Girl Scouts Leave No Trace Workshop

High Country Girl Scouts

November 6, 2021, 10 am - 2 pm

Clawson-Burnley Park, Boone, North Carolina

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Program Agency: Background, Overview, Mission Statement

Agency:

● Girl Scouts - Region 6, Carolina Peaks to Piedmont

Background:

Girl Scouts has been an organization that empowers girls for over 100 years. It brings

together groups of girls and teaches them new skills, gives them new experiences, builds

community, and provides them with a sense of confidence. Girl Scouts have troops all across the

country and around the world, and this region specifically serves the Western North Carolina

community.

Overview:

Brooke and Emily developed a Leave No Trace workshop, using activities from Bigfoot’s

Playbook to demonstrate the seven principles. Girls recruited for this event all across the region

and were in a variety of grades spanning from grades one through five. Specific responsibilities

were to create age appropriate activities to teach the necessary skills, work within a small budget

(furnished by the Service Unit), recruit volunteer help if needed, and supervise/lead the activities.

Meetings were held on the Appalachian State University campus, but the event was held at a

location that we identified - Clawson-Burnley Park.

Mission Statement:

Girl scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a
better place.
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Group Role in the Agency/Program:

Our group role in the agency and program was to create, plan, and implement a

Leave-No-Trace workshop for the Region 6 Girl Scouts. After being provided with the seven

principles and the Bigfoot Handbook, we chose the best age-appropriate activities. Then, we

determined a location, date and time for the workshop. We also created goals and objectives to

meet for the event, as well as recruited volunteers. The High Country Service Unit provided us

with a small budget to obtain all needed materials.

Additionally, we created the timeline for the program, as well as the program content. We

determined potential risks and how to mitigate them. Our group handled promoting the event via

the flyer and gaining publicity. In addition to creating a curriculum, we led and supervised each

of the activities. Finally, we developed an evaluation plan and sent Thank-You cards and emails

to our supervisor and volunteers.

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Program Area & Format

Our program area was classified as Outdoor Recreation & Social Recreation. This is due

to the Leave-No-Trace Curriculum being environmental education, and the Girl Scouts being a

social club for girls. Our program format was a special event and instructional class. It was a

one-time event, and provided information to a group. Additionally, depending on the commute, it

could have been considered an outing.

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Program Goals & Objectives

Program development goal/objective:

1. Emily and Brooke will develop a Leave-No-Trace program in November that includes

learning activities.

2. Emily and Brooke will choose a location for the Leave-No-Trace program by September

7, 2021.

3. Emily and Brooke will choose a date for the Leave-No-Trace program by September 7,

2021.

Program promotion goal/objective:

1. Brooke will create a flyer for the Leave-No-Trace program that includes all of the

necessary information at least two weeks before the date of the program.

2. Catherine Wilkinson will distribute the flyers to all troops at least two weeks before the

program.

Financial goal/objective:

1. In November, Emily and Brooke will provide a Leave-No-Trace program, which will be

funded by the Girl Scouts’ corporation - making the program at no additional cost to Girl

Scouts.

2. Emily and Brooke will utilize the budget - provided by the Girl Scouts’ corporation to

provide needed materials for the Leave-No-Trace program - by November.

Cognitive performance objective:

1. Participants will demonstrate the ability to identify the seven Leave-No-Trace principles

by the end of the activity by reciting them.

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Psychomotor performance objective:

1. Participants will demonstrate the ability to utilize the Leave-No-Trace principles through

completing physical activities.

Affective performance objective:

1. The participants will show that they are having a good time by smiling during the

activity.
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Program Timeline

01. August 20

a. Review the Bigfoot Handbook for activities that align with each principle and

become familiar with principles ourselves.

02. August 23

a. First meeting with Catherine Wilkinson, our program supervisor.

b. Decided on a bi-weekly check-in meeting time and place. We decided on every

other Tuesday at 9:00 am in the Holmes Convocation Center Student Lounge.

c. Discussed budget, potential locations, and exactly who our audience is.

d. Confirmed which activities would be correlated to each principle, including the

Overview Activity. We made sure that activities are appropriate for ages six and up.

03. August 26

a. Emailed Catherine our group contact information.

b. Created a mock schedule of the program day, including times and activity

groupings.

04. September 1

a. Finalized our program objectives regarding program development,

program promotion, and financial strategies.

b. Program goals and objectives were approved by our supervisor.

05. September 7

a. Met with Catherine for a check-in.

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b. Narrowed down the location between Clawson-Burnley Park or Jaycee

Park. We researched reservations and amenities of each location.

c. Determined an official meeting time for the event. Volunteers are to arrive at 9:00

am, check-in for participants is from 9:30-10 am, the program will last from 10

am-2 pm, and clean up and departure will be until 2:30 pm.

d. Asked for approval from the director if this can be considered a “Bring A

Friend” event to maximize attendance.

e. Brooke created a supply list to help determine the budget from Catherine, and to

also see what supplies we already have access to/need to accumulate.

f. Finalized Program Timeline and Program Content.

06. September 15

a. Emily created an activity that is age friendly for the first Leave-No-Trace

principle, since there is not one provided within the handbook.

07. September 21

a. Met with Catherine to check-in.

b. We decided on Clawson-Burnley Park.

c. Catherine reviewed a draft of our event flyer.

e. Decided on a registration deadline - November 1. We edited this date onto the

flyer.

08. September 22

a. Started searching for 6 volunteers within the Recreation Management program.

b. Final draft of the event flyer was sent to Catherine.

c. Catherine posted the flyer to regional Girl Scout Facebook pages.

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09. October 8

a. Met with Catherine and discussed interest from Troops.

b. Started developing curriculum and tangible lesson plans for volunteers to look

over and become familiar with.

10. October 20

a. Recruited 6 volunteers from Dr. Shanely’s Leisure in Society course.

Volunteers were informed that it would consist of helping set-up, facilitating

rotation stations, and clean-up after the event.

11. November 1

a. Deadline for registration for the program.

b. Gathered final numbers and created a final schedule.

c. Reached out to confirm volunteers - 4 out of 6 were no longer able to attend.

Communicated with the remaining 2 volunteers via text and email to ensure

that they received the curriculum and to answer any potential questions.

d. Met with Catherine at the Walmart in Boone, North Carolina to purchase remaining

supplies for the program.

12. November 3

a. Catherine printed check-in sheets, and Emily printed Leave-No-Trace

coloring pages for entertainment following check-in.

13. November 6

a. Day of Program - See Program Content for more information.

14. November 9

a. Catherine ordered the patches for each Girl Scout that attended. This contains 1
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(one) Leave-No-Trace patch for all, and 1 (one) Bring-a-Friend patch to any who

qualified.

15. November 10

a. Final meeting to follow up with Catherine to debrief the event and receive any

feedback.

c. Reviewed evaluations.

d. Sent out a Thank-You letter to Catherine, and Thank-You emails to volunteers.

16. November 17

a. Catherine received and distributed the ordered patches to the troop leaders, who

then distributed them directly to the Girl Scouts.

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Program Content

Date: Saturday, November 6, 2021

Time: 9:00 am - 2:30 pm

Location: Clawson-Burnley Park

Staff: Catherine Wilkinson, Brooke Aurora, and Emily Mock

Supporting Volunteers: Emily and Olivia (App State Recreation Management students)

8:30 am:

● Emily and Brooke arrive to set up stations at the location since it doesn’t take

reservations in advance.

● Emily and Brooke will set up cones on all four corners of the field to ensure that it is

secured.

● Emily and Brooke will set up the Girl Scouts’ check-in station with the materials needed.

9:00 am:

● Volunteers will arrive to continue helping Emily and Brooke set-up rotations and

check-in stations. They will become familiar with their materials and space for activity.

9:30 am:

● Participant check-in begins. Individuals can start to come and we will give them their

group assignments and any contact information we may need from them.

● Volunteers will continue to set up their stations while Emily and Brooke float to make

sure they have everything they need and to check-in and greet participants.

● While this is going on we will have a table at the pavilion for the scouts while waiting for

the program to begin. We will have coloring pages out for them to use.
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10:00 am:

● Participant check-in ends. All participants will be accounted for at this time so that we

can begin the workshop.

● Emily and Brooke will lead the overview activity with all participants, introducing

Leave-No-Trace and the seven principles, while volunteers resume the registration

process in case there are any late arrivals.

● The overview activity is called “Impact Monster Dash” and entails the Girl Scouts

becoming familiar with the different principles so that they better understand them in the

individual stations.

Overview Activity:
“Impact Monster Dash”
Time: 30 minutes with everyone
Materials: Hula hoops, 7+ camping gear items, a sign for each principle.
Directions: Set up boundaries on a large playing field. At one end of the field lay
out camping items. Throughout the field layout several hula hoops. At the other
end of the field there should be seven distinct areas that represent each principle,
signs with each principle on it. One participant will be chosen to be the “impact
monster”. This person can move anywhere within the boundaries of the field.
Monster’s goal is to tag as many players as possible. Players are lined up at the
boundary line with the principle signs and when told they will have to go to the
other side, without being tagged, grab the camping gear and bring it back to the
principles placing it with its corresponding one. If the Impact Monster tags
someone with an item the monster then gains possession of the item and the
person joins them as an impact monster.
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10:30 am:

● First activity begins.

○ Station One is the first principle, “Are You Ready?”

Principle #1: Plan Ahead and Prepare

“Are You Ready?” (Modified for Younger Ages)

Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Spread out either items or pictures of items and a backpack.
Directions: There will be miscellaneous items (or pictures of items) spread out in
the grass so that each scout can see them properly. Leader of the station is going
to read off a scenario about a trip they are packing for and include information
about the weather, the activities they will be doing, how long they might be gone
for, and other random information that the girls might not need to know. The
scouts will be given a time limit to pack a bag for this trip using the items. There
will be a correct number of items as well as lots of distracting ones or that might
be useful in a different situation. After the bag is packed the girls will present
what they packed and why while the leader debriefs the activity and explain the
perfect bag.
11:00 am:

● Second activity begins.

○ Station Two is the second principle’s activity, “Durable Surface Mystery”.

Principle #2: Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

“Durable Surface Mystery”
Time: 15-20 minutes
Materials: 5 ziploc bags, rocks, gravel, dry grass, flowers, graham crackers to
represent soil.
Directions: Ask participants to define impact. Explain that changes take place in
nature when there is an impact. Ask what impacts nature and what “durable”
means.
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Show participants each bag containing items and explain what's in each. They are
going to be detectives and determine which items are durable.
“Soil bag” represents soil that reduces erosion, holds moisture, and provides a
place for plants to grow.
Place bags on the ground and have the group go on a “hike” where they walk over
each of the bags. Hold up each bag and ask participants if there has been a change
in the contents. Showing what surfaces are durable. (dry grass = great to camp on,
“soil” is fragile and we have to be careful without impact) One footprint can
destroy living biological soil. Revisit meaning of durable and impact. Which
surfaces are the best to travel and camp on!
11:20 am:

● At this time all groups will reconvene under one of the pavilions for a lunch break where

we will also complete an activity called, “On Display”. This goes with the sixth

principle, respecting wildlife. During this time it will involve the whole group and

simulate what animals may feel like when they are being disrupted by humans. The

participants will be put in a similar situation while eating their lunch and then we will talk

about it.

Principle #6: Respect Wildlife

“On Display”
Time: 10-15 minutes of the 30 minute lunch break
Materials: An outdoor setting, accomplices to help you facilitate the “disruption”,
and cameras or phones.
Directions: Have a few participants volunteer to sit in the center of the group.
Explain to everyone that it is lunch time and that they are about to enjoy a meal of
their favorite food that they brought with them. While this is going on, have a
couple of scouts sneak around with binoculars and “cameras”. Tell them to get
close to the people eating to get their picture taken “feeding wildlife”. Ham it up
so that it hits home how distracting people can be to wildlife.
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11:50 am:

● Third activity begins.

○ Station Three hosts an activity called, “Trash Timeline” which demonstrates the

third principle which states that all individuals will dispose of waste properly.

Principle #3: Dispose of Waste Properly

“Trash Timeline”
Time: 15-20 minutes
Materials: Trash and timeline cards from activity materials packet.
Directions: Distribute each of the pictures evenly to all participants. Distribute
time pages in the same way. Make sure no person holds both a picture and it’s
associated time page. Next, have participants roam around trying to figure out
which pictures match up with which time periods. When they finish, have them
lineup in order from shortest to longest time of decomposing.
● Orange Peel - 2 years
● Leather - 1-5 years
● Wool Socks - 1-5 years
● Gum - 5 years
● Nylon Fabric - 30-40 years
● Tin Can - 50 years
● Aluminium Can - 80-100 years
● Plastic six-pack holder - 100 years
● Plastic Bags - 10-20 years
● Glass Bottles - 1,000,000 years

Q: Which item surprised you the most? What are some factors that relate to
decomposition?
12:10 pm:

● Fourth activity begins.

● Station Four hosts an activity for the fourth principle, Leave What You Find, and the

activity is called, “Before and After”.

Principle #4: Leave What You Find

“Before and After”
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Time: 30-40 minutes

Materials: Collection of objects that could be artifacts, two sets of paper and
writing utensils.
Directions: Take objects and scatter them in two nearby areas. One site will have
all of the artifacts and the other will be missing atleast half. To start, tell scouts
that they will be going on an Archeological Expedition and that they have to
figure out who used to be in that area based on them. Split the group in half and
have one group go through the full site and the other half through the
artifact-deficiet side. As they walk through their site they take inventory of the
artifacts and piece together a story about them.
Get groups together and have them share their findings and stories. Then facilitate
these questions:
■ What are the differences between the two stories?
■ How did it make you feel to hear the other group’s story?
■ What Leave No Trace Idea is this activity related to?
■ Why is it important to leave what we find?

12:40 pm:

● Fifth activity begins.

○ Station five covers principle five. The fifth principle is all about minimizing the

impact of camp fires and our activity is “Firewood Gathering”.

Principle #5: Minimize Campfire Impacts

“Firewood Gathering”
Time: 15-30 minutes
Materials:
Directions: Have everyone go into a wooded area and gather one piece of
firewood each, or each person gather several pieces if they are smaller groups.
Everyone brings back pieces, piles them up, and has them organized by size.
Then discuss appropriate sized fire wood. Point out pieces that would be good and
ones that need to be returned and why.
Ex: “Dead and down” / no bigger than your wrist…
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Return wood back to the forest.

1:10 pm:
● Sixth activity begins.

○ Station six covers principle seven. The seventh principle is being considerate to

other visitors, this activity is called, “Close Encounters of the Unkind”.

Principle #7: Be Considerate of Other Visitors

“Close Encounters of the Unkind”
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Some items that could be useful are a cell phone, small radio, brightly
colored clothing, and a few people to help you.
Directions: This activity must be done outside before taking the group on a short
hike, the leader needs to recruit people to play the role of less-than-considerate
visitors. These visitors are placed along the trail that the group will be hiking on.
As the group passes these visitors, they will act their roles. Some of their
less-than-considerate behaviors include:
- Taking a break in the middle of the trail with gear spread out
- Talking loudly on a cellphone
- Screaming to other people in their party
- Having a dog off-leash
- Listening to a blue-tooth speaker.

*Can also place examples of considerate visitors along trail to open comparison
discussion.
Q: How did it feel to share the trail with these visitors? How did their behavior affect your trip? How could
they have behaved in a manner more in keeping with the LNT ethics? What could you say to these visitors to
alter their behavior?

1:40 pm:

● We will gather around the picnic tables and review each of the seven Leave-No-Trace

principles. We will ask each participant what their favorite activity was and why.

Additionally, we will give each participant a ticket with a number. We will draw 5 tickets

to win the three hula hoops, one set of animal figurines and one set of gems. The tickets
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have numbers associated with each of them, and the winners will only be able to choose

one of the five prizes. Each participant will also receive a pack of Goldfish crackers and a

bottle of water.

2:00 pm:

● Participants will then be gathered and dismissed. We will thank them for their

participation in our event. Let them know badges will be given at a later date for

completion of the workshop.

● The late pick up plan is for Brooke and Emily to stay behind until all participants have

been picked up. We will plan to call and reach out to parents to make sure they are en

route.

● As participants leave, Emily, Brooke and the volunteers will begin to clean up. They will

gather leftover supplies and materials to take inventory of. These items will be given

back to Catherine for future programs with High Country Girl Scouts.

2:45 pm:

● By this time, we will have dismissed all volunteers and finished cleaning up the program

site.
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Risk Management Plan

Below is our Risk Management plan. We identified 12 potential risks and evaluated the

severity and the likelihood of the risk occurring. Then, we carefully made the decision to retain,

reduce, avoid or transfer each risk. Based on our decision, we developed an appropriate action

plan to prepare for each risk.

Potential Risk Likelihood of Risk Action to be taken to reduce and prepare

for risk

Animal Bites Med Choose location that has the least wildlife

Insects/Bug Bites High Encourage them to wear bug spray

Sunburn High Encourage them to wear sunscreen

Blisters Med Put a band-aid on blister

Cuts Med Clean wound thoroughly with supplies from

First Aid Kit, cover with band-aid

Infection Low Call parents’ to take to local Urgent Care

Broken Bone Med Encourage closed-toe shoes; Stay on even

ground

Dehydration Med Provide water breaks

Poison Ivy Med Apply cortisone cream per parents’

permission

Lightning Low Move to underneath the picnic shelter

Hypothermia Low Require them to dress warmly for the cold

weather

Missing Person Low Ensure everyone is accounted for at each

activity; If someone goes missing, send
volunteers to search for missing person
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Program Promotion

For our program’s promotion, I created an aesthetically-pleasing flyer containing all of

the needed information. Due to the Girl Scouts’ nature, all participants had to be up-to-date with

their registration and dues. Emily and I were unable to receive the names of the registered

participants as they were private. For this reason, Catherine handled the posting of the flyer on

the “High Country Service Unit Girl Scouts” & “Region 6 Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to

Piedmont” Facebook pages. Our event was also publicized at a recruitment event, where the flyer

was printed for display. From there, Catherine handled all registration via email. Overall, we

utilized publicity, print media and electronic media types for our promotion. Below is our

published flyer for the event:

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Evaluation Plan

To evaluate the Girl Scouts, we utilized verbal communication. We concluded our

program by asking what their favorite activity was. We went in a circle, and asked each of them

to speak. Each member stated their favorite activity and the principle that correlated with it.

Following that debrief, we then asked them to collectively recite the seven principles of

Leave-No-Trace. At the very end, we asked them if they had fun and they all yelled “yes!” and

jumped around.

Additionally, we asked our supervisor, Catherine Wilkinson, her thoughts on how the

program went following the conclusion. She communicated to us that it ran well, and she thinks

that the Girl Scouts had an enjoyable time. We were able to conclude that our performance

objectives were successfully met through the Girl Scouts’ reactions and Catherine’s review

following the program.

Thank-You Note List:

● Catherine (Supervisor - Card)

● Olivia (Volunteer - Email)
● Emily (Volunteer - Email)

Sent Thank-You Notes:

● All sent as of November 10, 2021

Catherine Wilkinson (Supervisor):

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Olivia and Emily (Volunteers):

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Program Reflection and Summary

Personal Challenges:

Two personal challenges I faced throughout developing and implementing our program

were making the activities age-appropriate and time. Despite the handbook saying that the

activities we chose were ages 6+, the girls still seemed to struggle with a few of the activities and

needed guidance. Emily and I were able to assist them with their work, but will review deeper

with the handbook in the future to ensure that the activities are truly age appropriate!

The second challenge I faced was time. Our program ended approximately one hour

early. The girls completed the activities quicker than expected, so our program moved at a faster

pace than anticipated. Luckily, many of the girls’ parents stayed for the program, and we only

had one participant who needed late pickup. Her father arrived very quickly after we called. Now

that I have a better idea of how quickly the activities run, I can better plan if I utilize them in the

future.

Lessons Learned:

Three things I learned while developing and implementing the program were teamwork,

communication and the amount of work that goes into a program. I was accustomed to

completing work myself, so working with someone else was fairly new to me. Emily and I split

our work in half and it worked tremendously. I learned that we can rely on each other and have

great results. Furthermore, I learned how to actively communicate with other team members to

ensure that we achieve our goal. Communication gave adequate feedback to both parties and

allowed us to collaborate ideas.

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Additionally, I learned that a large amount of work goes into a program. I did not realize

all of the effort and time needed to create an event. We met every other week for approximately

an hour, as well as completing the content, timeline, risk management program, etc. It really

opened my eyes that there is so much behind the scenes work that occurs before the program

runs.

Personal Evaluation:

Personally, I am very proud of my performance during the planning and implementation

of the program. The program planning process was completely new to me, and I had never

completed anything of this nature before. With that being said, I feel that I handled all

assignments with eagerness and excitement. Emily and I split the assignments 50/50, so that we

each had to pull our own weight to fully succeed. I did well with team communication and

expressing my desires for the program, and following through with those desires. Despite my

eagerness to complete assignments solely, I am proud of myself for putting reliability in another

team member and allowing us to work as a group. I have learned a lot about teamwork,

communication, as well as myself.

Value of the Experience:

The value of this experience to me is priceless, both professionally and personally.

Professionally, this experience gives me the knowledge I need to excel in my career field. By

May 2022, I plan to become a certified Leave-No-Trace trainer. I also plan to begin the

certification process to become a North Carolina Environmental Educator by May 2022. This

program allowed me to learn the principles of Leave-No-Trace, and work with children in grades

one through five. I am a firm believer that to fully understand a concept, you must be able to

teach it to others. I feel that I excelled in that aspect.

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Personally, I have grown through this program. It gave me insight into working with

children to teach environmental concepts. I learned a lot about how to adjust my teaching style to

fit the needs of the participants. I am entirely grateful that I was provided with this experience,

and will hold it close throughout my future endeavors.

Program Recommendations:

My three recommendations for improving the planning or implementation process would

include researching child development stages, completing the activities beforehand, and having

multiple warm-up activities for the participants to complete while check-in is occurring.

Researching child development would help tremendously. It allows for the team members to

understand the capabilities and limitations of certain age groups.

Additionally, completing the activities beforehand would allow for the team members to

fully comprehend how the activity will run. We had some issues due to our vision of the activity

versus the reality. It would help immensely if one was able to act it out prior to the participants

joining in, and also help alleviate potential stress.

The third recommendation is having multiple warm-up activities for the participants to

complete while check-in is occurring. Prior to the event, we had planned to incorporate bubbles

for check-in entertainment. Although, COVID protocol may not have allowed us to incorporate

the bubbles. Emily printed Leave-No-Trace coloring pages, and many of the girls seemed excited

to color; however, a few did not show interest in it. The coloring pages did not last as long as we

thought they would either. I would incorporate another activity, such as hula hoops and jump

ropes, to allow for multiple activities in case the participants lose interest.