Earlier this month Girl Scouts from far across San Gorgonio Council came to the Victor Valley Museum, which presents programs and exhibits about the cultural and natural heritage of the High Desert, in Apple Valley to a spend a fun day and night playing games and earning badges.

When guests arrived, they were hit with the lovely sound of little Brownies and Daisies playing with some really cool vintage toys from years ago. One of the games was jacks, which is still a game people play regularly today. The girls introduced themselves to each other and sat down to a brief introduction by the adults. Mr. Bishop (aka Mr. Mayor) was one of these people. He was super funny and had a great personality that the girls loved. It turns out, this person is a council member for the town and even served as Mayor! Council Member Art Bishop is also an active member of the Friends of the Victor Valley Museum foundation.

Girl Scouts enjoyed a tour of the museum and participated in a scavenger hunt. There was a really cool room that was filled with different types of rocks and crystals, it was so interesting! The girls later split into groups and played a team scavenger hunt. As an older Girl Scout, my favorite part of the event was definitely hanging out with the Cadettes and helping them earn their Trees Badge. While the Cadette Girl Scouts earned their badges, the Brownies were hard at work earning both an Earth and Sky Try-It Badge and Bug Try-It Badge, while the Juniors earned a Flowers Badge. Each Girl Scout also earned an Emergency Safety Badge. Earning badges was a great component to the event!

One of the things I was really curious about was, what drove the director of the event, Jennifer Simpson (aka Rainbow Dash) to create this fun night for the girls? When asked this question, Ms. Simpson replied, “I love Girl Scouts and I love teaching my kids about the history of where they came from and where they live. I was surprised to find out so many people didn’t even know the museum existed. Not many girls get the opportunity to even visit a museum.”

Ms. Simpson also talked about how she started up the event, “I approached the museum to partner for this event since they have never done one before. With the help of Mary Sawyer [GSSGC Director of Program] we managed to set the whole thing up. I wanted this event to be more than just a fun patch.” I definitely agree with that statement, while I was there you could definitely see all the fun each girl was having and all the new information they were learning.

Sadly I didn’t stay overnight, but the other Girl Scouts watched a movie and headed off to bed in the museum. It was a lovely event and hopefully they do it again next year!