Monday November 15, Troop Ceremony

Monday November 15: Troop 1563's Investiture/Rededication Ceremony
 This event will run longer than an hour. It will not be at the Community Center- it will be in one of the meeting rooms at the Ruiz Branch of the Austin Public Library.  1600 Grove Boulevard (512) 974-7500 (Take 71 past the airport. Turn right at Riverside, right at Grove. Library will be on left.) This year we only have one side of the room, so please be sure it's us before you swing the door open...

I will arrive around 6 to set up. Girls are needed about that time to help set-up and for a quick rundown on what to do during the ceremony.
Guests (family and friends) can show around 6:20.
Investiture Ceremony begins at 6:30, followed by a pot-luck reception.
Room must be clean and empty by 8pm.

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What is an Investiture Ceremony? It is the ceremony used to officially welcome a new girl or adult into Girl Scouting.
What is a Rededication Ceremony? This is the ceremony done by returning members to reaffirm their commitment to Girl Scouts.

In our Troop, some of the girls have been in Scouts before, for others it is a new experience. At Troop 1563's Investiture Ceremony, we will Rededicate our returning Scouts, and Invest our new Scouts. Additionally, we will have a Court of Awards (where girls receive patches and other recognitions.) All Scouts in attendance will receive an Investiture or Rededication patch.

The Girls will recite the Girl Scout Promise (from memory), commit to investing themselves to the Troop, and be officially "vested" with their uniforms.

It is very important for all members of our Troop to attend. Family and friends are also invited to support our Girls in their commitment to themselves, their Troop, and the Girl Scouting Movement.

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What to bring:

• Uniform (all insignia properly attached.) Please write your daughter's name on the tag. Give the vests to me upon arrival. I will use them in the ceremony. You do not need to bring your Girl Scout Books.
• Food/Beverage for the reception. I am expecting about 35 people (11 Scouts + their guests.) You can bring a snack or a more substantial "dinner" item. The following items have been committed: green salad + dressing, "something crunchy," veggie tray, chicken and broccoli braided sandwich, mini PB&Js, deviled eggs, brownies, oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, root beer, lemonade, sprite, soda.
• Disposable plates, napkins, cutlery,etc. Please let me know if you are willing to donate these items. Otherwise, the Troop will provide them. The following items have been committed: cups, napkins, paper towels, plates, silverware.
• Girls should dress nicely- either their official GS uniform, or their "Sunday Best."
• Bring your camera! Pictures can be shared on our Troop Snapfish page, and through Council's Out and About feature.

If you have any questions, please contact Mandy. 512-850-3044
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Friday May 21, 6-7:30pm Bridging Ceremony

This event has passed.

Attendance:

Amri
Atalli
Mikayla
Ariana
Emonee
Brigid

Notes: 
Great job coming together to support area Girl Scouts! Thanks, parents, for bringing items for the reception. I'll be putting up our pictures soon, but there is something wrong with our Snapfish account. They might not be visible until their service department corrects the issue.

Next year, when our girls bridge to Juniors, we'll try to find someplace with an air-conditioned venue. 

Upcoming Events: 
We are postponing the field trip we had tentatively set for Sat 5/29. I hadn't realized that's Memorial Day Weekend and lots of people are going out of town. We will continue with our Monday night meetings- next field trip will be our Community Service Outing to Night of the Bat, Sun June 6. I need to know how many parents and kids plan on attending- Bat Conservation International will try to get us all t-shirts.

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Original Post:

The local Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony is Friday May 21, 5:45-7:30pm 
Ceremony begins at 6.
Richard Moya Park
10001 Burleson Rd.

The Scout year ends in May, marked by Bridging Ceremonies. When we leave this ceremony, our troop will be 3rd grade Brownies.

It is strongly suggested that our entire troop attend. There will be other troops moving to the next level of Scouts and our troop will help out with this significant moment in their Girl Scout experience.

After the Daisies cross the bridge to our waiting group of Brownies, our Troop will say
"Welcome, Sisters!"
Then Ariana will step forward and say
"We would like to sing you a song."
Then Troop 1563 will sing the Brownie Smile Song.
When the 3rd grade Brownies (not us) cross the bridge to become Juniors, we sill say
"Farewell Sisters!"

It is likely that all the Scouts in attendance will sing "Make New Friends" and recite the Girl Scout Promise. We'll see what the other troop leaders want to do.

What to bring:
If you would like, you could copy the words to the Brownie Smile song onto an index card and bring it with you.
After all the attending troops have bridged, there will be a reception. Our troop needs to supply a total of 60 individual-size bags of chips and 2 cases of bottled water. PLEASE tell me what you plan to bring by clicking the link that says "# comments" under this post, it's next to the thing that says "posted by Supermandy."
Emonee: 22 bags of chips 
Brigid: one case of bottled water 
Ariana: one case bottled water
Mikayla: chips
Amri: 12 bags of chips

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We will also use this ceremony to hold our next Court of Awards (complete with cookie prizes and membership stars*.) Many of our girls have near-complete Try Its. All Activities need to be complete with sheets turned in no later than Wednesday 5/19 for her to receive patches this month. Please call me if we need to make any arrangements.

What to wear:
The Brownies in our troop need to wear their vests and brown bottoms (shorts, skirt, etc.) If you need to buy brown bottoms, I suggest shorts, as you will need them again for our Overnighter at the Dell Diamond. Target has a good selection of brown summer bottoms right now- including cotton shorts and skorts for $6. If the girls have other Official Brownie Uniform pieces (hats, ties, shirts, etc.) this would be a fine time to wear them.
Alexis is "flying up" to Juniors. She will be vested into her Junior uniform and receive her Brownie wings. She should arrive at the ceremony wearing her Brownie vest, and khaki bottoms. During our part of the ceremony, Alexis will read what she has prepared for her Fly Up.


*Each star stands for one previous year of Scout membership, which is why stars are given at the end of the year. There are colored disks worn with the stars to indicate which levels the girls have been in. The membership stars are one of the few pieces that move from uniform to uniform as the girls progress.

Amri and Madison should each have one star with a blue disk, symbolizing their 1st grade Daisy year. This will be the first star (green Brownie disk) for everyone else.

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Monday March 29, Investiture Ceremony

This event has passed.
Notes from today's meeting:

Attendance:

Emonee (Texas Flag Bearer)  
Amri
Ariana
Brigid (American Flag Bearer)
Mikayla (Color Guard Caller)
Madison
Atalli (Girl Scout Flag Bearer)
Troop Leader Mandy
Assistant Troop Leader Gloriana
and about 23 guests

Notes:

Thanks to everyone for bringing supplies (food, plates, tablecloths, etc.) and helping set-up/break-down tonight. It was nice to see so many faces out to support our Girls. We started the evening with a flag ceremony, followed by candle lighting for the Girl Scout Law, then did the Investiture Ceremony. Next we did our Court of Awards. Recognitions earned, but not yet received, are the Add-a-Friend patch (for Amri, Emonee, Ariana) and the My First Cookie Sale and Cookie Booth Patches (both for Brigid.) I will look into these this week. We finished the night with a pot-luck reception where girls and parents got to know each other a little better. The Preferred Method of Contact sheet was filled out.

Assignments for the week:

• Any pictures from today (or from the trip to Zilker Gardens) can be shared in the Troop Gallery by e-mailing them to mncarrasco516@hotmail.com
  
• Parents and Girls should look through the Possibilities Catalog (or look at the Events Calendar on-line) for potential Troop activities. Please e-mail me your list of preferences so I can begin planning our Spring Field Trips. Please keep the Troop budget in mind- as well as transportation and supervision requirements- when making your selections. Additionally, let your daughter know we can't do every activity that gets suggested. *Note*  Field Trips do not have to come from these sources. The only requirement is that the trip relates to the Discover/Connect/Take Action List.
• Any girls that identify what kind of birds we saw nesting under the highway where we parked at the Botanic Gardens on Sunday will receive a surprise at our 4/5 meeting. Write down everything you remember about the birds, and use whatever resources you have at your disposal. 

Note about coming Meetings:

Our next meeting is Monday 4/5, at the church. We will discuss our Earth Day Event: attending the Earth Day Festival at McKinney Roughs Nature Park: Saturday April 17 (time to be determined later.) All children that complete the park's Passport to Nature challenge will receive a patch. This event is open to Tag-a-Longs.

Earth Day is Thursday April 22- which also happens to be Girl Scout Leader's Day (but we do not meet on Thursdays.) We will, however, be having a Volunteers' Thank You Party at our Monday 4/19 meeting, in honor of Leader's Day.

Leader's Day Links

GS Central
Holiday Insights



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Original post:

updated 3/29

Monday March 29: Troop 1563's Investiture Ceremony
This event will run longer than an hour. It will not be at the church, it will be in the meeting room at the Ruiz Branch of the Austin Public Library.  1600 Grove Boulevard (512) 974-7500 (Take 71 past the airport. Turn right at Riverside, right at Grove. Library will be on left.)

Girls should arrive at 6pm to help set up.
Guests (family and friends) can show around 6:20.
Investiture Ceremony begins at 6:30, followed by a reception.
Room must be clean and empty by 8pm.


What is an Investiture Ceremony? It is the ceremony used to officially welcome a new girl or adult into Girl Scouting.
What is a Rededication Ceremony? This is the ceremony done by returning members to reaffirm their commitment to Girl Scouts.

We are a brand new troop. Some of the girls have been in Scouts before, for others it is a new experience. At Troop 1563's Investiture Ceremony, we will Rededicate our returning Scouts, and Invest our new Scouts. Additionally, we will have our first Court of Awards- at which the girls will receive any Try-Its, patches, and other recognitions earned thus far. All Scouts in attendance will receive an Investiture patch. In the future, returning members of our Troop will receive a Rededication patch.

The Girls will recite the Girl Scout Promise (from memory), commit to investing themselves to the Troop, and be officially "vested" with their uniforms.

It is very important for all members of our Troop to attend. Family and friends are also invited to support our Girls in their commitment to themselves, their Troop, and the Girl Scouting Movement.

What to bring:

• Uniform (all insignia properly attached.) Please write your daughter's name on the tag. Give the vests to me upon arrival. I will use them in the ceremony. You do not need to bring your Girl Scout Books.
• Food/Beverage for the reception. I am expecting about 30 people (10 Scouts + their guests.) You can bring a snack or a more substantial "dinner" item. Fruit tray, veggie tray, chips, pigs in blankets, chicken nuggets, pb sandwiches, tea, water, lemonade, juice boxes, cookies, and brownies have been committed.
• Disposable plates, napkins, cups,cutlery,etc. Please let me know if you are willing to donate these items. Otherwise, the Troop will provide them. Plates, cups, napkins, and utensils have been committed.
• Girls should dress nicely- either their official GS uniform, or their "Sunday Best."
• Bring your camera! Any pictures you would like to share in the Troop Photo Gallery can be emailed to mncarrasco516@hotmail.com. Additionally, you can submit photos to our GS Council for use on their website, or in future publications.

If you have any questions, please contact Mandy. 512-850-3044
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Meeting Monday March 22, 6-7pm

This event has passed.
Notes from today's meeting:

Attendance:

Emonee
Amri
Ariana
Brigid
Mikayla
Madison
Atalli
Alexis

Additional Notes:

Tonight we welcomed a new member to our Troop: Alexis! Thank you to Ariana and her mom for providing snack this week. Please bring boxed snacks to the meetings so we can start a Troop Pantry. Girls made invitations to their Investiture Ceremony. Girls played "Pin the Patch" and "Steal the Baby." Girls voted on our up-coming camping destination: Brenham, TX. Details (including sleeping accommodations and Blue Bell Creamery tour) will soon be worked out. We did not work on any Try It Activities today. Starting in April we will begin this proposed routine: Complete at least one Try It Activity per meeting (resulting in a Try It earned each month,) at least one field trip per month, and at least 3 Community Service Projects per school year.

Assignments for the week:

• Try to memorize the Girl Scout Promise. We will be reciting it at the Investiture Ceremony next week.
• Girls without uniforms or handbooks, click here.
• Please look through the Possibilities catalog or on the GSCTX Events Calendar for field trip ideas. Please do not register for events without letting the Troop know. If enough girls want to attend, the troop can pay for the event. Otherwise, we can pay individually, but still go to the event together. 
• Try It On My Own Worksheets from activities on the Girl Scout week handout must be received by Wednesday March 24 in order for me to get the patches in time for our first Court of Awards (to be held during out Investiture Ceremony.)

Note about our next Meeting:

The March 29 meeting will be at the Ruiz Branch of the Austin Public Library. See the Investiture Ceremony link above for more details. ___________________________________________________________________________
Original Post:
Notes for This Meeting:
Try-It On My Own Worksheets are due by 3/22 in order for me to get the patches in time for our first Court of Awards (3/29.) I will hold onto Worksheets received after 3/22 until our next Court of Awards.

Thank you to Ariana and her mom for providing this week's snack.
Everyone please start bringing in a package of snacks and a box of drinks for the troop supply so that we don't have to scramble each week to get snack time covered. Thank you!

We will play Pin the Patch - we ran out of time at our last meeting.
We will be making invitations to our Troop Investiture Ceremony (see note below.)
Girls will give reports on the activities done in honor of Girl Scout Week. For Try-Its worked on away from meetings, please complete a Try-It On My Own Worksheet.  Please let me know ASAP if the patch has been earned so that I can get it before our first Court of Awards, held on 3/29.

Note for Next Meeting:
Monday March 29 is our troop's Investiture Ceremony. This is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour event. 6pm set  up, 6:30 Ceremony begins, followed by snack reception. Room must be clean and empty by 8pm. It will not be at the church- it will be at the Ruiz branch of the Austin Public Library. (Take 71 past the airport. Turn Right at Riverside, Right at Grove. Library will be on the left.)

Ruiz Branch Library
1600 Grove Boulevard
Austin, TX 78741-3402
(512) 974-7500

An Investiture is a ceremony to officially welcome a new girl or adult into Girl Scouting. A Rededication Ceremony will be done each year by all returning members. At that ceremony, everyone reaffirms his or her commitment to Girl Scouting.

We are a brand new troop. Some of the girls have been in Scouts before, for others it is a new experience. At our Investiture Ceremony, we will Rededicate our returning Scouts, Invest our new Scouts, and we will all commit ourselves to the Girl Scout Promise. The girls will promise to invest themselves to the Troop, and be officially "vested" with their uniforms. 

Additionally, we will have our first Court of Awards, at which the girls will receive any Try-Its, patches, or other recognitions earned thus far. All girl members attending the Troop 1563 2010 Investiture Ceremony will receive an Investiture patch. In the future,  girls being Rededicated will receive a Rededication patch.

 It is very important for all of our Girls to attend. Family is invited to support Girls in their commitment to themselves, to their Troop, and to the Girl Scouting Movement. 

What to bring:

• Uniform (see uniform requirements here) with all insignia properly attached. You do not need to bring your books. Please write your daughter's name on the tag. I will hold onto the vests until the ceremony begins.

• Food/beverage for the reception. I expect a minimum of 30 people- 10 Scouts and aprox. 2 guests per Scout. You can bring a snack or a more substantial "dinner" item.

• Disposable plates, napkins, cups, cutlery if you have it. Please let me know if you are willing to donate these items. Otherwise, the Troop can provide them.

• Girls should dress nicely- either in their Official GS uniform , or their "Sunday Best."

• Bring your camera! (Any pictures you would like to share in the Troop Photo Gallery can be e-mailed to me. mncarrasco516@hotmail.com Additionally, Troop photos can be submitted to our GS Council to be used on their website or in future publications.)

If you have any questions, please contact Mandy.
Brownie image via Troop 107 of Long beach, CA 
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