About Us
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FSP Encampment "Up All Knight"
April 25-27, 2008
More than 300 girls attended, from first-grade
Brownies to Seniors. Below is a self-running slideshow
of pictures from E-camp.
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Evergreen Brownie Troop 602
 ...spent
the afternoon at the Watchung Stables learning all about
horses and how they are cared for. They were working for
their Try-it patch.
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Brunner
Brownie Troop 828
 ...proudly
displaying some of their "no-sew" blankets which they
are donating to Project Linus.
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 SBA
Brownie Troop 152 Creates Coupon Books
In January, Saint Bartholomew Academy (SBA) Troop 152
are working on the "All in the Family" try-it patch.
Their families
 sure
will be surprised with these wonderful coupon books that
offer many helpful deeds.
 SBA
is located on a 6.5 acres campus off Westfield Road in
Scotch
Plains and provides a high-quality academic education in
a value-forming environment for students from Pre-K to
eighth grade. To get information on enrollment for the
2008-2009 school year, please visit SBA's web-site at
www.stbacademy.org. Members of Troop 152 are first and
second grade students at SBA.
 At
a mid-January meeting Saint Bartholomew Academy (SBA)
Brownie Troop 152 encouraged mother nature to sent some
snow to New Jersey through
their artwork.
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FSP GS Troop 256 Accepts Proclamation for Girl Scout Week
from Mayor
Last night (March 11, 2008) Fanwood/Scotch Plains Girl Scout
Junior Troop 256 accepted a Proclamation that marked March 9 to
March 15 as Girl Scout Week from Scotch Plains Mayor, Martin Marks
at a Town Hall Meeting. During Girl Scout Week, the organization
renews its commitment to help every girl have the opportunity to
grow strong and realize her own potential.
The Fanwood/ Scotch Plains (FSP) Community of Girl Scouts has
more than 900 girl members in 85 Troops from kindergarten to 12th
grade and is served by the volunteer leadership of
more than 150 adult members.
The GS program lets girls take on progressively-advancing leadership
roles while serving the community, their schools and churches, and
younger Girl Scouts. Just within the past year, Fanwood/Scotch
Plains Girl Scouts have:
• fed the homeless in shelters, churches & soup kitchens
• befriended senior citizens at both the Chelsea and SP Senior
Citizen residence
• made teddy bears, quilts, and other items to comfort children in
foster care, hospitals, and other situations
• made dog toys and snacks for animal shelters, while educating
others about responsible pet care
• planted flowers and ferns at local schools and parks
• collected personal items and snacks to donate to our armed forces
in Iraq, along with handwritten notes of support
• and countless other projects to support our local and global
community.
This is small sample of what local Girl Scouts do. This week you'll
will see posters and Girl Scout displays all over the towns of
Fanwood and Scotch Plains celebrating Girl Scouts. FSP Girl Scouts
are also one of the largest contingents to march in the local
Memorial Day Parade. Jr. GS Troop 256 are sixth graders and will be
'flying up' to Cadette status in a town-wide bridging ceremony in
May 2008.
top
 During
a program titled 'Historic Valentines' at the
Miller-Cory House
this weekend, Jean Groszmann of Fanwood (pictured right)
shared her
vast collection of die-cut, lace, scrap and 'vinegar'
Valentine cards
created from 1820 through 1940, with visitors including
some members of Fanwood-Scotch Plains Girl Scout Troop
256 (also pictured holding
Valentines.) Additionally, the program provided a
discussion by Evelyn
Kennelly on the history Valentines and featured samples
of hand cut
cards from the past. Guests were also offered heart
shaped cookies and children had the opportunity to make
a valentine craft to take home. The Miller-Cory House is
located "on the road to the mountains" in Westfield.
Junior
Troop 256 earns Career Badge
 On
Thursday night, February 7, Junior Girl Scouts Troop 256
earned the
Career Badge by participating in an hour and 45 minute
Career Seminar.
In this workshop they explored their talents and
personal gifts and shared what careers interested them.
They learned about how to find a job, what a job
application looks like and why a resume is important.
The girls were each asked a few interview questions and
quickly realized the importance of preparing for an
interview, thinking through their answers on the spot
and the importance of eye contact. The
girls also shared their own time management strategies.
Three mothers
of troop members spoke to the girls about their own
career choices, Mrs. Peach discussed being an Art
Director, Mrs. Fleishmann shared her experience as a
business woman and as a nursery school teacher and Mrs.
DeMarco reviewed her responsibilities while working in
Public Relations and Human Resource Management
assignments.
This weekend, Troop 256 will be heading over to the
Miller-Cory House
"on the road to the Mountains" in Westfield, where
they'll be learning about Valentines through Time while
working towards their Union County Historic Home Patch.
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Junior Girl Scouts of Troop 417 had a busy January!
 They
took part in two different, yet very fun troop events.
The first event was a visit to Commerce Bank in Fanwood
on North Ave on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. Troop Mom,
Jeni DiVirgilio, ran the trip and did all necessary
coordination. The visit was part of the girls' journey
to earn their Money Sense badge. The fourth graders
toured the bank and even got a chance to greet a
customer at the drive-through! The second part of the
meeting was held at Brunner Elementary School where they
discussed topics such as troop budget, household budget,
smart shopping, free fun and money earning projects.
 The
second event was a Mom & Me Event held on Saturday,
January 26, 2008. The girls and their moms went out to
lunch at Ferraro's in Westfield and then spent two hours
making a beaded choker and earrings at Just Bead
Yourself in Westfield. The cost of girl's lunch and the
beading activity was paid from the profits earned from
cookie and nut sales. The event was arranged and
coordinated by Troop Co-leader, Lisa Lesiak. This is
Troop 417's fourth year having an fun outing for the
girls and their moms. Prior years' outings included
group lunches, a play at the Paper Mill Playhouse and a
visit to Color Me Mine in Summit.
In addition, Troop 417 also attended Troop 310's Girls
Scouts Go Green Event on January 8, 2008 at Westminster
Hall, Fanwood Presbyterian Church.
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FANWOOD-SCOTCH PLAINS GIRL
SCOUTS RECOGNIZE AWARD RECIPIENTS
 Girl
Scouts of Fanwood-Scotch Plains gathered May 27 to
celebrate the accomplishments of girls who have earned
the organization’s highest awards. Five girls, Kris
Conlan, Erin Finan, Emily Katz, Barbara Slaugh, and
Christina Woods, each received the Gold Award, the
highest earned recognition in Girl Scouts. Eight other
girls received the Silver Award, the highest award in
Cadette Girl Scouts.
Among those present to recognize the honorees were
Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr, Doug Tanguy from Girl Scouts
of the USA, and Donna Dolce, CEO of the Girl Scouts of
Washington Rock Council. The girls also received
messages of congratulations from the Scotch Plains
Township Council, the Union County Freeholders, and
other dignitaries.
To earn the Gold Award, a Girl Scout must complete
prerequisites in leadership, career exploration, values,
goals, and community service. Finally, each girl plans
and carries out a Gold Award project, a community
service project in an area that she cares deeply about.
The project takes at least 50 hours of her time and
demonstrates her leadership abilities and her commitment
to the community. The five girls who were recognized at
the ceremony each selected a different topic for a final
project.
Kris Conlan of Troop 561 planned her Gold Award project
to help raise awareness of the constant need from
non-profit organizations for volunteers and donations,
especially food. Working with the founder of Fanwood’s
Heart for Humanity organization, Kris helped make Easter
baskets from donated materials and deliver them to the
needy, delivered food from a food drive, and created two
food drives of her own. Kris also created a presentation
on how to run a food drive with tips and organizational
tips to encourage others to organize similar efforts.
Kris is a senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School
and will attend Ramapo College of New Jersey in the
fall.
Erin Finan of Troop 96 has volunteered many hours with
AGAPE, a soup kitchen in Elizabeth, and realized that
there are many more people who are in need of a warm
meal. For her Gold Award project, Erin opened a new soup
kitchen, Loaves and Fishes, at her church, First
Presbyterian in Roselle. This provides a place where
people can enjoy a homemade meal every Tuesday night.
Erin recruited and organized volunteers to staff the
soup kitchen, publicized it, and is still the key
volunteer there every Tuesday evening. Erin is a junior
at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.
Emily Katz of Troop 821 conducted a health fair for
middle school girls. Her “Have Fun, Stay Healthy”
workshop was attended by thirty girls from ages 11-14
who learned from professionals about nutrition and
fitness, and tried out exercise options such as
Jazzercise and yoga. The participants were encouraged to
try new and healthy goods as they made themselves a
salad for lunch. Emily also donated yoga mats and a yoga
DVD to Girl Scout Camp Hoover so more girls can learn
about yoga at camp. Emily is a junior at Scotch
Plains-Fanwood High School.
Barbara Slaugh of Troop 561 created a multi-part Gold
Award project that focused on veterans and patriotism.
Barbara organized and assembled 70 gift bags for a
platoon of soldiers serving in Afghanistan and fringed
fleece blankets for that platoon to donate to Afghani
orphanages to create goodwill. Barbara also decorated 96
denim squares for Operation: Quiet Comfort, which will
use them in denim quilts for wounded veterans. Finally,
she organized an evening program at her church where
three veterans spoke about patriotism and service.
Barbara is a senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School
and plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo,
Utah in the fall.
Christina Woods of Troop 561, an active member of the
First Congregational Church in Westfield, designed a
project to clean-up and refurbish the church’s Library
and Resource Center. Her project included reorganizing
the books, videos and resource materials, repainting the
table, chairs and walls, developing a system to organize
the books, and cataloging them to facilitate future use.
She also designed a program in which members of the
church can donate books to commemorate a special
occasion or person. Christina is a senior at Scotch
Plains-Fanwood High School and will attend Moravian
College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the fall.
In addition, eight girls received the Silver Award, the
highest award in Cadette Girl Scouts, which includes
girls in 6th through 9th grades. Those girls are Theresa
Chrystal, Shannon McGovern, Jessica Moore, Christina
Reiman and Nicole Sultatos from Troop 310; Jillian Leahy
and Ellen Tomljanovic from Troop 621; and Abigail Slaugh
from Troop 851.
The Fanwood-Scotch Plains Girl Scout community serves
more than 900 girl members from kindergarten through
12th grade. It is part of the Girl Scouts of Washington
Rock Council, which will soon join with surrounding
councils to become the Girl Scouts of the Heart of New
Jersey.
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Cadette & Senior Writers Get Real
 An intertroop group of Cadettes and Seniors has recently
completed the “Writing For Real” Interest Project.
Participants included girls from troops 441, 561, 751,
and two Juliettes (girls who participate in GS
activities without belonging to a troop). Among other
things, the girls toured the newsroom at the Star-Ledger
newspaper in Newark and talked to journalists there
about their careers and videotaped an interview with
 Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr.
A photojournalism exhibit arranged by the group on the
topic “People and Their Pets” can be seen on the lower
level of the Scotch Plains Library now through the first
week of March.
Several in this group, joined by some other Cadette-Senior
writers, will be working on the “Once Upon A Story”
Interest Project through early April. Older girls in
Fanwood-Scotch Plains are encouraged to team up to
pursue Interest Projects that interest them, reaching
out to parents, troop leaders, and other adults for
assistance as needed.
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