WEST MILFORD — West Milford Girl Scouts participated in “Girl Scout World Thinking Day” events at Hillcrest Community Center this winter.
Each year in February on World Thinking Day, Girl Scouts around the world participate in activities and projects with global themes to honor their sister Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in other countries.
“World Thinking Day is part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Global Action Theme (GAT) based on the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to improve the lives of the world's poorest people,” according to the Girl Scouts Organization website, www.girlscouts.org.
The theme for World Thinking Day 2015 was "We can create peace through partnerships." The theme was based upon the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal (MDG- 8) to develop a global partnership for development. Girl Scouts of the USA is part of a global community of nearly 150 countries with Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. In preparation for World Thinking Day, the girls learned about the five WAGGGS regions: Africa, Arab Region, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere; selected one country to research and present information about on a display, and also provided foods and crafts from their selected country for younger girls to experience and learn in a fun and interesting way.
Girl Scout ambassadors, seniors, juniors, and cadettes enjoyed learning about the other countries and passing their knowledge on to the younger Brownie and Daisy Girl Scouts. The Brownies and Daisies learned about a variety of countries, received stamps on their Thinking Day passports from each of the countries they “visited” and left the event with a broadened vision of world culture, cuisine, art, music, and everyday life of people in other countries around the world.
Thinking Day was first created in 1926 at the Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference. The name was later changed to World Thinking Day to emphasize the global aspect of the date. Attendees decided there should be a special day for Girl Scouts from around the world to think of each other and give thanks to their sister Girl Scouts. They chose Feb. 22 for the day because it was the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, and his wife, Olave, who served as world chief guide.