October 2009

Happy new Girl Scout year – and welcome to our third as Girl Scouts - North Carolina Coastal Pines. We’ve had a great two years – but hang on to your hats, the third will be even better. We’re going to keep building and growing and providing even more exciting programs for girls.

One of the most exciting is our Green Teen: Environmental Ambassador program. As part of their training, girls will work with environmental professionals, discover environmental science-related careers, learn about advocacy and leadership and then form “green teams” to pioneer the way through an environmental project in their local communities. It’s all part of Journey #2 – It’s Your Planet–Love It.

Another exciting new initiative is our broadened STEM offerings, and as part of that we’ve developed a series of interviews of very impressive women involved in STEM careers. We’ve posted a new InnerView podcast to the web that features an engineer, a film producer and an IBM Master inventor – and their interviews make great listening. We premiered this latest round of interviews the last weekend in September at a launch party hosted by Lenovo, and attended by scores of Girl Scouts interested in the many opportunities offered by science, technology, engineering and math.

Here’s another exciting new development for Girl Scouts of all ages: We are so pleased to announce that Lenovo has extended its discount program to members and families of Girl Scouts North Carolina Coastal Pines! This discount applies to its entire product line – including the award-winning ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebook and gives members of our Girl Scout family up to 15% off lenovo.com prices including any lenovo.com discounts or promotional offers. In addition, our members will receive free shipping.

Computer literacy and computer access are things our volunteers have mentioned as of great interest and concern to them - especially as more and more of our Girl Scout programming is going online, so we are grateful to Triangle-based Lenovo for their support. This discount program is a wonderful membership benefit and we are pleased to be able to offer it. To participate – or even for just more information, visit http://www.lenovo.com/shop/deals/gsnccp - there is no special code to enter. Special offers change frequently, so visit often.

Magazines, candy and nuts – oh my! The Fall Sale runs from October 16 through November 8 and it’s a great way for troops to earn money at the beginning of our Girl Scout year. Deliveries are December 2-5, and troops can earn at least 10% in proceeds on each item sold. For more information on the fall sale, click here: http://www.nccoastalpines.org/home/CookiesProducts/FallProduct.aspx

Just a reminder to teen girls that TechnoQuest 2009 is just around the corner: November 7 from 10 to 4:45 in Raleigh. We’ve just heard that Dr. Linda E. Jones, the Hewlett Professor of Engineering and Director of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College will be our keynote speaker. Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts) has the first and only accredited engineer program in the nation just for women, and we expect Dr. Jones will have a lot to tell us about educational opportunities for women in engineering and the other STEM professions.