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It’s Your Story, Tell It!
Dr. Wendy Scott continues to make the world a better place as a Girl Scout volunteer. This Gold Award Girl Scout alum earned the prestigious award while a Girl Scout youth in GSCCC and is a former Council Camp Director. Now, she partners with our program department to deliver outstanding program opportunities for today’s Girl Scouts, such as last year’s “It’s Your World, Change It!” Journey day. The most recent “It’s Your Story, Tell It!” Journey event was held at Tidewater Collegiate Academy, (TCA), a school founded and directed by Wendy. TCA is located at Virginia Wesleyan University and is described as a homeschool which serves as an innovative learning center for diverse Pre-K–12th grade students. Licensed teachers create curriculum and support the homeschooling experience for parents on campus or online.
The Journey day was created for all Girl Scouts — Daisies through Ambassadors — to help them become more aware of their uniqueness as individuals, and learn about and master some common positive ways we can communicate. Activities were grouped based on grade levels, so subjects and topics varied. Several university students volunteered for the day and helped lead groups in discussions and the creation of vision boards that even the youngest enjoyed making and taking home!
“My goal was to have every girl learn at least one thing about themselves that was unique, come away with at least one way that they could care for themselves, one tip on how to build a healthy relationship, and at least one thing they could do to reshape a negative communication or media message,” Wendy said. “We gave them each a manila file folder to be part of their vision board and story, then we guided them through activities that helped them add content to tell their stories.”
Before lunch, Wendy introduced Girl Scouts to Dr. Jackson, a professor in communications at the University and author of nearly 20 books, who spoke to them about journaling and how to use writing to share dreams, stories and memories.
“I know a lot of them came away inspired to write and record their memories and dreams,” Wendy said. “They also had opportunities to get up and be active with group exercises that demonstrated communications. They loved doing the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ activity, and the finale included group presentations of skits, songs and other ways that showed overcoming difficulties or finding success and a dream realized.”
How to Play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” Group Style
Battle it out to see who is the “rock, paper, scissors” champion of the group, as the losers of each mini-round cheer the remaining winners on! This game works best for ages 12 and up. It’s recommended for large groups of 15 or more people. Instructions:
- Have each member of the group pair up for the first round. If there is an odd number, add the odd person out to another pair and have them do a quick knock-out match to form a pair. Alternatively, you can ask for a volunteer to participate as a referee with you.
- Everyone should be in pairs. Ask them to play 3 games, and the best 2 out of 3 will be the winner. You should act as a referee during this time in case there are any disputes or confusions.
- Instruct the losers of the first match to start cheering the name of the person who beat them and following that person around to their next game.
- Have all the winners pair up and face off against each other while the ones they beat are cheering for them. When one winner beats the other, all the people behind the losing player should start cheering for the winning player.
- Repeat this process in elimination, tournament style, until there are only two players left. Each should have a large group of people cheering them on from their previous wins. The game is over after one player wins the final match.
- (Optional): If you have an odd number of people and you want to reset the game and play again, have the winner of the last game stand aside as a referee with you to give another player the chance to win instead.
The last person standing in this tournament is the winner. They must not lose against any player from the beginning to the end of the game. At the end, the winning player should have all the other players cheering for them. A small prize can be awarded to the winner if you choose, otherwise you can reset the game and play again.
