WEEDS!

Are a pain in my back, my arms, and the back of my thighs! My Girl Scout Troop finally got started on their Silver Award project today...re-doing the over-grown, weed-infested Alphabet Garden located on the k/1/2 playground at MCE. We spent about 2 and 1/2 hours today pulling and digging up weeds and only got about 1/4 of the way done. Of course, we were spending more time on this area, as it will be the area we re-plant. The remaining 3/4 we will just tear out and MC will flatten out. It really is a good project for their Silver Award - which is the second highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Not only does it meet all the "requirements", it's pretty cool to save something that Girl Scouts originally started - although, we aren't quite sure who - we have some research to do on that. The entire project has to be 40 hours, which can be broken down to no more than 10 hours in planning and the remaining 30 in actual "doing"...with the shape of the current "garden" (and I use that word very loosely!), I don't think we'll have any problems meeting those requirements! There's definately room to work some gardening in to the summer workout routine! We are schedule to return this Saturday for some more pullin and diggin.

I'm really proud of this group of girls. First of all, they are offically "freshmen" now...and being a Girl Scout through junior high isn't exactly "cool", but they have stuck with it and have been determined to earn this award. It hasn't been easy either. Trying to schedule meetings and outings around 5 junior high schedules has presented LOTS of challenges. We haven't really met all that much this past year because of that, but when we have met, they've been focused and gotten things done.

It will be interesting to see who continues on. There are several more awards they can earn. Most in the area of leadership. The highest is the Gold Award - which is the Girl Scout equivelant to the Boy Scout Eagle. I would love to see all of them earn their Gold Award. Not just for the award itself, but for the character building and leadership skills they gain along the way, and for the discovery of themselves that Girl Scouts allows.