troop families to submit their email addresses to the Service Center so they don't miss this great resource!

• Reminders:
  The guidelines for our 4th Annual Girl Scout Week Contest have been set. Click here for the form or pick one up at your January Leader Meeting. For our last year as Woodland, let's make 2008's contest the biggest and best yet!
  
  Please send your feedback about our new e-newsletter to communications@woodgsc.org. We want to make Smoke Signals the newsletter that you can really use!
  
  We continue to have many opportunities for girls and volunteers to become involved in the promotion of Girl Scouting. Please contact Jennifer Preinitz at jpreinitz@woodgsc.org or 800.472.0073 ext. 36, for more information or if you have any Communications questions.

• Reminders:                                                                                                             
  

For more information about any of these programs check out the current edition of GS Magazine! Click here to download a copy or contact the Service Center at woodland@woodgsc.org or 800.472.0073 to request one by mail.

Please note that the opening date for all council-sponsored programs in February-May is January 15. Encourage your girls to register early so they don't miss out on their favorites! Programs are held at Camp Sacajawea unless otherwise noted.

K-6 Program Information
Staff contact is Rachel Hildebrant: rhildebrant@woodgsc.org or 800.472.0073, ext. 27

Dreamflight USA has been rescheduled! The new dates are April 26 & 27. If your troop was registered for the Dec. 1 or 2 program there is a place reserved for you. Contact the Service Center for more information about how to confirm your spots for one of the April dates!

New Programs Scheduled!
Girl Scout Day at Nordic Mountain
February 2, 2008
All Girl Scouts, family & friends
10:00 am - 4:30 pm
Lift ticket: $17; Ski rental: $10; Snowboard rental: $20; Nordic Mountain snowboard lesson: $10
GSWC snowboard lessons available from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm - Only $5!
Deadline to register:  January 21

Additional upcoming K-6 programs for December 2007 & January 2008:

New Program Scheduled!
Criminal Justice Program at MSTC
This program will be held at Mid-State Technical College, Wisconsin Rapids
February 23, 2008
9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Cost $3
Maximum number of participants is 35 so register early!

Thank you to the following volunteers for helping with our No School Day Program on November 9th:  Donna Kickland, Clarissa Evans, Katie Molinarolo, Rosanna Bogle, Cassandra Bogle, Stephanie Martin. We really appreciate your help! Our next No School Day Program is "Winter Adventures" on January 25!

Camp Sacajawea News
We are excited to announce our new Camp Sacajawea gift certificates, just in time for holiday gift-giving! They will work the same as cash and can be applied to 2008 summer camp sessions at Camp Sacajawea! For more information please contact Rachel at the Service Center!