Why Journeys? -- A Senior Girl Scout perspective

Why Journeys? I know that a lot of Girl Scouts and Leaders aren’t sure if they like Journeys.  And honestly before my recent trip to Ghana Africa – I was wondering what benefit (other than earning the awards) was there to doing all the journeys?

 For the last year I have been working on three Senior Girl Scout Journeys, working towards my summit pin, by myself. The Sow What Journey, on agriculture, green living and healthy living. Mission Sisterhood, on understanding yourself and others, and Girltopia, looking at the world around you and understanding the way others live and work.

            All of these journeys came into play on this Ghana trip. I traveled with five other girls my age who are also Girl Scouts. And without noticing I used different aspects from each journey on this trip.

            I implemented communication and teamwork skills with my group in patrol games during the camping Jamboree. Teamwork skills and communication skills from which I learned and practiced while doing Mission Sisterhood. As well as reading body language of my friends to learn how they where feeling.

            The Sow What journey I saw a lot in the villages. They were using their resources wisely, using what they had instead bringing in more waste. There were people there that had very little but used all of their resources to create something they could use.

            I looked around and took in how the girls and women of Ghana lived and worked everyday while I was there. To me it looked somewhat difficult to live a life style with very little.

For more information on my Journey to visit --

Mission Sisterhood - Session 3 -- Movies with my sister and looking at friendships

This weekend I decided to watch 2 movies with my sister -- we watched the movies and talked about the friendships.  It was interesting -- I chose Bride Wars and she chose - Jungle Book.            A good friendship is a healthy relationship between either two or more people. After watching Bride Wars…I started thinking about what kind of friendship I have with various people. Bride Wars portrayed a strong “bond” between two women that is ruined momentarily by jealousy. But a “bond” that is this strong does not stay broken for very long.

            The friendship that Liv and Emma have is a sister like friendship. Always there for each other, and they really care about each other in a sister like way. But when one of them screws up the friendship plummets. But in the end, both forgive each other…even if on turned the others hair blue…or turned the other into an orange person. Meaning that the sistership (sister like friendship) that they have is a strong one that can’t be broken.  

             The Jungle Book is a classic and original Disney movie. This movie portrays a friendship between a bear…and a boy. This friendship started out as an apprenticeship I guess, Baloo was going to teach Mogali the “Bear necessities” to help Mogali survive in the jungle. But through time Baloo and Mogali grew to be inseparable.

            The friendship they shared was like no other. They where always with each other and Baloo was almost like a “father” to Mogali. That’s just how far their friendship got, it got that deep. During the movie many things happen to Mogali that Baloo has to save him which strengthens their friendship even more.

            But in the very end, when Baloo fought Bagheera, that’s when Mogali finally found out just how much he needed Baloo.  

Mission Sisterhood - Session 2 & 3 -- What makes a good friendship?

A good friendship is a healthy relationship between either two or more people. After watching Bride Wars…I started thinking about what kind of friendship I have with various people. Bride Wars portrayed a strong “bond” between two women that is ruined momentarily by jealousy. But a “bond” that is this strong does not stay broken for very long.

            I think that one to three very strong friendships is better than…say five or six “aquatinences”. It’s better to have something personal with a few friends than to have virtually almost nothing with quite a few. Because you’ll always know that your “strong” friend will always be there for you…when your “aquatinences” you can’t rely on completely.

            I would say that I have at least one really good friend, while I have quite a few… “friends” that don’t really have anything in common with me, but I enjoy to being around them. When you can tell that a small friendship has become something more…something personal and stronger is when one of the two…or more people in the friendship start to rely more on one another. 

Mission Sisterhood Session 2- Different types of Friends

            With this section I will gain a better understanding of the importance of various types and levels of friendships. I will discuss the different friendships in books to help  understand different friendships and how they build the characters.

            A Separate Piece is a great book that portrays a rather one sided friendship. A friendship between two boys, Phineas and Gene. Gene is a lonely, introverted individual, while Phineas is a taunting, daredevil athlete. Phineas enjoys challenges but hates to be outdone. Gene is a smart student that follows Phineas in fear of being picked on. Together they make a rather strange pair, but together they are also very different. Phineas is very defensive over Gene as if he was his own brother. Gene follows Phineas and learns about going for the big and trying things even if they seem too difficult. So alone they are just regular students, but together, they form a strange, but perfect friendship. 

            In the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy there are many strange friendships, but the one that I can most distinctively say is a friendship relationship is the one between Katniss and Gale. Gale, an 18 year old boy that is the oldest of a family of…many, hunts, which provide food and money for his family. Katniss, a 16 year old girl that is also the oldest of a family of three people, but it only seems that it is a family of 2, because of her mentally ill mother. But she hunts as well, which provides food and money for her family. Gale and Katniss have been friends for four years; they started out as hunting buddies, and then turned into hunting companions. Gale was a snare sensation, while Katniss was a good shot, as well as a scavenger. And as their friendship grew, they shared all they knew about the woods, and even shared the spoils. So their friendship kept them going, it helped them provide for their family, but it also kept them healthy mentally. They listened to each others rants about the Capitol, and gave constructed feedback on everything that came in their way. Their friendship was more than just a walk in the woods; it was a friendship that meant life or death, not only for them, but for their family as well.

            So friendships come in many shapes and sizes. And people who have completely different interests can form a completely different, but interesting friendship. And now that I have knowledge of different relationships, I can start to unravel the friendship relationships that I am affiliated with.  -- My next post will be about what kind of friend am "I".

Mission Sisterhood - Journey #2 - Post 1

Journey #1 - Sow What -- check out http://sarahsowwhat.tumblr.com/

Journey #2 - Mission Sisterhood - This 10 part Journey is designed to help girls create their own definition of sisterhood, identify issues and to TAKE ACTION.

This is the first post for Journey #2

Unlike my last Journey that I did on my own -- I am excited to embark on this journey wtih my cousin Joanna.  It will be much easier than talking to myself. 

 Joanna and I sat down and discussed what we thought “sisterhood” meant to us. We both agreed that “sisterhood” meant more than just being sister related to someone, but decided that it meant to have a sister-like relationship with say a different family member or friend. For example…Joanna and I have a sister-like relationship; I do things with her, which I wouldn’t do with friends or other members of my family.

We also had a discussion on body language, and different ways that people that have this “sisterhood” relationship would communicate with each other.

1) Body Language, such as what that person does with their arms and legs. They could make a sequence of movements that only their friend that they share this “bond” with can understand. 2) Texting, texting is also another form of communication that friends use, and use regularly. 3) Passing notes, now this form of communication is usually done, in class, or by code, and you just hand them an envelope one day when you see them. 4) Snail mail, I’ve only ever done this a couple of times, its effective, and fun, and a great way to communicate with fellow friends. 5) E-mailing, I do this form quite often, it’s a great way to communicate, although it takes away the anticipation of getting a letter, or the fun feeling you get when you get to pass notes between one another. But still it is a way that lots of teens use to communicate with. 6) Calling, this is also another popular way of communication, it is used quite often, although I don’t do it as much as I would like to it is a great way to communicate with friends that live far away, or fairly close. 7) Talking online, I have done this a couple of times with my friends, and a few times with my dad, it is an okay way, in my opinion, to communicate, it often lags, and has holes in the way that your able to communicate. But many people enjoy communicating through say, Skype, Google plus, and other things of the like. Then there is my most favorite 8) Talking face to face, this is my all time favorite way to communicate with friends because it is most effective. When you do other types of communication such as texting you lose vital keys of infliction such as your facial expression, or the emphasis on a word, or a gesture with the body that can only be seen when you are face to face.

So these are the things that we talked about, and things that we discussed.