(ROCKWALL, TX — August 31, 2018) Earlier this summer, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas had the opportunity to come together and make new friends while earning badges during the weeklong Summer Badge Mania event held at the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall. I was invited to partake in this fun program as a special guest speaker to help a group of 16 Cadettes earn their Netiquette Badge.
The Summer Badge Mania welcomes local Girl Scouts to earn badges led by fellow scouts, volunteers and local professionals. As editor of Blue Ribbon News, I proudly accepted an invite to teach the scouts ways to keep cyberspace a positive place. I’ll admit I was very nervous going into it; I’m not one who usually gravitates towards being the center of attention. Lucky for me, the scouts were highly curious about the topic and asked lots of questions.
I began by sharing how Blue Ribbon News uses social media to increase awareness of positive community news. I also discussed how to use proper email etiquette. The Cadettes filled out a fun questionnaire on habits which might bother them in an email – things like using all caps in an email, not responding in a timely fashion, or lack of basic grammar and punctuation. The quiz had them rank each habit from least bothersome to most bothersome on a scale of 1-5. Since most of the kids were between ages 11-13 and had little to no prior experience using email, it was interesting to see their rankings for each habit.
Towards the end of the class, the troop leaders and I had the scouts create their own Instagram profile (on paper). They drew pictures representing the kinds of things they would post on their Instagram page. These kids had quite the imagination! Many of them drew things related to their hobbies and interests. I was quite impressed to see the cleverness and thought behind what they drew for their grids. I loved getting to learn more about them through their creativity!
By the end of the class, I felt like I had learned so much about the scouts and their perception of social media. I was so thrilled to be a part of such a fantastic program for local girl scouts! The experience helped me to grow as a person and as a professional. I hope the scouts enjoyed their lesson on netiquette as much as I enjoyed teaching them!
ABOUT OUR EDITOR
I have been the editor of Blue Ribbon News since April 2016. I was born and raised in Heath, TX and I’m the author of Images of America: Heath, a chronicle of historic photographs of my town’s roots. When I’m not around town covering events, you can usually find me enjoying a good book and a hot cup of coffee.
Editor’s Note: Girl Scouts Summer Badge Mania added by Austin on
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