Gold Girl Scout Spotlight

         This month's featured Gold Girl Scout is Kavya Ramamoorthy who created a                          documentary on Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972. Congratulations                on becoming a Gold Girl Scout, Kavya!
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When I was in 8^th grade I researched a federal law called Title IX for a Nation History competition. Like many other students today, I did not even know that a law like Title IX existed. By learning about this law and the enormous impact it had on society, my appreciation for the rights and opportunities that I have been given has increased. I want to be an advocate for the law and for the power that it gives students. I also want to encourage girls to pursue higher education in any area, be it in STEM, Liberal Arts or any field of their choosing and to dream big. Today, thanks to laws like Title IX, educational opportunities in our country are available equally to boys and girls. This is not the case in many other countries around the world.

For my Gold Award Project, I created a ten minute documentary on Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 to show how this law has impacted higher education in America. I collaborated with Social Studies teachers at Round Rock ISD to ensure that the documentary covers the TEKS for Title IX and to ensure that the documentary can be used as a supplemental lesson by teachers in the district. I researched Title IX, interviewed experts, used information from my project on Title IX created for the National History Day competition, and gathered information to present. After gathering the information, pictures and video clips, I worked with the technical staff at RRISD to piece together my documentary. My sponsor, Ms. Tina Melcher, who is the lead Social Studies Curriculum Specialist at RRISD, reviewed my status every step of the way. After I had a complete draft version of the video, I sent it for review to various people including Ms. Nita Hornbeck at the American Association of University Women (AAUW); Mr. Brown with RRISD Tech support; and Ms. Melcher, my sponsor. Each of these people helped check the documentary for historical accuracy and clarity. Ms. Melcher helped me in identifying a Social Studies teacher, Mr. Bradley, who did a test run of the documentary with other Social Studies teachers at Westwood High School. This confirmed that he and other teachers will be able to use my documentary in their classrooms. After gathering all the feedback, I made the final revisions to the documentary before submitting it to the school district for them to distribute to teachers district-wide.

From my project, I hope that students will gain awareness about the opportunities they have in higher education today. The documentary can also be used in presentations done by RRISD to promote higher education.

I gained confidence in myself by doing this project. By talking to many influential adults, I learned not to be shy in asking for help. I even got a response from Dr. Bernice Sandler, the Godmother of Title IX. People are willing to help if you ask them. Collaborating with others opens doors to lots of new opportunities. I gained valuable networking skills in this project and have built relationships with organizations like the AAUW.

By teaching about the history of Title IX, I hope to motivate other students to appreciate their opportunities and to empower them to make use of the educational resources that are available today. I also want to show them that the government in our country values education for all.

Backpack Buddies is Gearing Up for Annual Drive

This happens to all troop leaders at some point: you're without a service project and you're fresh out of idea. Jen Neve was trying to find a service project for her then Girl Scouts to do during the holiday season. She had the idea to contact a foster care program for children to see if there was anything her girls could do for the children. The program told her the children often arrive with their few belongings in a trash bag and nothing more. They only asked for donations of backpacks.Jen was so overcome by their need she started to organize other troops to participate in the donation. Jen did not know at the time, but she was creating something much bigger than a one time service project: Backpack Buddies.

12 years later Backpack Buddies has continued to grow and is now serving homeless children and families in the Austin and Round Rock area. Jen gets names, ages and gender of the children from the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) in order to guarantee every child gets a new backpack. Jen asks that individuals/troops fill backpacks with age appropriate goodies for the children and that they do not spend more than $50 on the backpack.

Toward the end of October  Jen will start to match up the troops with the children and will send out the child’s “About Me” information. The backpacks will need to be returned to her before December 8 so you have a whole month to get cracking! If you are interested in participating or want more information on how you can help contact Jen Neve at Jen_Neve@sbcglobal.net .

Girl Scouts Troop 2038 Thinks Outside of the Box!

When Patsy Sommer Elementary School needed a permanent collection box for clothing, Brownie Troop 2038 was there to help. One of the troop moms knew the girls could use their handy Girl Scout skills to make the box for the Round Rock Independent School District’s (RRISD) Clothes Closet Project.

During the summer, the girls and  troop parents worked on the box until it was ready for decoration. The girls then unleashed their creative side and gave the box some flair, earning their painting badge in the process. The troop presented the Clothes Closet donation dox to the principal of Sommer Elementary at the last PTA meeting. 

Brownie Troop 2038 hopes the box is just the beginning of a larger purpose-- helping collect clothing for students in need in RRISD.

Service projects like these wouldn't be possible without the help and encouragement that our adult volunteers provide. One of the many things that Girl Scouts do to improve the lives of the people in their community. Won't you be a part of it? Join today!

-Thanks Christine C. for the submission!