The Golden Link - November/December 2003 Volume 29 Issue 10 

Girl Scouts help prepare Toyota Center for opening
by Nicole McInnes

More than 100 Girl Scouts helped "flush" away any problems the Toyota Center may have had before the opening of the new Downtown Houston arena. Girls of all ages donned hard hats and work boots before flushing all 500 toilets of the Toyota Center, the new home for the Houston Comets, Rockets and Aeros. The group met at the Four Seasons Hotel for lunch and were welcomed by the Rockets and Comets staff before receiving the Flush Off event shirts, goggles, and hard hats. "I never thought flushing toilets would be so tiring," expressed one little Brownie who then fell to the floor exhausted.

 

Several Girl Scout events will be held at the Toyota Center including Girl Scout Night with the Houston Rockets in November, an overnight event this spring, and Girl Scout Night with the Houston Comets this summer.


Helping girls earn charms with STUDIO 2B Focus Books

STUDIO 2B Focus is an activity and award series that girls can do individually or in groups.

The books in the STUDIO 2B Focus series provide girls with the opportunity to tailor their own experiences based on their individual needs, interests, and skill levels.

In partnership with their adult advisors, girls decide what they hope to accomplish with each Focus book they chose and then set goals for themselves. They earn the charm when they have met their own goals.

There is no required number of activities girls must do or goals girls must set in each book. The point is that advisors help girls follow where their interests lead them and set goals that reflect those interests.

1. Girls begin by selecting a topic in the STUDIO 2B Focus series that interests them. Girls in groups do not need to choose the same book. They can work individually, in pairs, or as a group.

2. Girls review the table of contents and flip through the book to discover its activities. Girls talk to their adult advisors about what they would like to accomplish.

3. In most of the books, girls use the last page to set goals for what they hope to learn through the activities in the

book. The books are flexible and adaptable so that each girl can create her own set of goals, depending upon her prior knowledge and skill level in that topic. For example, a girl who has never followed a running program would have very different goals for On Track than the girl who has run marathons - but both could enjoy the book's skill-based activities.

4. Girls discuss the completion of the goals with their advisor (and other girls in their group if they want.) In discussions consider how articles from the Web site www.studio2b.org or the Collections series might relate and enhance the discussion.

5. Girls get their charms after they have completed their goals and discussed them with their advisors. Girls can collect their charms wherever they want to-on a bracelet, on the charm holder, on a key chain, or in their rooms.