Spark March 2023

We have so many wonderful people who give their time, talent and treasure to ensure that our girls, volunteers and staff have wonderful Girl Scout experiences. Components of the Girl Scout experience include accessibility and usability.

Through the generous support of Black Hills Energy and 3 Ten Architecture, the Garden City Little House steps and railing were removed and replaced resulting in safe access to the much-used Little House. The Wichita office parking lot was repaired by removing large, open cracks and deteriorated asphalt. Black Hills Energy also supported the Wichita office sign update with LED lights and new branding standards.

To provide better user experiences, internet has been added to all council-owned Little Houses, which are located in Augusta, Garden City, Newton and Parsons. Internet has been added to Camp Double E in Emporia and Camp Four Winds near Leon, resulting in all camps with internet access. Troops, service units and staff are now able to conduct trainings, complete registrations and access program materials through web-based platforms at council property.

Fidelity Bank Foundation made a generous donation to assist with the purchase of a new van based at the Wichita office. The previous van was retired with 250,000 miles of Girl Scout support. The 79 Fund made a generous contribution to assist with the purchase of the vehicle based in Emporia announced in the March 2022 Spark recognizing the Trusler Foundation and the Emporia Community Foundation. The vehicles are used for Girl Scout events, promotion and product delivery.

Thank you for supporting Girl Scout experiences in so many ways!

Rolinda Sample, CEO

Renew Early!

Girls and Troop Leaders—get a jump start on the 2024 membership year (October 2023–September 2024) and renew early to be eligible for a free t-shirt and an exclusive outdoor overnight event that's NEW this year!

April 1 – May 1

Girl and Troop Leaders who renew between April 1 – May 1 are eligible for this free limited edition t-shirt.

April 1 – June 30

Girls and volunteers renewed by June 30 are invited to attend Midnight Madness at Riverfront Stadium. Details on the next page.

September 30

All girls renewed by September 30 will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad i9!

How to Renew:

1. Visit kansasgirlscouts.org

2. Click on "MyGS" and log-in

3. Click "My Account"

4. Click "My Household"

5. Select all household members you want to renew

6. Click "Renew"

7. Select Payment Method, including card, financial aid, or program credits (Program Credit earners, who will receive their credits on April 15, can still select

"program credits" as payment when renewing by May 1 to be eligible for the t-shirt incentive. Credits will be applied to your renewal balance once the new credits are uploaded to your account).

8. Once renewed, go to UltraCamp and log-in. From there you will register for your t-shirt size. At that time, you can also register for the Midnight Madness event (listed separately in UltraCamp).

If you have any problems renewing, call us: 888-686-MINT (6468)

Midnight Madness at Riverfront Stadium

Girl Scouts renewed for 2024 are taking over Riverfront Stadium for this NEW epic sleepover event for only $15 per person!

Watch the Wind Surge baseball team take on their opponent on July 29. After the game, we're clearing out the stadium for an unforgettable, Girl Scout only event. Girl Scouts and their families will watch a movie and play late night games until retiring to your tent (no stakes) in the outfield.

Event opens on April 1 and you must renew by June 30 to qualify for this event. Program credits can be used.

Recognition Breakfast & Annual Meeting

Wichita State University

Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex

Members 14 and older are invited Register by March 27

Saturday, April 1, at 9 a.m.

Members from across the council are invited to gather for the 2023 Recognition Breakfast & Annual Meeting. This year, attendees will have the option to attend the meeting online through Zoom right from their own home/ location or attend in-person in Wichita. By offering the online option, additional members can be informed by the state of the council message from CEO, Rolinda Sample, and Board Chair, Helen Wimsatt.

After the Annual Meeting portion is adjourned, we will begin our ceremony where we honor our valued volunteers who are receiving awards as well as our Bronze, Silver and Gold Award Girl Scouts.

Annual Leadership Society Luncheon

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Keynote Speaker Sarah

Smarsh

Journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

Marriott Wichita 9100 Corporate Hills Drive, Wichita, KS

11:30 a.m.

Doors open Noon Luncheon & Program

INVEST Sponsor:

Tickets or more information: call (316) 684-6531 or visit www.Kansasgirlscouts.org/jpls

Generous Donor Support Shared Around the Council

Gold Award Girl Scouts

Gold Award Girl Scouts 2021-2022 Class

Clara Keller

The Gold Award is earned by girls in grades 9–12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in developing sustainable solutions to local, national, and global challenges. Since 1916, Girl Scouts have answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change.

Clara created an educational program to reach younger Girl Scout members on the importance of owls in our ecosystem. Clara's program focused on predatory birds and how we can help the declining populations and help increase population levels of Barn Owls. The program consists of owl pellet dissection kits that troops can checkout and use during meetings.

Shelby Starbuck

Focused on eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health, Shelby created educational materials, presentations and coping strategies for stress and anxiety in the classroom. The strategies consisted of "Coping Skills Baskets" that had various fidget toys and items for students to use to help them focus and destress during school. Shelby also presented her program to her local high school staff, the school board, local Lions Club and the local Rotary Club.

Nicole Blocker

Nicole designed an activity space and educational program at the Chapman 4:10 Irish Den so students could have a safe space to hangout, relax and spend time after school. Nicole said many students stay near the school when waiting for activities and sporting events to begin, so she wanted there to be an area where they could go and be safe while having fun in the meantime. Nicole built new shelving and an organizational space for games and distributed "Stranger Danger" programming so students can learn how to maintain their own safety.

Madison Moses

Passionate about education and getting kids outdoors, Madison created multiple lesson plans so teachers could utilize them as a way to teach outdoors instead of in their typical classroom setting. Her lesson plans included parts of plants and solar system learning materials for science classes. She created these lesson plans for kindergarten, first, second and third grade classes.

don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good.

Lexi Ashcraft

Lexi grew in Girl Scouts as an avid camper at the Starwoods Outdoor Center and Camp Four Winds. With her combined passions for astronomy and Girl Scout camp, Lexi refurbished, organized and labeled all 12 telescopes located at the camps. Along with the restoration project, she also hosted multiple in-person trainings and created online trainings located in gsLearn so volunteers could learn how to use the telescopes and teach their troops when they are at camp. The training consists of information on telescope parts, how to calibrate a telescope, how to use it and how to put it away correctly.

Alyssa Farris

With a passion for educating youth, the outdoors, learning and music, Alyssa knew she wanted to reach a broad audience with her Gold Award project. In an effort to educate children on music, she focused her project on creating four music sensory walls. These walls were placed in three different locations around her town. To create the walls, Alyssa used pallets and built the wall portion. She then added different recycled items and materials and attached them to the wall so kids could create different sounds with the items. Along with the wall, she included objects that could be used to hit the buckets and pots so the children could explore the different sounds created with each tool and item.

Lauren Schmeidler

Passionate about making the world a better place and supporting fellow women, Lauren knew she wanted to take action at the state-level by lifting taxation on feminine hygiene products. Lauren researched and created a plan where taxes can be removed from hygiene items and diapers by potentially increasing the tax rate on vape products. She gained support through an online petition and sponsorship through Representative Miller who introduced the bill on the House floor on Jan. 10, 2022. Lauren was also supported by Senator Ware, Representative Schmidt and Representative Clayton.

Rebecca Losey

Rebecca’s love for outer space led her to educating her fellow Girl Scout sisters on space science so they could have an appreciation and potential love for space as well. Rebecca based her project around the Space Science Badge series available for Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts. In the badge kit, all of the materials necessary to earn the respective badge are included. The kit now lives at the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland Wichita council location so troops can check it out and use it during their meetings.

Emily Glenn

At Camp Four Winds, the dilapidated amphitheater was unusable. Emily's Gold Award focused on updating the amphitheater by tearing down the old backing and replacing it, fixing the concrete area and building new benches. Along with the updated space, she also created a book with songs and skits so she could share camp traditions with future Girl Scout campers.

Della O'Donnell

Della created a pollinator garden at the Starwoods Outdoor Center. She created instructions on the necessary maintenance of the garden as well as information on potential plants that could be added and information on various pollinators. In the garden, Della planted native perennials for easy maintenance, used upcycled materials to create water globes and created pebble trays as water stations for the pollinators to drink from. The garden is also certified with the National Wildlife Foundation.

Meredith LeFevre

At the local elementary school, the play pad was already home to a painted map of the United States, but it was chipping, cracked and not in a state for good use. Meredith not only repainted the map so it could be useable during recess and classes, but she added a symbol in each state to represent it. The symbols help the students with state recognition and help them further their geographical knowledge. Meredith’s goal was that the students would be excited about learning by making it fun and engaging.

Milly Thornberry

Milly’s project, the “Artists’ Impact,” stemmed from her own love and appreciation for art and art education. Her first goal was creating and implementing a mural in the local middle school bathroom, as she wanted to encourage the younger generation to be interested in art. The second part was furthering her reach. By distributing flyers to area schools, she reached out to every art teacher in the district to encourage them and their students to join the “Artists’ Impact” by creating their own mural, posters or sticker campaign to place around the school.

CayLee Johnson

In pursuit of furthering her own education and increasing her reading level, CayLee's project focused on something that not only impacted her personally, but impacted those who may need it most. CayLee purchased children’s books and created audiobook recordings of them to donate to Wesley Children's Hospital. She put the recordings on mp3 players and donated the players, headphones and the physical books for the children to use during their hospital stays. CayLee made sure that the mp3 players and headphones would be easy to sanitize in between uses so the hospital staff would be able to maintain them for the children. In total, she recorded over 20 stories.

Bridging Day

Girl Scout Week 2023

Sunday, March 12 - Saturday, March 18

As we celebrating 111 years of Girl Scouts, what is your 1? Share 1 Girl Scout memory or complete 1 Girl Scout moment each day for Girl Scout week. Tag us on social at #KSgirlscouts.

Sunday, 3/12: Girl Scout Birthday

Donate cake mixes to your local food pantry or send birthday wishes to your sister Girl Scouts.

Heartland Bridging Ceremony

When: 5/13 from 2–4:30 p.m.

Where: Keeper of the Plains

339 Veterans Pkwy, Wichita

Grades: K-12

Registration deadline: 5/1

Cost: Free

Bridge to the next Girl Scout level in a big way, over the Arkansas River at the Keeper of the Plains! Celebrate the achievements of your troop and fellow Girl Scout sisters throughout Kansas Heartland at this free, council-wide ceremony. There will be plenty of fun for the whole troop and family: make a bridging SWAP to add to your collection and bring old SWAPS to exchange with fellow Girl Scouts in the Make New Friends area, renew your membership, try out our adventure zone, and more! Check-in and activities begin at 2 p.m. The ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. Fun patch provided.

Monday, 3/13: Make Someone’s Day

Tuesday, 3/14: Tradition Tuesday

Wednesday, 3/15: Wear it Wednesday

Thursday, 3/16: Thrive Outdoors

Do 1 act of kindness for someone else.

Share 1 favorite Girl Scout Tradition or try out 1 you’ve never done before.

Be Girl Scout Proud in all that you say and do.

Friday, 3/17: Girl Scout GREEN!

Saturday, 3/18: Sing It

Saturday

Do 1 activity outdoors and make the world a better place: pick up trash, plant a tree, clean up an area, put out a bird feeder.

Share 1 skill that you have gained as a Girl Scout.

Learn 1 new Girl Scout Song

Troop Cookie Goal Photo Contest Winners

This year, Girl Scout troops who entered the Troop Cookie Goal Photo Contest won a 10x10 canopy! These troops, along with other goalsetters, showed what they've learned from the Cookie Program to become successful

cookie entrepreneurs by utilizing their 5-skills! Congratulations to the contest winners and all of the cookie bosses across Kansas for your efforts during this year's Cookie Program!

SU70 Troop 10082

SU70 Troop 10105

SU72 Troop 60133

SU77 Troop 50106

SU79 Troop 20910

SU79 Troop 20913

SU81 Troop 50254

SU84 Troop 41334

SU85 Troop 40851

SU87 Troop 40107

SU87 Troop 42578

SU92 Troop 41107

Elite Entrepreneur Experiences

Day Experience

Saturday, April 29

Cosmosphere, Hutchinson

Overnight Experience

Saturday & Sunday, May 6-7

Worlds of Fun, Kansas City

EARNED with:

2022 Fall Program: 150+ units or 2023 Cookie Program: 750+ Packages

EARNED with:

2022 Fall Program: 250+ units or 2023 Cookie Program: 1200+ Packages

Care & Share Experience

Saturday, April 29 in conjunction with the Day Experience

EARNED with:

2022 Fall Program: 50+ Shares or 2023 Cookie Program: 100+ Shares

DISCLAIMER: The Elite Entrepreneur Experiences are the same events for both Fall Product Program and Cookie Program. If Program Credits are chosen during the Fall Product Program, to attend the EEE Day/Overnight/Care & Share, these levels must be achieved again during the Cookie Program. All reward choices are final by the program end date.

Where We Roam Summer Camp 2023

This summer we’re embracing our adventurous spirits, roaming throughout the heartland, paddling the waters of Kansas and following the paths in the stars. During camp, Girl Scouts develop confidence, self-esteem and social skills with new friends! Campers can attend one of our "youthonly" sessions or invite their caregiver(s) to join in the fun for a "You & Me Camp." From day camps to overnights, life skills to STEM, cabin camping to primitive, we've got something for everyone!

Select camp registration is now open. Save your camper's spot in popular council-led camp sessions by registering her today with a $25 deposit.

Help your Girl Scout meet her cookie business goals and then when Program Credits drop on April 15, they'll be applied to her camp balance. Remaining balances are due May 1. Volunteer-led and partner-led sessions open for registration on April 15 with full balance due at registration.

Council Info

To

1-888-686-MINT (6468).

Council Offices

Wichita Office (888) 686-6468

360 Lexington Road Wichita, KS 67218

Hays Office (888) 686-6468

2707 Vine St., Suite 8 Hays, KS 67601

By appointment

Emporia (888) 686-6468

Location determined when requesting the meeting

Garden City (888) 686-6468

114 Grant Ave. Garden City, KS 67846

Salina (888) 686-6468

St. John's Lutheran Church

302 S. 7th Street Salina, KS 67401

Council Camps

Camp Double E 794 Road 200

Emporia, KS 66801

Camp Four Winds 9236 SE Quivera Road

Leon, KS 67074

Camp Starwoods 7800 S. 103rd St. West Clearwater, KS 67026

Council Little Houses

Augusta Little House 928 E. Kelly Ave.

Augusta, KS 67010

Garden City Little House 108 Hackberry St.

Garden City, KS 67846

Newton Little House 715 Washington Road

Newton, KS 67114

Parsons Little House 221 S. 29th

Parsons, KS 67357