Cruise: Top 5 Lists

By: Jaelyn W. & Kara S.

LGG staffers, Jaelyn W. and Kara S. each went on separate cruises in 2013. Here are their top 5 lists on the best parts of their adventures on the high seas.

Jaelyn W:

I went on the Carnival Fascination Cruise Line and the 5 top things were:

1. Club 02 (Teen Club)

2. Food

3. Hanging With My Friends

4. Sleep

5. Running Around The Ship 

Kara S. 

I sailed on the Disney Fantasy in the fall. Here's my top 5 list. Enjoy!

5) The AquaDuck: This is a huge waterslide two stories above the pool deck. At one point, the slide takes you over the edge of the boat! You can go completely airborne in a few places!

4) The shows: Every night after dinner, we went to the Walt Disney Theater for a live show. Every night the show was different. The shows included Aladdin, Believe, Welcome to the Boat, Farewell, and Mickey's Pirates of the Caribbean. 

My personal favorite was called Wishes. It was about three best friends who were graduating from high school and a wish at Disney World. They then meet different characters that help them make their wishes come true before they had to leave each other to go to college.

3) Vibe: Vibe is the teen hangout at the very front of the boat. No adults or little kids were allowed. At the Vibe, they had a Wii, movie room, smoothie bar, ping-pong tables, and our own pool and hot tub!

2) Castaway Cay: Castaway Cay is Disney's private island in the Bahamas. I especially loved the Teen Hideout, sand volleyball courts, and comfy hammocks:)

1) The food! At each meal, you could try so many new foods and order as many desserts as you want. During the day if you are hungry, you could go up to the pool deck and get any of the wide variety of free foods including ice cream

My Girl Scout Silver Award Experience: Part Two

By Sabrina Y.

            It has been almost a year since I first started my ambitious Silver Award project, and I have accomplished so much!  Last time I wrote about my Silver Award Project, I had collected $500.  Currently, I have earned over $6,000 for my project.  My goal is to raise $13,000 for the Women in Service portion of the Johns Creek Veterans Memorial Walk at Newtown Park, which is scheduled to open on Veterans Day, 2014.  Throughout the year, I have participated in many events to raise awareness about the memorial walk including the Newtown Park farmers markets, festivals, and movie in the park nights.  During these events, I have spoken to several hundreds of city residents.  Additionally, I created educational coloring books for children about America and our heroes. 

The coloring books are for sale for $5.00 or I can donate them to an elementary school, daycare or foster home on your behalf.  The coloring books are a fun way to get children excited about learning the importance of America's heroes. 

            What a wonderful experience it’s been to spread the word about this project to my community!  However, in order to collect $13,000, I knew it would take more than attending festivals. Therefore, I began soliciting the help of businesses.  I have met with several area businesses, and presented my project to CEOs.  It definitely took courage and confidence to go outside of my comfort zone, in order to present my Silver Award Project.  I could feel my heart palpitating inside of my chest, as I shook hands with these important business people, but I soon relaxed once I started talking about my project and saw how interested they were to listen to me.  It is nice to know that this Silver Award project is helping to bring the Johns Creek community together.

            Next, I would like to share with you some of the major activities that I have participated in since I last wrote about my Girl Silver Award project in the August 2013 issue of the Lime Green Giraffe.  Thanks to members of the community, I received the opportunity to spread the word about my project via several media outlets.  Four different newspapers including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed me.  In addition to this, I have been on a radio talk show called the Difference Makers radio on Business Radio X.  Although the publicity has been exciting, I thought that I shouldn’t be the one being recognized.  Instead, the valiant veterans should be in the spotlight, so I have started interviewing veterans. Every veteran has a story, so why not listen and learn?

 I got the opportunity to have an interview with the accomplished Rear Admiral Martha Herb, and I wrote an article about her for Lime Green Giraffe, so if your interested in reading about her, please click here!  Not long after I started conducting interviews, I received a $2,000 check from Jackson Health Care.  Thanks to Mr. Chad Jackson's benevolence, I was closer to accomplishing my overall goal. 

On November 9th, I participated in the ground-breaking ceremony for the Johns Creek Veterans Memorial walk.  In addition to informing more citizens of Johns Creek about my project at this special event, I was part of a small group of officials, including the mayor of Johns Creek, invited to be honorary “ground-diggers.”  What an honor!

            Although I have accomplished much in this past year, I am only half way to my goal.  I am in need of your help!  Here’s how you can get involved:

• Spread the word; tell as many people as you can about this great cause, and follow me on twitter @mygsproject.
• Sign-up; on my blog, mygirlscoutproject.com, to receive periodic updates on the project, and I promise no spam.
• Businesses; if you are or know of a business that would like to help me reach my goal, please contact me at sabrina@mygirlscoutproject.com.
• Buy a coloring book; I have a pay pal account on my blog, or you can send a check.  Visit my website for details.

On my blog site There you will find links to my videos, radio interview, pictures of the many events I have attended, and more.  I hope that this project can help inspire many Girl Scouts to get involved in the community, and help them dream big!  Remember, girls are never too young to make a positive impact in their community. Thank you very much for all of your help and support!

Girl Scout Day at the Braves

By: Liz W.

2013 LGG Webmaster

Once a year, the Atlanta Braves host the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta in a Girl Scout day at the ballpark. This home game is filled with all things Girl Scouts; Girl Scouts and their families get reduced admissions as well as plenty of other perks, including parading around the field before the game. One Girl Scout is chosen to throw the first pitch, and another is selected to sing the national anthem. These opportunities don’t come by every day!

Each year Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta holds a contest for the chance to run out onto the field at the start of the game, meet a player, and receive an autographed baseball. Contest entry is simple: Write a sentence on what you would tell an Atlanta Braves player about Girl Scouting. Last September I entered on a whim, not expecting anything to come of it. I’m so glad I did, because I was selected as one of the nine winners.

On the day of the event, I met the other eight girls who would run onto the field with me. They were all younger than me, but just as excited; a couple of the girls were even coming back in their second year as a contest winner. After gathering as a unified group of excited Girl Scouts, we were led backstage, where we saw Braves players and coaches being shuttled around in golf carts, preparing for the game. Gates opened, and we lined up against the Braves dugout. Braves player Kris Medlen said hello and gave everyone bubble gum. A cameraman came up and filmed us for the jumbo screen. On his signal, we raced out to our assigned positions to await our player. I stood in left field, and when Justin Upton came out, I smiled as he autographed my baseball and shook my hand.

The rest of the game went well—Braves won!—although it wasn’t nearly as exciting as my on field experience. When next year’s Girl Scout Day at the Braves rolls around, I’ll be quick to enter the contest, and you should too. Just think: Next year, it could be you standing on the field and shaking a Braves player’s hand.