Combining music and creativity helped Girl Scout Troop 849 complete their 50-hour service project to receive their Silver Award.
‘You have to choose a project that would benefit other Girl Scouts,? scout Megan Dutton said. ‘We picked out different camp songs and made music videos of the songs.?
‘Our troop has always enjoyed singing,? scout Tricia Connolly added.
The goal of the project, the group said, was to help younger scouts learn the camp songs in a fun environment. Once the video was finished, the scouts also created songbooks to correspond with the video and also visited some troops to help them learn.
‘We went to some younger Girl Scout Troops and sang songs to them in person and helped them learn the songs and the hand motions,? added Sarah Piquette.
The troop, which is made up of eighth graders from St. Joseph’s, Lake Orion and Oxford schools, taped scenes for their music videos on various locations including at St. Joseph’s, at Great Lakes Athletic Club’s pool and out on a playground.
‘We also went up to camp for a weekend to film some of the songs,? Connolly added.
According to scout Kaitlin Sarnacki, the group picked their favorite camp songs to include in the video and songbook. After selecting the songs, they coordinated costumes and accessories to go with the songs and then got down to taping.
‘It was hard work,? Dutton said. ‘We put a lot of thought into it.?
Piquette served as the filmmaker and producer for the project, and edited the video on her home computer.
For Piquette, it was a great project to do because she would like to be a producer and see her name in lights, she said.
The group had fun watching themselves on the video when the project was completed, and look forward to handing out DVDs to younger troops once the copies are made.
‘Just because it’s service doesn’t mean it can’t be fun,? scout Sarah Phalen said, with the whole group agreeing that lots of fun was had, especially at the day of filming at the pool.
Troop 849’s video will be given to local scout troops and also housed in the Girl Scout Library, as a tool to help new troops learn their camp songs.