The Life of a Crazy Volunteer: August 2012

On the third day the delegates were split between 8 different locations in the Chicago area. Each group learned how to "Take Action" with the knowledge we'd acquired during the first two days at the Girls World Forum. Girl Forward, Brookfield Zoo and Iron Garden were some of the organizations that received a little Girl Scout TLC. For information on the Take Action Day at Chicago Cares, check out my friend Lindsay's Blog!

As for me, I was headed to Journey World! Now, I was SO excited about this day because it is a one of a kind experience. Journey World is made up of two floors - one relates to the It's Your World, Change It! Journey and the other is centered around the It's Your Planet, Love It! Journey. I didn't really see how this related to taking action, but I was fine with it either way.

The Transit Station

Made to look like a Subway Station

City Hall (L) and the Chicago Tribune Office (R)

Our program took place on the It's Your World, Change It! floor of Journey World. Basically you walk inside of an office building and when you get off the elevator you are in a mock town. There's City Hall, a newspaper office, production studio, police station, bank, Wellness Center, and about 10 other "businesses" that you would find in a town. Each delegate and chaperone chose a role (without knowing what it was, of course). Then they met up with the other people who would be working at the same business. I was placed as the Accountant at the Chicago Tribune Newspaper which was the second highest paid position behind the Editor of the paper!

Speaking of our Editor, there she (Julia) is on the right, and on the left is the Newspaper staff during their first staff meeting!

We were about an hour late so we didn't get the full experience, but here's what happens when a troop or group comes to Journey World: After getting a job assignment everyone goes back to their business where they find a list of what they need to do. As the Accountant I was in charge of receiving checks from other businesses, paying our bills at the newspaper, and entering all of the transactions in the accounting journal. At the paper some people we assigned to write stories, others took pictures, and one girl was in charge of selling ads for the paper.

Inside the News Room

My desk at the Chicago Tribune

Some of the businesses (Wellness Center and International Shop to name two) had a person whose job was to makes crafts. During each of our two breaks every employee of the town received a paycheck which could be spent in the shops (including the snack shop where we could buy drinks, popcorn or candy). In order to cash our paychecks we had to fill out a deposit ticket and bring our check to the bank. We had a bank card that had our money on it and to buy things we had to write checks to the shops. Now, if you're over the age of 18 this may not sound like a big deal, but believe me learning how to fill out checks and deposit tickets was a whole new world for the girl delegates! I can only imagine how cool it must be for younger scouts and school groups who come to Journey World.

I have a secret confession - I'm one of only two people from our group who were able to see the It's Your Planet, Love It! floor :) Kim, the chaperone from GSCSNJ, works at Council and was interested in finding out about taking a bus trip there. I happened to be talking to her when the manager of Journey World came by to show her the other floor and she told me to come down with her!! The other floor has a different environment in each room - desert, jungle, ocean, prairie, etc. They also have areas to learn about global warming, climate change, and recycling. I hope that one day I can come back and experience the other program they offer.

After our exciting days around town we had a few hours to prepare for International Night. For those of you in the USA, International Night is basically a giant version of World Thinking Day, but with actual people from the countries that are being represented! The delegates from each Council and Member Organization set up tables with SWAPS, brochures on their area, local food and drink, computer slideshows, flags, and other items that represented their cultures.

Being from NJ we didn't have a particularly exciting display, but I did bring my Brownie vest, info from our communities, salt water taffy, and Girl Scout cookies (if you went to 2011 YWWF you know that's what I'm famous for : ) Of course, the real fun is in seing all of the costumes from the other coutries, trying new foods, and watching all of the wonderful dances/songs/poems that the delegates chose to share.

Anaa from Mexico. She was a 2011 delegate at Our Chalet with me!

Nothing like a room full of different cultures all doing The Chicken Dance!

My wonderful roommate/2010 YWWF delegate/fellow Jersey girl, Jen :)

My new friends from Bangladesh

Seriously, The Chicken Dance unites us all

Janelle, Me, and Jen getting ready to take a silly Facilitator picture

in front of the "national tree of Africa" (it's a long story unless you saw

the Deforestation presentation at the Zoo!)

I stayed up as long as I possibly could and then Jen and I decided we just needed to veg out in our room. I think we may have also ordered some deepdish Chicago pizza - what a way to end a truly wonderful day :)

Day two of the GWF was focused on MDG7 (Environmental Sustainability) and we spent the day out and about at the Brookfield Zoo. The zoo is committed to manyenvironmentally friendly projects and the girls learned a lot about the Earth's resources and the jeopardy that they are in.

We started the day with introductions...and dolphins!

We didn't see any reular ol' dolphin show either. We were treated to something most zoo guests don't get to see - dolphin training! The trainers showed us the husbandry exercises they do with the animals - training them to lie still for a vet, present their fins for a blood draw, etc. For someone who has been fascinated by dolphins their whole life it was definitely a great way to start the day (especially a day that began at 6am!!).

After we finished with the dolphins, the girls and chaperones split into three different (large) groups and rotated through the 3 presentations of the day. The first session for my group was on climate change. The girls viewed a powerpoint presentation about the melting of the polar ice cars, the destruction of the ozone layer, and basically how we are ruining our planet!! The second session was on water, and how it is not an endless resource like people seem to think it is. The girls did an activity where they had to divide up a 5 gallon bucket of water until they found the amount representative of all the drinkable water available on Earth. Needless to say the girls, and some adults, were shocked to find out only a few drops from that huge bucket would equal the drinkable water...something to think about next time to leave the water running while brushing your teeth!

After some free time and lunch we were off to our third and final session where we learned about deforestation. During this session we mostly learned about the push toward using sustainable palm oil. Palm oil is an ingredient in many items we use each day, but unfortunately most companies don't want to spend the money to use sustainable means of harvesting the oil. As a result forests are being cut down and many animals are losing their homes - especially the orangutans. The Forest Stewardship Council is committed to educating people and companies about the dangers of non-sustainable palm oil. I'm proud to say that after seeing this presentation, McKenna was so moved that she decided to make this her forcus for her Take Action project! She is currently (I hope) working on contacting companies explaining to them the benefits of switching to sustainable palm oil. McKenna will also be creating a presentation which can be shown to companies or to fellow scouts so that they can be educated on the crisis.

Then the girls had some free time at the zoo with their chaperones...