Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Girl Scouts celebrate World Thinking Day
More than 200 Girl Scouts, leaders and parents from the Brandywine Valley Service Unit gathered to commemorate International World Thinking Day on Wednesday. During World Thinking Day, local Girl Scouts participated in activities with global themes that celebrate the Sisterhood of Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts,ages 5 to 16, from the Unionville, Chadds Ford, Pocopson, Landenburg, and Kennett Square areas traveled to 16 countries within the confines of the Unionville High School cafeteria. Each country came prepared to offer a souvenir or craft and a snack so that the visiting Girl Scouts could learn about new and exotic lands.
Each girl had their passports stamped at each country as they journeyed around the world. The girls were assigned the duty to complete questionnaires about each country. Those who answered all the questions correctly earned a prize. The festivities began with well-executed dances from Italy and the Philippines, as well as, a creative and educational skit about the first expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal. The adventure then brought the girls to the Philippines to enjoy lumpia, Oktoberfest in Germany for soft pretzels, Japan for the best themed “sushi” rice crispy treats, France for delicious eclairs, India for fresh mango, Australia for Fairy Bread, Greece for Fresh Olives. Mexico for chips and salsa, Ne-
pal for trail mix and Canada for doughnut holes.
New this year was a station that highlighted the plight of refugees. Bookmarks were distributed that had the definition of a refugee: a person forced to leave their country because
of war, persecution or natural disaster. Information on how to help refugees was provided on the back of the bookmark. As an added activity, the girls wrote thank you notes to the men and women of the Armed Forces overseas. These notes will accompany the 5,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that this local service unit will send to their neighborhood heroes.
This local event has been an annual event for 17 years, when is was developed as part of a Gold Award Project by Lesley Anne Bernasconi, a 2001 graduate of Unionville High School. The Brandywine Valley Girl Scout Service Unit has 600 members and serves the Kennett Consolidated and Unionville-Chadds Ford school districts.