Local Girl Scouts design, produce a camp that seeks to empower peers

COURTHOUSE — Four Girl Scouts designed a Girl Empowerment Camp for their Silver Award, and they organized, prepared and put it on at St. John’s Baptist Church last month, leading classes for a number of girls.

The four Girl Scouts — Jacqueline Frampton of Victoria Park, Jordan Espe of Courthouse Estates, Maria Sorrentino of Holland Woods and Brooke Marcia of Buckner, all 13  — also arranged for guest speakers at the event, and led sessions for campers throughout the day. 

They belong to Girl Scout Troop 917, Courthouse Service Unit. 

Class topics during the camp included musical theater, art, food and cultural awareness.

During a session of cultural awareness, Marcia led campers through a discussion of differences and similarities between people.

“In Girl Scouts, we are learning how to be leaders,” she said. “Who wants to be our first leader in icebreakers?”

Marcia gave the campers an example of how the icebreakers game went. “If she says, do you like pizza, you stand up and say, ‘That’s me.’”

 Calli Ramirez, 8, of Virginia Beach was one of the first campers to go.

“I am Dominican,” she said.

Nobody stood up or shouted.

“Is anybody Dominican?” Marcia asked.

Nobody stood.

“I don’t like apples,” Ramirez said.

Nobody stood or shouted.

“I like candy,” Ramirez said.

Everbody in the room stood up, and said, “That’s me!”

Marcia talked about her Filipino heritage, and discussed Spanish influence. 

“Can everybody say Tagalog?” Marcia asked the campers.

“Tagalog,” they replied.

She launched into a Spanish lesson, writing words or phrases on a board and explaining them.

Then she returned to a particular word in English.

“Does anybody remember what the word empowerment is?” Marcia asked.

“To encourage people,” Ramirez offered.

“To give someone power to feel good and feel they can do anything?” asked camper Grace Broadhead, 10, of Red Mill. 

“That’s really good,” Marcia said.