Activism Blog #2

**This was written the week of 11/13. Forgot to post it!**

     1.  Activism:

This week, we planned and attended our Safe House bag making event. Not all of us could make it, so it was only Nichole, Candace and I. We met at the troop leader's house for the weekly girl scout meeting. When we got there, the girls had already gathered and brought some hygiene products for our bags, which proved to be very helpful. We started by introducing ourselves and doing two ice-breakers with the girls: two truths and a lie, and high-low. These ice-breakers were a fun way of getting to know one another and becoming more comfortable with the group. We began by decorating about 60 paper bags with the girls. The girls wrote nice messages on the bags and drew pretty and uplifting pictures. Some of the girls took the initiative to organize all of the products we brought, in order to make it easier to sort through. Next, we formed a double assembly line, each girl placing a different product into each bag. When we finished, we had assembled over 60 bags! Our greatest success was the number of bags we were able to assemble, and how much fun the girls seemed to have. Our pitfall for this week was that not all of our group was able to attend.

2. Reflection:

This week's activism relates to the material we have discussed in class, as we helped the girls complete service within their community while still having fun and being safe. This week's activity influenced the way I view girl's leadership, as I realized that the girls truly want to be involved when they have control, when they understand what they are doing and why they are doing it, and when they have fun. As Shauna Pomerantz argues in “Between a Rock and a Hard Place,” girls “are generally framed as lacking control, power, and brains” (150). When we shared power and control over the project with the girls and showed that we value their thoughts and opinions, they opened up to us and had a great time. I believe that it is the mission of the Girl Scouts to show girls that being leaders and being active in the community can be both enriching and fun. As Pomerantz explains, “rather than generating more and more ways for girls to 'be' in our society, this proliferation of discourse has limited possibilities for girls, trapping them within polar states that regulate what they can say and do” (149). The Girl Scouts program attempts to combat this limitation of girls by providing them with a structure and space for deciding what they think being a girl involves, and how to do so.

3. Reciprocity:

What I gained most from this week's activities was the experience of relating to adolescent girls both one-on-one and in a group setting. While I desperately want to have children of my own some day, I have always felt slightly awkward around children and adolescents. However, this week I really learned that if I just open up and have fun, it is easy and enjoyable to relate to girls in an authentic and meaningful way.

Word Count: 520.

Works Cited

Pomerantz, Shauna. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Un/Defining the 'Girl.' 

     Jeunesse: Youth People, Texts, Cultures. 1.2 (2009). Print.

Activism Blog #1

1. Activism:

This week, our service learning group visited with the SafeHouse of Seminole in order to help the Girl Scout troop with taking part in community service. We met with the Troop Leader and some of the Girl Scouts on Saturday at SafeHouse. There were five of us, but only two girl scouts. I would consider this our only pitfall, as we were hoping that all of the girls would show up.

Our first activity was to make Halloween bags for the children of SafeHouse. We stuffed over thirty bags with candy, small toys and pencils for each one of the children. This activity was a fun way to give a little to SafeHouse by ensuring that all of the children had a fun and happy Halloween. Secondly, we played with the children and helped them to make tie-dyed t-shirts. This was a great activity, as we were able to interact with the children and everyone had a lot of fun. We made shirts for all of the children who were present, as well as all the children who were not able to be there. Next week we need to solidify all of our plans for Sunday’s Girl Scouts meeting.

2. Reflection:

The activity we completed for this week relates very well to Girls Leadership. Through the tie-dying activity, we were able to provide the Girl Scouts with an opportunity to use their leadership. The girls were able to interact with the children and to help them with their t-shirts. They were just as much in charge of this part of the event as we were, so we truly practiced power-sharing and realistic, authentic leadership experiences. We were able to follow Lyn Mikel Brown's example of listening “to what girls tell us they need and then to provide the opportunities, resources and the scaffolding for their creative, meaningful work” (8). This week changed how I view Girls Leadership, as I saw the girls truly enjoy what they were doing and express their desires to lead by helping the children and teaching them what to do. The girls exhibited aspects of transformational leadership, as they displayed a need to “share ideas, energy, and creativity,” rather than wishing to perform leadership “tasks” such as delegating or taking charge (Van Linden 17).

3. Reciprocity

I feel that I am getting a great deal from this service learning experience. Not only am I learning even more about Girls Leadership, but also about how to help my community. Working at SafeHouse was very gratifying, as I learned about working with children and had a lot of fun. Working with the Girl Scouts is helping me to better understand how to foster leadership development without taking an intervention approach, and how to apply the theories I have learned into practice with real girls.

Works Cited

Brown, Lyn Mikel. “The 'Girls' in Girls' Studies.” Girlhood Studies 1.1 (2008): 1-12.

     Print.

Van Linden, Josephine, and Carl Fertman. Youth Leadership: A Guide to

     Understanding Leadership Development in Adolescents. San Francisco: Jossey-

     Bass,1998. Print.