Girl Scouts Return from Service Trip to Dominican Republic

A group of local teens (Girl Scouts and Non-Girl Scouts) and their mothers (plus one aunt!), led by Girl Scout Troop Leader Christiane Lourenco of McLean, traveled to the Dominican Republic this summer on a service trip to support the Mariposa Center for Girls in Cabarete. The Mariposa Center for Girls serves over 100 underprivileged Dominican and Haitian girls between the ages of 8 and 18. Their mission is to educate and empower girls which parallels the mission of Girl Scouts.

Many of the Girls Scouts completed their Gold Awards, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, during this trip. The Girl Scouts spent nearly two years fundraising, researching, and planning curriculum for their Gold Awards that requires each girl to prepare a project proposal that addresses a need, is sustainable and has a measurable impact. Each Girl Scout presented and defended her project proposal to a Gold Award Panel before getting approval to do her Gold Award project.

The teens ran a week-long summer camp for the Mariposa Girls, including Gold Award workshops on Art, Music, English, STEM, Health & Nutrition, and fun activities such as Camp Olympics, Jewelry Making, Fingerprinting and Geology.

Achieving Happiness Through Healthy Lifestyles: Alexa Jordan of McLean instructed the Mariposa Girls about the benefits of exercise and nutrition as part of her Gold Award. She also donated jump ropes, elastic bands and a bilingual English/Spanish book on fruits & vegetables.

Students Enriching the Lives of Students: Grace Silverman of McLean provided the Mariposa Center for Girls' partner, the 3 Mariposas Montessori (3MM) School, with a donation of school supplies and made contact with the 3MM school staff as research for her anticipated Gold Award project which she hopes to begin in the fall. Grace also led the Fingerprinting and Geology workshops providing the Mariposa girls with lessons on how to read fingerprints and all about rocks and minerals.

Musica at Mariposa: Jenica Fichadia of McLean provided the Mariposa Girls with Ukulele music lessons as part of her Gold Award and provided supplies for them to make their own maracas and harmonicas.

First Aid is for Everyone Everywhere: Jessica Lourenco of McLean taught basic first aid skills to the Mariposa girls as part of her Gold Award and provided each girl with a complete first aid kit to take home. She also had the girls do a band aid butterfly craft and play first aid BINGO.

Exploring STEM through Citrus Energy: Lauren Scott of Falls Church instructed the Mariposa Girls about STEM as part of her Gold Award. She taught about the traits of acids and bases, their importance, and how to determine whether something was an acid or a base using the pH scale. She provided lessons on the different types of energy such as mechanical, electrical, and thermal. She also provided each girl with their own pH test kit so that they could continue testing at home.

Art for Mariposa Girls: Riya Saran of Falls Church provided the Mariposa Girls with art education and worked with them to complete a large art mural for display at the center as part of her Gold Award. She also donated sketch books, pencils and markers for each girl to take home.

English for Girls: Serena Aurora of McLean provided English lessons and tutoring to the Mariposa Girls as part of her Gold Award. She provided instructions on reading and writing in English which included having the girls make their own miniature books where they could read sentences and also write their own. She also donated reading and writing workbooks to the center.

Jewelry Making and Camp Olympics: Nicole Eberly of Fairfax provided the Mariposa Girls with lessons on Jewelry Making with donated supplies and also provided fun and games during the Camp Olympics workshop.

Other teens, Dia Aurora and Sarina Saran of McLean, Meera Naik of Vienna, and Simran Ohri of Bethesda, MD, assisted with all of the workshops as needed.

The adult volunteers on the trip (Christiane Lourenco, Andra Jordan, Shilpa Fichadia, Priya Aurora, Shaila Ohri, Roopal Saran, Cristina Temboury, Meera Naik, Nima Naik, and Karen Scott) did not just sit idly by doing nothing -- they each assisted with the workshops and many provided invaluable assistance to the Mariposa Center's Upcycled Sails Project. They helped cut patterns out of donated sails that the center's seamstresses then sewed to make upcycled bags. The adult volunteers also upcycled cardboard to make better pattern templates that the seamstresses could use going forward.

Interested in purchasing an upcycled sail bag to support the Mariposa Center? Click here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MariposaDRFoundation