Girl Scout Troop 26040 last week held a school technology workshop to teach incoming middle school students and parents how to use and better understand the world of technology education. The event was held at Cinnaminson Middle School and taught by Girl Scouts Caitlin Connolly, Samantha Keeports, Melek Kilic and Emma Schrier.
The idea to hold a technology education event stemmed from the troop members having to decide what lasting impact they wanted to leave on the community. For the troops to receive their Girl Scout Silver Award, the second-highest honor a Scout can receive, the troops had to create a project that includes identifying an issue, creating a lasting effect and 50 hours of service, among various other steps.
“We wanted to create something that was sustainable,” said Keeports. “We noticed in our school that they had switched from classic desktop computers to Chromebooks, and we thought that we could teach the incoming parents and students how to use the new technology.”
According to troop leader Melissa Schrier, there has been a tough transition for parents who are used to using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The confusion led Troop 26040 to have the opportunity to help the community by presenting the parents with the information that they need to effectively be a part of the school community and involved with their child’s education. This led to their Silver Award project idea, “Cinnaminson Technology: Tools for Success.”
“I think it was really good because we got to experience how the audience experienced technology,” said Emma Schrier. ”It also helped a lot with public speaking. I think the first audience knew a little more about the technology, but the second audience was more involved and interactive.”
The Girl Scouts offered two workshops on the topic. The first workshop targeted current Cinnaminson Middle School parents, and the second workshop targeted the parents of sixth-graders.
According to Melissa Schrier, the workshops were designed to be hands-on so that the parents could ask questions and try out the different programs being used by teachers at CMS. These programs include things like Google Docs, Google Classroom, Remind and Class Dojo.
The Girl Scouts received a lot of support from the Cinnaminson Middle School administration, Principal Hamm Kolev, Assistant Principal Valerie Jones and Superintendent Steve Capello. However, to make sure the troops leave a lasting impact and continue to help the parents as much as they can, the Girls Scouts will be creating videos and posting them on the school’s website.
“After the presentations, we felt like the audience was very informed,” said Keeports. ”To make sure that we’re doing as much as we can we want to create videos explaining the thing that we taught during the workshops. This way parents can go onto the school’s website and reference something that they may have forgotten. I think this is the way that we can really make a lasting impact on the community.”
