Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta announces plans to invest
in its outdoor programs
Starting in 2018, Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta will begin
making significant improvements to the outdoor facilities and programs it
offers Girl Scouts and other youth in the Greater Atlanta region. Enhancements
include expanded programs and facilities for sports and equestrian activities,
hiring of additional full-time camp staff to support year-round outdoor
programming, and new leadership training and badge program opportunities for
girls at camp.
Dear Girl Scouts,
I want to share
some exciting updates on our outdoor programs.
Over the past year, a volunteer-led task force has been working with
staff, consultants, Girl Scout members and the community-at-large to understand
the trends and best practices for day and overnight camps. We want to ensure
that Girl Scouts offers exciting, relevant programs that are financially
sustainable and use resources wisely.
As we shared at last year’s Annual Meeting, we discovered that our current
camps are too small to build a dynamic sense of community or be economically
sustainable. We also learned that some
facilities and programs are outdated, and no longer meet the desires of campers
and families. This has resulted in declining
registration and retention at a time when the summer camp industry overall is
growing.
The camp task force made several
recommendations to address the challenges identified with our outdoor programs.
These recommendations were approved by the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta Board
of Directors in late 2017. These include:
·
Significant expansion
of Camp Misty Mountain and Camp Timber Ridge, allowing more Girl Scouts to
experience summer camp and increasing capacity for Service Unit camporees.
·
Maintain camp
operations at Camp Meriwether, which will continue to offer summer camp as well
as camporees, events like Fairy Magic, and other year-round programs.
·
Transferring our
lease of Camp Pine Acres to Bartow County, which, in the future, will make the
camp available to Girl Scout groups for troop camping and other recreational
purposes.
·
Discontinue using
Camp Pine Valley as we evaluate future options.
Several new program enhancements have
already been added to this year’s camp season:
·
Extended
bus service for all three summer camps! This includes limited
overnight sessions at Camp Misty Mountain and Meriwether and expanded daily
services for day camp at Camp Timber Ridge.
For more information on dates, cost and routes see the Camp Guide.
·
Three
new full-time Assistant Camp Directors recruited to provide Misty Mountain,
Meriwether and Timber Ridge with more program opportunities and better customer
service;
·
Three
new full-time program coordinators at Misty Mountain, Meriwether and Timber
Ridge to provide support, programming and customer service to troops, service
units and campers using our facilities outside of the summer season;
·
More
STEM programs! Meriwether will have a new STEM camp session focused on
environmental science and STEM badge work, and Timber Ridge will focus on the
Girl Scout badge curriculum in engineering and computer science;
·
Our
renowned equestrian program at Misty Mountain has planned new, unique programs like
wrangler training and overnight trail rides to excite your budding horse
enthusiasts;
·
Upgraded
Counselor-in-Training (CIT) Leadership Program designed to train 9th
to 12th graders to become camp counselors and build their leadership
skills.
Our continued investments in outdoor
programming underscore our commitment to camping as an essential component of
the Girl Scout Movement.
Continue to check this blog for additional
updates including:
·
Spring
Camp Town Halls
Ø Sunday, March 4 at Newnan Carnegie
Library, 6-8 p.m.
Ø Monday, March 5 at Girl Scouts
Mableton Service Center, 6-8 p.m.
·
Council
Annual Meeting in May 3, 2018
We will continue to provide relevant,
responsive programs that meet the needs of our Go-Getters, Innovators,
Risk-Takers and Leaders. For full details, visit GirlScoutSummer.com
for more detailed information on summer camp opportunities for 2018. Thank you
for all you do!
Yours in Girl Scouting,
Amy Dosik
