AAMES Story

Darnetta Jones/Troop 55169

Sept 2, 2024

This year, Senior Troop 55169 is going for the GOLD Award. To start the GOLD Award process, one Girl Scout Journey and Silver Award must be completed. The Girls completed the Silver Award in 2023 and this summer they worked on the SOW What? Journey, which consisted of planting a garden and creating a plan.

The Girl Scout SOW What? Journey allowed the Seniors to engage in the global issues of food and land use, which expands on environmental footprints.

1)Girls become aware of their place in the global food network as they start to think about where food really comes from and how their choices about food impact Planet Earth. They begin to customize their So What? Journey to truly make a difference.

2)Girls explore the food network in their communities and gather ideas, information, and contacts they can use as they begin to think about changing some of the food prints, they encounter.

The Troop also had an opportunity to earn the GS Harvest Award. The Harvest Award signifies the girls understand who they are and what they stand for, and they care about others. It also signifies they can grasp an issue by the roots and organize a team to work together to sow the

Throughout the summer, the girls met and created a plan.
Step 1: Planted a garden and sowed the following vegetables: corn, celery, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, peppers, watermelon, and cucumbers.
Step 2: Discussed SOW What? journey Food Footprint and Food Waste.
Step 3: Planned to donate vegetables to a Food Pantry.
Step 4: The Troop partnered with “Naturely Cool”. Ten-year-old, Caleb Lee came out to the garden and spoke with the girls about his business “Naturely Cool”. Caleb supports “Garden Works Project” and “West Suburban Community Pantry” by selling his products and taking the funds to give fresh healthy fruits and vegetables to kids in need.

By partnering with “Naturely Cool” and creating a garden, this allowed the SOW What? Journey to be a sustainable project. This is the second piece the Troop needed to move to the next step, which is to start the GOLD Award.

Troop Leader: Darnetta Jones
Co-Leader: Candral Haynes
Senior Troop 55169
Troop 55169 consist of 14 girls, who are all going for their GOLD Award.