Sensory Mural Station: Helping Children with Severe Disabilities

Gold Scouts

The following entry was written by Elizabeth Geisinger, and covers her Gold Award Project "Sensory Mural Station." Learn all about why she chose this project, the challenges she faces and the satisfaction she gained from it! Amazing work, Elizabeth!

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A thousand words could not describe the Gold Award and the journey it takes to get to it. I recently received my Gold Award for a Sensory Mural Station I created for Rosedale School, which helps students with severe disabilities.  I began my journey towards the Gold a little over 2 years ago. When I first came up with my idea, to paint murals on the portables at Rosedale, I was elated.  I got my proposal approved and immediately began planning and researching what to do. By the end of year though, I had to change my project because it was expected the portables would be removed so I decided to build a mobile sensory station. I was still excited and researched Adaptive Learning and eventually built the station.  However the school year came and I began procrastinating my project. I lost motivation to finish my project and couldn't convince myself to do it. However this past year, with the encouragement of leaders in my Service Unit, I pushed myself to complete my project. I painted the various mural scenes and attached the sensory objects. I finished it and turned my paperwork in by the end of September. While the journey will have bumps in the road, it is all worth it to finish your project and feel an overwhelming amount of joy when the letter comes and says “congratulations”.

Meet the Team: Awards Specialist, Miranda Sterling-Rains

Greetings, Girl Scouts! My name is Miranda Sterling-Rains and I'm the Awards (Bronze, Silver, Gold) Specialist for the Girl Scouts of Central Texas. I've been with the Council since December 2013.  Before that, I worked for the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles for two years.  I hold a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and a BA in Theatre.  I have a lot of experience working with children and I really enjoy it!

Here's a little background on me that you won’t get from reading my resume:  I have two black belts, one in Tae Kwon Do and the other in Shotokan Karate.  I currently train in kickboxing and Krav Maga.  On September 30, I will celebrate my one year wedding anniversary with my husband, Alec. We have two rescued dogs, Roxy and Henry (photo attached). We also have 3 adorable nephews and one beautiful niece - courtesy of my older brother and sister.  I also love to go SCUBA diving, fishing, snowboarding, camping, hiking…practically anything outdoors or athletic.  

My husband runs a martial arts school and teaches children and adults in Pflugerville.  I also love improv and theatre.  In LA, I performed with an improv group at Comedy Sportz and have been in several (small) professional productions.  With my training in martial arts, I also performed and choreographed fight choreography for theater and independent film.

I love providing our girls with opportunities that they may not have outside of Girl Scouts, expanding their horizons, and letting them see that they can achieve anything.  With the Gold Award, I love seeing the girls grow throughout the course of their project, from the beginning to end.  The leadership, passion, creativity, and determination they demonstrate is awe-inspiring.  I’m so proud of what our girls do!

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 .

Austin Workplace for Women Spotlight - Amelia Bullock Realtors

Amelia Bullock Realtors

For more than 40 years, Amelia Bullock Realtors has been a leader in the Austin residential market, building a reputation as a respected company with stellar agents, expertise in corporate relocation, and a strong commitment to the Central Texas community. Based on the premise that purchasing a home should be a win/win for everyone, the company owes its success to two extraordinary women—co-owners Amanda Bullock and Barbara Wallace, who support a nurturing culture that values family, cooperation rather than competition, and empowers an overwhelmingly female staff with the training and resources to be the best in the business. Both genteel southern women with an abundance of charm and determination, they have complimentary skill sets: Amanda has a background in fashion design and is adept at advertising and promotion, while Barbara holds in a degree in business education and excels in the financial areas and heads up the firm’s thriving relocation services. Amelia Bullock Realtors currently has over 90 agents who work from two locations; one in Northwest Hills and another in West Lake. The company is dedicated to providing service with quality, value and integrity and to maintaining an environment where courtesy, civility and service are paramount to all else.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Melinda Garvey

Melinda Garvey

As publisher of Austin Woman Magazine (AWM), Melinda Garvey has revolutionized the way women communicate in Austin. Seeing a need for a woman’s magazine she and lifelong friend Samantha Stevens took a chance. A decade later with distribution at over 1500 locations, AWM has become the go-to magazine for women in Central Texas. In 2011 she and her husband and co-publisher Christopher Garvey launched ATX Man, also a major success. The Garveys not only support hundreds of organizations through the magazines and associated events, but has chaired the first Go Red Campaign, co-chaired a campaign to help families of premature babies, and is a past president of Wonders & Worries. Reared in Indianapolis, she is a graduate of DePauw University and worked in DC for over ten years—first in advertising and then for a community newspaper. She was inspired to start AWM because she realized that “people love to read about people.” A modest woman ever ready to credit her staff, she is a self-confessed TV junkie and is passionate about good food and wine. She and Christopher, who has overseen the marketing and events for the magazines since 2010, have a five year old son, Beckum, and enjoy spending time with on the water with Melinda’s parents in Horseshoe Bay.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr

Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr

Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr is a fourth-generation firefighter and the first woman to serve as Chief of the Austin Fire Department. An active young girl and sports enthusiast, she received a degree in physical education and was teaching high school in Fort Lauderdale when a friend suggested that she apply for cadet training at the local fire department. It was a turning point in her life, and the start of a stellar career. She earned an associate’s degree in Fire Science Technology and two certifications from Harvard, rising through the ranks to become an officer and then second in command at the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department. In 2004, she became the first female Fire Chief in Little Rock, winning accolades for her innovation leadership. Five years later, she would beat out a group of national candidates to head the Austin Fire Department, where she has won high marks for her innovation, ability to build consensus and community outreach. Chief Kerr is the past chair of the Human Relations Committee of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Director of the National Society of Executive Fire Officers, and actively involved in community organizations including the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Austin Area Urban League.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - MP Mueller

MP Mueller

Mary Pat “MP” Mueller is an astute business woman and entrepreneur well known in the Central Texas community for her colorful and occasionally outrageous sense of style and her willingness to share her talents and expertise with a broad range of community non-profits including the Austin Breast Cancer Research Center, I Live Here I Give Here, New Milestones Foundation, People’s Community Clinic, the Humane Society and the Alamo. Starting out as a one-person operation working from her bedroom, she went on to found Door Number #3, an award winning marketing and public relations agency with a staff of 12 and annual billings of $5,000,000. Additionally, MP authors a highly entertaining blog on marketing for the New York Times, is a nationally known guest speaker on marketing topics, and is particularly proud of her membership on the Board of Foster Angels, which helps Texas children in the foster care system. MP has two young adult children, Lawrence and Helen, and is busy planning an October wedding with George Gau, a business professor at UT Austin. She credits Girl Scouts with teaching her girls can do anything; how to set goals and reach them, and how to create the perfect sit upon.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Meredith Cooper

Meredith Cooper

Meredith Cooper was one of the first professionals in Austin to become certified in the emerging field of Child Life Support, a rigorous process with interdisciplinary training to develop a friendly and family-centered approach to serving children hospitalized with chronic or long-term illnesses. She began working with Children’s Hospital, first as a Junior League volunteer, and then as the first pediatric oncology child life specialist at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. But recognizing another need, she shifted her focus to children with a family member experiencing a catastrophic illness. In 2001 she joined with Missy Hicks to co-founded Wonders & Worries, an Austin-based non-profit to offer services to children of cancer patients. Since then Wonders & Worries has helped over 1,000 children in families affected by illnesses ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer’s. As Executive Director for the past two decades, Meredith is widely admired not only for her compassion and abilities as a healer but her administrative savvy and fundraising talents. Meredith is married to Duane Cooper, a financial adviser at Wells Fargo Advisors, and has three grown children, Ross, Kristen and Caroline. She is proud of her family’s tradition in Girl Scouting—her mother Caryl was her troop leader and both daughters were Girl Scouts.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website.

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Sylvia Acevedo

Sylvia Acevedo

As a young girl growing up in Las Cruses, New Mexico, Sylvia Acevedo saw first-hand how Girl Scouting can empower women and change lives for the better. With the support and encouragement of their local troop, her mother Ofelia learned to speak English, enabling her to file for US citizenship. Sylvia holds engineering degrees from both New Mexico State University and Stanford, and held prestigious positions with Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Dell and Apple. But deeply motivated by social equity issues, in 2007 she marshaled her professional expertise and formidable networking abilities to develop scalable solutions in education, workforce and health. Within six years, Sylvia created national mobilization campaigns that drew over 225,000 attendees and created systems to give books, toothbrushes, playground balls and eyeglasses to children in need. Named one of the top 100 American Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math by US News & World Report, she was appointed to the White House Commission for Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2011 and presented with the Ohtli Award, Mexico’s most prestigious civil rights recognition for non-Mexican nationals. Sylvia and her partner, Dr. Janet Osimo enjoy sports and travel and are devoted to their rescue dogs, Cali and Nisso.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website.