Word of the Brownie Science Try-it Day held annually at Sweet Briar College has reached as far as Vermont. Program director Jill Granger recently received an e-mail from a Girl Scout leader there, asking for information on how it is organized.
In its eighth year, Science Try-it Day is a service project of the local chapter of Iota Sigma Pi, the national honor society for women chemists. Volunteers from SBC, Lynchburg and Randolph colleges develop and lead hands-on science activities based on the Girl Scout handbook badge criteria. Brownies — Scouts in the first through third grades — complete the exercises to earn the corresponding badge.
Granger, a chemistry professor at SBC, also heard through the grapevine that a troop in the Washington, D.C., area discussed the Sweet Briar Science Try-it Day model at a meeting. One result of the word-of-mouth buzz is that demand began to exceed capacity. Troops are traveling greater distances to attend, and last year, organizers had to turn people away.
“It’s exciting,” Granger said. “The word’s getting out.”
This year she enlisted a student co-director, Kristen Johnson ’09, and opened a second session to enroll more participants. The workshops, held Jan. 19 and 26, served 180 Brownies, roughly twice 2007’s head count. Local troops were joined by groups from Staunton, Waynesboro, Christiansburg, Albemarle, Spotswood and Altavista.
“This was the test for how big can this program really be,” Granger said, because she wasn’t sure how far her resources — including her own time and that of her volunteers’ — would stretch. She’s still mulling the lessons learned from the experience, but continuing to offer a second section in 2009 looks promising.
Brownies who attended this year could work toward any of four Scout badges or the EPA Water Drop patch, which is offered through cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The badges offered were “Water Everywhere,” “Earth is Home,” “Movers” and “Earth and Sky.”
The girls must complete four individual exercises for each badge or patch, so volunteers set up and manned a total of 20 activity stations. The program rotates the offerings every three years so by the time first-graders become third-graders, they have an opportunity to earn 15 badges. That covers most of the Scout handbook’s math and science requirements, Granger said.
“Once again, the program was a great collaborative effort of the three area colleges, including students and faculty from SBC, Randolph College and Lynchburg College,” Granger reported in an e-mail to several SBC faculty and staff members.
She also expressed thanks to Prothro staff for their “patience with all of our pint-size visitors! The highlight of the day, by all accounts, was ‘eating in the dining hall.’ Several troop leaders mentioned that their girls want to come to Sweet Briar College so that they can eat in the dining hall every day.”
With 2008’s Science Try-it Day in the books, Granger already is looking ahead to next year. If past registration trends hold, the program will serve its 1,000th Girl Scout.
– By Jennifer McManamay, SBC staff writer
