Survey Results: Junior Journeys and TAPs

 This is one in a series of posts about a survey I did of members of a number of Facebook groups for Girl Scout leaders.  The other posts published to date are:

• Survey Results: Badges
• Comments re GSUSA Programming
• Daisy Journeys and TAPs
• Survey Results:  Journeys and TAPs
• Survey Results:  What I Ordered, What I Got
• Your Turn to Talk About Badges
• Your Turn to Talk About Take Action Projects
• Brownie Journeys and TAPs

While I have other posts summarizing the data as a whole, this post is looking at what they said about Junior  Journeys and TAPs--Take Action Projects.  While the What I Ordered...post more fully described those who responded, in general I'd say the people who did had a higher than average involvement in and commitment to Girl Scouting. 

Do Troops Do Journeys?

GSUSA's original idea is that troops would spend most of their year on their Journey, with much of the programming tied into it.  Badges, camping and cookies were "side trips" but the year's goal was the end of the Journey.   That has never become a reality.  

My survey asked those who had Juniors last year what their girls earned, and of about 93 people who responded to one of the items (not a professional survey designer, did not put "none" as a possible response), 38 troops earned one  Journey, sixteen troops did 2 and eight troops earned 3-5 Journeys.  

Are TAPs Appropriate for Juniors?

According to my read of GSUSA materials, Journeys are GSUSA's leadership curriculum and the overarching goal of the whole Journey program is to teach girls how to execute a Take Action Project--or in shorthand, a TAP.  What is a TAP?  The definition I've gleaned from GSUSA's materials is that a Take Action Project is one in which girls identify a need or problem, learn about things relating to the need or problem, preferably from people in the community who deal with it, and then design and implement a sustainable solution to that problem.  

Given that definition, 21 people did not believe they were appropriate for Juniors, 75 said they were appropriate and 113 said they might be appropriate for some Juniors.  Given that definition, 91 said their Junior troop had done a TAP properly; 55 said they had not.  While 66% of people did not believe TAPs as I defined them were appropriate for Daisies, and 55% did not believe they were appropriate for Brownies, only 36% did not think they were appropriate for Juniors. 

How Are Take Action Projects Chosen?

At this time, there are three types of Journeys.  The original Journeys were developed about 15 years ago to be the backbone of a year's programming.  They used a process of "Discover, Connect, Take Action" and were correlated with Common Core.      

The Think Like a _____ journeys each teach a way of thinking based on a STEM topic, and then, if you follow the VTK scripts, use that way of thinking to conceive, plan and implement a TAP.

Finally there is an Outdoor Journey, put in at the demand of the membership, which is simply three particular outdoor-related badges, followed by a TAP.   

I asked how people who did the original Journeys with  Juniors picked their TAP and gave people five choices.   99 people responded as follows:  

I asked the same question about the Think Like a Journeys, and  74 people  responded:

74 people responded about the Outdoor Journey

Do Journeys Help Prepare for Bronze?

In order to work on the highest awards, the Bronze for Juniors, the Silver for Juniors or the Gold Award for high school girls, Girl Scouts must first complete a Journey.  In my opinion (which has no official backing) when the program was developed, the creators saw Journeys as themes for the year and as leader-guided trips through the TAP process--the same process they wanted done for the higher awards.  I asked if respondents thought Journeys helped prepare girls for Bronze.  136 people responded:

What Take Action Projects Do Juniors Do?

Here are TAPs people said their Juniors did:

• Clothing exchange at a day care for winter/summer clothing.... list of community resources available
• Led a workshop at school. Created and published a book of powerful women
• We have not done a journey as a troop in Juniors. Several girls have done it independently or through a council event.
• Led a day of winter outdoor activities for Daisies
• Left sticky notes with positive messages at their school
• Making videos about why citizen science projects are important; making videos about fire and camping safety; creating period packs for girls in low income elementary schools (this one was totally their idea!)
• Kindness rocks (JID)
• Video about citizen science
• We made posters to share how people can help the environment and also made friendship bracelets to share an encouraging message with younger Girl Scouts.
• Video about citizen science (TLACS), made birdhouses (outdoor), Crayola ColorCycle (Get Moving), skit at camp (Agent of Change), self empowerment necklaces (aMuse), self celebratory displays (aMuse another time)
• Archery bow stands
• Like pulling teeth
• Outdoor Journey: we sorted native seeds for our township's conservation corps to distribute to residents to plant native gardens the following spring. Think Like an Engineer: we made seed bombs and butterfly/bee baths to take home.
• Made toys for animal shelter (girls voted on the idea and animal shelter asked for the specific project)
• Bat boxes donated to state park for Outdoor Journey
• Not done yet
• They made STEM inspired bookmarks to donate to school library, made a skit about design thinking process
• Bird house, sci-starter
• For Citizen Scientist - we hosted a town-wide bioblitz during the City Nature Challenge using iNaturalist
• For Outdoor Journey - we made and donated bird houses to a local conservation organization
• Ran a camp weekend for the SU, did a project for the county park dept.
• Outdoor: Cleaning up invasive species at camp, presenting to younger girls about importance of it. Citizen Science: SciStarters.
• Making tie blankets for local pet shelter
• Rolling library for a children’s hospital
• Posters about stereotypes; planting and watering native flowers at our meeting place
• They wanted to help children at a local shelter. They decided the libraries are too far away for people without transportation. Will be building a little free library to put in front of the shelter.
• Food drives
• Agent of Change--made and delivered gift bags for the elderly, Think Like An Engineer--made logo programing sets for middle schools, outdoor journey--made leave no trace video to share with other GS troops
• Planted trees at camp
• They did a project at camp where they made latrine improvements and planted certain plants near all the latrines to discourage pests and help with the smell.
• Taught outdoor skills to younger girls
• We made a coloring book for younger girls that had background facts about women in nontraditional roles and distributed it to a local after-school group.
• We switched to mainly outdoor and action badges and experiences by this point. Our girls had no interest in higher awards.
• The girls created posters and a skit to share what they'd learned, then performed the skit for families and shared the posters with their troop.
• Made mini game kits to give to local schools, made animal toys for shelter, made scratch video games about being outside and how to avoid poison ivy etc. and be safe, took part in a citizen scientist project through iNaturalist documenting plants and animals in our area, took part in the great sunflower and bird watching surveys.
• They brought epilepsy awareness training to their schools
• multilevel- the girls decided to take the education route for their projects. they each created a mini poster for different aspects of the lesson on a piece of printer paper and then glued them all to a trifold presentation board. Practiced what they were going to say for each part. Then presented the information to a local veterans group, as well as posting the information on social media to further educate.
• Planted flowers and plants at a shelter for women
• Making reusable bags
• No Junior Journeys.
• Data collection for science website, media videos on engineering.
• Blessing bags with list of local resources for soup kitchen patrons, STEM kits with built in science fair project, created an enrichment zone at the local animal shelter
• Donations for schools and animal shelters
• Citizen science, posters to educate
• Education of the public on Homelessness with toiletry drive
• We volunteered at a retirement home and gave a gift of conversation with the residents. The girls also made birdfeeders with the residents and hung them outside the dining room window so the residents could enjoy the birds.
• We made geocaches in our neighborhood and shared information about the outdoor art installations that are installed throughout our parks.
• For programming they made a video about morse code that we shared. For outdoor we started working on building a community garden in our town.
• #1 ways to upcycle downed trees from hurricanes since removal causes a huge community burden #2 inside out T-shirts with message that it's what's on the inside that counts (Internal vs external beauty and dispelling stigmas of perfect)
• The juniors made a closet of period products for their school and the local shelter
• To be honest, I can't even remember what we did for the journey.
• NA only one junior and she always enjoyed crafts and more social activities and never voted on a Journey.
• We made encouraging signs for around their different schools.
• Made birdhouses
• Outdoor- made a website about litter, made stickers with QR code to website, made yard signs with the sticker to put in every scouts yard.
• AMUSE- wrote and performed skits about stereotypes for troop families
• TLA programmer - made robot and programmer kits with instructions for 3rd grade classrooms in our school district.
• Posters on leave no trace
• All levels pitched in to clean up flower beds in a low income housing community
• We're in the middle of making feral animal houses for our communities
• I honestly don't remember
• Donated stem books for girls to school library and made a display
• First year junior leader and I’m afraid of Journeys.
• Educating library patrons about energy conservation, created posters for the local cancer center with nature scenes and notes on ways that nature can help people feel better
• They made a video on how to make your own reusable bag out of a t-shirt
• An educational video on the 7 principles of Leave No Trace with hand signals to remember each.
• Made a video on anti bullying
• Teaching about female athletes; don’t remember the other 2
• The girls learned to take care of a plant, then decorated the container and donated it to a nursing home, we collected items for a local wildlife sanctuary and publicized the fact that they needed items, and one was administered virtually through council, and I can’t remember it anymore!
• We made posters to advocate for funding of a new park. The posters were brought to a city council meeting. The project was led by a troop parent.
• These projects were a starting point to learning what a TAP was. Some of my girls just did a project and then we learned together how to make it more sustainable.
• The girls did a letter writing campaign to publishers about how girls are represented in media
• They were fully girl led.
• We are in the process of TAP for Outdoor Journey. Definitely girl led to the best of abilities
• Video on how girls are just as good as boys at sports
• We taught a younger troop how to make catapults and about the engineering design process.
• Made posters to encourage taking care of our planet
• The girls performed skits on different stereotypes.
• Another they did reports on women in engineering and they were going to present to other children but Covid hit so they donated their reports to the library
• We helped a UF research project locally by testing local water samples
• The first one (think like) - was raising awareness for a big cat sanctuary. The girls didn't complete the project because leaders (myself included) were too hands off and the girls ran out of time.
• The second one (original) - raised awareness of stereotypes. Girls got into groups and made videos countering common stereotypes about girls.
• Created a flyer for prospective Girl Scouts about the activities Juniors can do - and presented at troop formation meetings
• We mostly did skits and posters.
• They made up-cycled t-shirt totes
• Kindness rocks to encourage people to get outdoors, skit to teach Design process to Daisies
• Taught outdoor skills to younger troop
• More girl-led
• Made a brochure on how to sew pajama shorts
• Fire safety education
• Created a you tube channel for age friendly information
• They decided to do a multi-pronged PSA about turtles and how important they are to ecosystems, how most native species in our area are endangered, etc. They designed a board game, flyers to hang at the library, and an informational web page. This TAP is ongoing for my Junior troop.
• My Cadette Troop, when they were Juniors, did individual TAPs because it was the pandemic and it was difficult for us to coordinate virtual normal meetings, let alone group projects.
• I led juniors before Journeys
• They went to a village meeting to advocate electric charging stations in town since for electric cars
• They created a skit with information
• Recycling posters for school, stereotype posters for school, video about the danger of ticks
• They taught outdoor skills to Brownie troops through workshops and Camporees, and an after school Leave No Trace workshop in the park for a wider audience.
• They promoted STEM for girls through videos and robotics workshops, highlighting the value of diverse viewpoints. (Lots of teamwork games with co-ed and girls-only groups.)
• Puppet show about stereotypes that we are recording and showing younger troops, outdoor journey we are going to be doing box turtle conservation project where we educate people on box turtles (patch program) and posting information on how to report their numbers
• In simplest terms they created mini landfills and presented their data at a large GS event.
• Video to refute a stereotype
• Painted birdhouses and hung them at camp

My Comments

Some of those TAPs