Girl Scouts camp out @ White House

[mominatrix]

Wednesday, July 1, 2015
RECAP: Ultimate Girl Scout Campout at the White House


Yesterday, girls from across America’s cultural, geographic and economic landscape had a truly unforgettable experience at the White House.


First Lady Michelle Obama, our honorary National President, was an amazing host!
She kicked off our day of outdoor fun with an inspirational talk on the importance of staying active, exploring the outdoors, and caring for our environment.

Soon after, she joined different groups of girls alongside Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, Girl Scouts National President, for some hands-on learning and activities, including orienteering, knot tying, tent-pitching and rock climbing.




After these action-packed sessions, Girl Scouts were treated to a healthy meal in the State Dining Room. In the spirit of health, fitness, and outdoor exploration, we were also given a tour of the First Lady’s garden.

And that’s not all!

After dinner we had a surprise guest join in on the fun: none other than President Barack Obama! The President and the First Lady participated in sing-a-longs and had a few laughs before he ended his visit with a memorable group hug with ALL fifty girls.




The adventure didn’t stop there! Astronaut Cady Coleman led an empowering “fireside” chat about her experiences in space. She then led us all on an amazing tour of the night sky as we settled down to do some stargazing with Cady and NASA pros.




After storms rolled in through the night, campers quickly moved into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for the rest of the night.




Ready for adventure, the girls were troopers and made it a fun experience.

It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience that no one who participated will ever forget!


blog.girlscouts.org/2015/07/recap-ultimate-girl-scout-campout-at.html

[AJL]

THAT IS AWESOME!

[mominatrix]

More pictures, here:

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/01/stargazing-and-starstruck-girl-scouts-camp-out-on-white-house-lawn

[pixy0stix]

So fun!

[josieposy]

"So what did you do this summer?"

"Hung out with POTUS, FLOTUS, and an astronaut. Camped on the White House lawn. Nothing too exciting."

I'm so unbelievably jealous of these kids.

[karinothing]

I am glad they moved them inside! That storm was nuts. How fun for them

[mominatrix]

According to one of the other articles I saw on this, the White House is a National Park (how did I not know that?) and they're trying to get people to find and visit more NP's... so get out there!

[iammalcolmx]

That is so cool

[mbcdefg]

This is fantastic. What a great memory for these kids. 

I wish my troop had done something anywhere near this cool. Even just plain old camping. We just sat indoors all the time and the leader would open a cabinet and say, "Just pick something and make a craft, I guess." 

[Kristinmo]

I am SO JEALOUS!!!

[mominatrix]

Jul 1, 2015 9:18:12 GMT -5 josieposy said:

"So what did you do this summer?"

"Hung out with POTUS, FLOTUS, and an astronaut. Camped on the White House lawn. Nothing too exciting."

I'm so unbelievably jealous of these kids.

yeah, DD was looking at pictures last night, we were talking about it and she kept saying, "huh! NO FAIR!"  

[hopecounts]

Jul 1, 2015 9:23:32 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

This is fantastic. What a great memory for these kids. 

I wish my troop had done something anywhere near this cool. Even just plain old camping. We just sat indoors all the time and the leader would open a cabinet and say, "Just pick something and make a craft, I guess." 

That stinks, my troop was pretty balanced between arts &crafts and outdoor stuff.
I think that was due to our 2 troop leaders though, each one was more inclined to one then the other so it balanced out well as they shared the planning.
We did a backyard campout, an orienteering walk, a nature scavenger hunt at a local preserve, as well as crystal growing,  beadwork, etc. 

What a great opportunity for these girls!

[josieposy]

Jul 1, 2015 9:22:44 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

According to one of the other articles I saw on this, the White House is a National Park (how did I not know that?) and they're trying to get people to find and visit more NP's... so get out there!

Well now I get why the NPS posted about it. I didn't know that either.

[mbcdefg]

Jul 1, 2015 9:27:29 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

Jul 1, 2015 9:23:32 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

This is fantastic. What a great memory for these kids. 

I wish my troop had done something anywhere near this cool. Even just plain old camping. We just sat indoors all the time and the leader would open a cabinet and say, "Just pick something and make a craft, I guess." 

That stinks, my troop was pretty balanced between arts &crafts and outdoor stuff.
I think that was due to our 2 troop leaders though, each one was more inclined to one then the other so it balanced out well as they shared the planning.
We did a backyard campout, an orienteering walk, a nature scavenger hunt at a local preserve, as well as crystal growing,  beadwork, etc. 

What a great opportunity for these girls!

We camped a couple times, but it was indoors - either at the county headquarters building or at the military base complex in my hometown. 

We made apple pie once at the assistant leader's house. 

One time one of the mothers brought in little makeup samples and we did makeovers. My parents weren't happy with that. (I was also afraid of the eyelash curler because of that scene from Home Improvement where Tim told his sons that Jill used the curler to take out her eyeballs and clean them.)

I did a lot of independent projects with my mom to earn patches. And my dad would take my cookie order form to the school where he worked and sell them for me - I don't really think anyone in my troop went door-to-door. 

[FloFTW]

That is so. cool.

[orangeblossom]

I love this. These two are my favorite pic:



One article I read said President Obama said:

"What are you guys doing in my yard?" the president asked. "When did you guys show up here?

"You guys aren't going to be making a racket, are you?"

bigstory.ap.org/article/14372bb6e9764a389973fd9c99bc10ff/first-lady-hosts-girl-scout-campout-white-house-lawn

[earlgreyhot]

I was at some other festival yesterday on the Ellipse and noticed the tent set up and wondered what what up. As a former GS I am extremely jealous. I did some cool campouts (one in England, a couple in a museum, in treehouses, etc), but nothing like this.

Too bad about the storm, but glad they were safe!!

[doxies]

Jul 1, 2015 9:22:44 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

According to one of the other articles I saw on this, the White House is a National Park (how did I not know that?) and they're trying to get people to find and visit more NP's... so get out there!

I didn't know that either, but I did know that all families of 4th graders (2015-2016 school year) get free national park passes for the year.

www.nationalparks.org/ook/every-kid-in-a-park

I can't wait to do some exploring!

[pbandj]

this is very cool. I always remember sleeping overnight in the Franklin Institute Science Museum as a girl scout.

[terpsfan]

This is so awesome.

My girls are dying to camp out. We are saving our pennies for when they are old enough for the aquarium or science center or God help me, the mall sleepovers. They need to be couple years older too as we are rising 2nd graders, to be first year brownies. Can't wait!!

[litebright]

That is so awesome. What great memories for them!

[WOT?*]

Jul 1, 2015 9:22:44 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

According to one of the other articles I saw on this, the White House is a National Park (how did I not know that?) and they're trying to get people to find and visit more NP's... so get out there!

And those (green vests) are juniors so they're fourth and fifth graders. Next year fourth graders (first year juniors) all over the country will get free admission to national parks.

I love that the Obamas do stuff like this (I would love to do it with the girls next year but that ain't happening either). I hope the Clintons keep it up when Hillary wins.

[iammalcolmx]

And I may not always agree with him but POTUS got Swag like no ones business.

[thejackpot]

How awesome! Talk about something you will never forget.

[erbear]

That is so cool! Even I would take my Girl Scouts camping if it was at the White House

[downtoearth]

This is so cool. I love the pics.

We did camping, weekend CPR/first aid training at a local lodge/camp, took a trip to San Diego and tiajana, went to the Edmonton mall, camped more, and went on a Fl Cruise and to Disney. I had some pretty amazing troop leaders and stuck it out bc it was fun and we got to travel far from the NW.

[decemberwedding07]

Jul 1, 2015 10:48:10 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

I love this. These two are my favorite pic:



One article I read said President Obama said:

"What are you guys doing in my yard?" the president asked. "When did you guys show up here?

"You guys aren't going to be making a racket, are you?"

bigstory.ap.org/article/14372bb6e9764a389973fd9c99bc10ff/first-lady-hosts-girl-scout-campout-white-house-lawn

How does anyone not like them?

[compassrose]

I want to go! What an amazing experience.

[lilibet]

I'm so jealous, this is so cool.

We went camping once when I was in scouts, it rained the whole time. I wish I'd finished scouts. My mom had to quit being the leader after 5th grade and no one else would take over so I was never able to go any further than that. I'm always really jealous when dh talks about his later years in scouts and earning his eagle scout.

[firedancer10288]

Jul 1, 2015 11:52:25 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

This is so awesome.

My girls are dying to camp out. We are saving our pennies for when they are old enough for the aquarium or science center or God help me, the mall sleepovers. They need to be couple years older too as we are rising 2nd graders, to be first year brownies. Can't wait!!

Our girls are also rising second graders- they are "camping" at the national aquarium next spring. We already started saving and fundraising for it (a year in advance) because it is SO expensive. Don't wait too long to get started on it!