Coyote Hills News

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Troop 30259 Bronze Award: Three girls from Troop 30259 in Fremont worked hard this summer to complete their Bronze Award project. They created a Science –themed writing center for Fremont Congregational Nursery School. The girls interviewed different preschool teachers and did online research to find ideas. They refinished a table, built slanted writing boards, made picture/word cards with different science themes, and created a science bulletin board. They also made a Mailbox. This is such a wonderful idea to encourage young children to write letters or draw pictures to “mail” to their classmates and teachers. The girls provided the preschool with writing paper, crayons, markers, pencils, pencil holders, educational workbooks, science-themed books, sentence starter strips and tons of other materials and activities to encourage preschoolers to begin writing. It was a great experience for everyone involved. The girls were able to see the grand results of working together as a team!

Troop 31563:I have the honor of writing on this website for the first time. Troop 31563 has experienced their first year of girl scouting together.

We had the pleasure of becoming sisters and traveling a wonderful journey to becoming a SUPER TROOP!! I cannot just write about 1 event... we shared so many fun and memorable events. From the beginning, moms had to learn what it takes to start a troop - going through the necessary steps to fulfill all the requirements of becoming a leader. Then, to spread the word to fellow 4th graders and form a team of interested girls to join. At the first troop meeting, the girls came together and chose their troop crest - hawaiian lei - symbol for circle of friendship. And, they voted and chose their troop song, "All Girl Scouts" which they always sing at all our troop meetings.

Sisterhood started when the girls developed traditions together, sharing their Kaper assignments and responsibilities, listening to each others voices by using "Fist to Five" consensus and learning from each other with respect. Relationships grew stronger when girls participated in community service projects and fieldtrips together. The girls planned and participated in their own investiture creating the World Friendship Chain, honoring Juliette's vision of world unity and friendship to the Girl Scout movement. The girls also participated with other St. Edward School girls scouts caroling at Crippsmas Place 2010 and celebrating Mass on Girl Scout Sunday. The girls celebrated Juliette Low's 150th birthday by playing with "Juliette's box" filled with items that represent a fact about our GS founder's life - thanks to the GS of NorCal Heritage Committe for Coyote Hills/Union City we were able to learn and play a game to honor her. On World Thinking Day, the girls shared positive comments to each other placing them in an envelope so they can keep this for when they feel down. Another wonderful experience was participating in the Mardi Gras Ice Cream Social involving all the Newark GS troops. Our girls gathered the courage to sing their troop song on stage!
The girls are also doing their Power of One journey learning about the power within themselves and the moxie power with their troop. They did they magic thread activity, learning that girl scouting can be the magic thread which links the youth of the world together creating a difference in the community. With the recent tsunami in Japan (and tornadoes to our east) we also discussed preparations in the case of disaster.

During the summer, we will definitely continue to do activities together... our plan is to do a summer celebration - scavenger hunt in San Francisco allowing the girls to practice "girl led."

Troop 31916: The past two years, the girls in troop 31916 have adopted marine mammals from the Marine Mammal Center. Through these adoptions, they contributed to the understanding, rehabilitation, and protection of these marine mammals. Their adoptions helped buy fish and medicine for the patients and to support the mission of rescuing and caring for seals, sea lions, dolphins and other marine mammals as well as fund research on diseases and education about the importance of ocean health.

The first year they adopted Calloway, a Southern Sea Otter. Southern Sea Otters are found along the central coast of California. They are a threatened species, with only an estimated 2,000 remaining. When Calloway was rescued, she was malnourished from being separated from her mother before weaning. The centers' volunteers bottle-fed her, monitored her swims, and helped groom her thick fur. The center, along with Monterey Bay Aquarium, nursed Calloway back to health.

The second year they adopted Baker D., a three year old bottlenose dolphin who was underweight, dehydrated, and had a puncture wound on his snout. He was rescued at Baker Beach in San Francisco and didn't even have the strength to swim on his own. The center provided antibiotics, medications to stabilize his heart, and round-the-clock care and feedings. As a result, he was restored to full health and was released with a satellite tag into Monterey Bay. According to the signals from his tag, he has chosen to live in a pod near the Channel Islands.

We culminated our adoptions by a field trip to the center in the fall of 2010, where we were able to see some of the animals being treated and learn about how they catch, treat, and release these magnificent marine mammals.

We had a wonderful year and we look forward to next year!

Troop 31111 has had a woderful Girl Scouts adventure this year. Our troop loves singing, arts and craft's and learning about animals. Our troop mission is to put a smile on someones face every day!

Troop 31111 enjoyed an outing at the Oakland Zoo.

(Photo 1) left- right Gabby, Jaiden, Maila, Emily, Jerzey, Collette, and Jade.

(photo 2) left- right Collette, Emily, Jerzey, Gabby, Leila

Troop 32271 Bronze Award: Junior Troop 32271 earned their Bronze Award in March 2011 through a collaboration with the non-profit organization Operation Showers of Appreciation. The 5 girl troop held a baby shower for 11 Northern California military families. Each family received a car seat in addition to diapers, bottles, clothing and other baby essentials. The girls planned out every detail of the event, from sending the invitations, shopping for items, requesting donations, decorating the room, playing baby shower games and more!

Troop 31315 Bronze Award: Junior Troop 31315 earned their Bronze Award by working with the Newark Public Library. The girls did a number of service projects associated with the library, including making craft kits for toddlers coming to reading time, organizing and donating books to the children’s section of the library, and creating recycled art pieces which are now on display in the teen section of the library. The girls also got a Commendation from the Mayor of Newark for the service work they performed.

Troop 31541: We liked the rides and how they added the decorations to the park. We also liked meeting and taking a picture with the Over Lord. We would do this activity again. (Just not get there so early next time.)

Troop 31509 Makes a Difference: As part of the 2010 Make a Difference Day program, Cadette Troop 31509 volunteered at Almost Eden Garden on October 23. The garden started in 1998; originally, homeless and low-income individuals were paid to work at the garden. When funding for hiring workers was cut, volunteers stepped in to keep the garden going. The Almost Eden Garden Project now grows premium-quality organic produce for several local organizations that provide meals and services for homeless and low-income families - weekly deliveries are made to Urban Ministries in Palo Alto, Bread of Life Ministries in East Palo Alto, the South Palo Alto Food Closet, etc. Seventeen girls from Troop 31509 volunteered on Make a Difference Day by planting broccoli, Swiss chard, & mustard greens, and watering & weeding. Three months later, on January 22, 2011, the Cadettes returned to the garden and harvested a total of 90 lbs of vegetables! The girls delivered their fresh produce to St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room, one of the local volunteer run soup kitchen/food closet served by the "A Place at the Table with Almost Eden Garden" project. The Padua Dining Room serves working and nonworking low income families, elderly, homeless, and newcomers to the area.

Here are some quotes to share from the troop parents and girls:

"She had a great time yesterday, and what really turned the lightbulb on for her was when she got to the soup kitchen, saw almost 100 underprivileged people sitting around having lunch, and able to take some of the vegetables that they had planted home. It completed the cycle for her, and it made her realize that her hard work really paid off, and benefited these people."

"So fun, tiring, gross, and cool all at the same time."

"So many colorful plants! It's a rainbow!"

"It felt really good to be able to see the homeless people taking all the vegetables we planted and to see how many homeless people there are. It made me feel like a true girl scout."

"I thought it was very fun to help the local community."

"Awesome, tiring, fun (to get dirty), extremely satisfying when I saw the huge leaves during harvest time."

"Agh. Cold! but fun!"

"It was wonderfully organic - found many slugs - one of which I took home!"

"There were two grocery carts full of fresh veggies we had planted."

"Unite bundles with me!"

"It was wonderfully organic - found many slugs - one of which I took home!"

"There were two grocery carts full of fresh veggies we had planted."

"Untie bundles with me!"

"It's good to think that our hard work helped the community and others who were in need."

"Slugs are great!"

"Slugs are awesome! Yes they are! I named my slug Cat. Besides slugs... the harvesting was fun, especially for the rainbow chard."

"I had a great time learning about how to garden/harvest the crops and take them to the church to help the homeless have another healthy meal. That made me feel grateful for the delicious (and the not so delicious) food I get for every meal, making this truly a " Make a Difference Day" for both me and the people I got to help."

The girls were proud of themselves for giving back to the community. They enjoyed having a great time and learned that volunteering is meaningful and fun at the same time! Hope their experience will inspire you to volunteer and make a difference too!

This video was made by Troop 30317. This video is to promote recycling and cleaning our world. If we don't clean our home, there will be no home to live in.