The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Girl Scouts build cranes, earn badge all in one day
The weekend’s cold weather couldn’t keep several Girl Scout troops from coming together on Feb. 15 to earn a Junior Crane Design Challenge Badge.
With knowledge of simple and compound machines, the girls worked together to build their own heavy-lifting cranes.
Mary Balog, head of Youth Services at Geauga County Public Library Bainbridge Branch organized the Badge-in-a-Day event and led the members of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America as they learned about different kinds of machines and built and improved their crane designs.
“We try to pick some of the Journeys that they can do in a room setting,” Balog said. “We’ll break them into groups to make their cranes and then test them.”
Each group used a cardboard box, additional cardboard, pencils, tape, string and a cup as materials to build their cranes. Once completed, they were then put to the test to lift coins and keys, adding weight until the crane could no longer function.
Becki Gierman is the executive director of the Geauga County Library Foundation and Girl Scouts troop leader said she often brings her troop out to the library’s Badge-in-a-Day events.
“Sometimes we will add on to the events,” Bierman said. “This would be a good place to get us started and maybe there could be an additional thing to do. This is a great service the library provides.”
Now that the troops have finished the project, they’re able to add the Junior Crane
Design Challenge Badge to their vests.
The program, put on free of charge by the Geauga County Public Library, is part of their Badge-in-a-Day series of events.
“I really enjoy working with the girls, watching them learn and seeing them get excited about getting a new badge,” Balog said.
The Badge-in-a-day classes usually meet capacity and are capped at around 30 children. She said typically there are three Badge-in-a-Day programs per year for each level of Girl Scouts.
“I know our leaders love it because it’s such an easy way to get a badge done and the kids love it too. Everything is contained and provided, we just have to buy the badges,” Gierman said.
Balog said in May the library will hold its first Boy Scouts Badge-in-a-Day program. They will earn their Hiking Badge at Holbrook Hollows in Chagrin Falls. Registration for the event is open on the library’s website.
The next Geauga County Public Library Badge-in-aDay Girl Scouts will be on March 14. Cadettes can register now to earn their Book Artist badge. The program will be held at Centerville Mills Lakeside Building, 8552 Crackel Road, in Chagrin Falls.