Two girl scouts from the Leeds Girl Scout Troup 30234, under the leadership of Troup Leader Liz Johnson, made a presentation to the Leeds Jane Culbreth Library last Thursday. Girl Scouts, Emma Cox and Katelyn Finn, took on a project to help them attain the Bronze Award which is the highest award achievable at their particular level in the Girl Scout program.
In the presentation to the library board of directors, Katelyn shared, “My name is Katelyn Finn and this is Emma Cox and we would like to present six Tinker Boxes. I am happy to advise that this project has helped us complete and earn the highest award possible to our level of Juniors in the Girl Scout Program which is the Bronze Award. There are several steps to receiving this award including providing a sustainable, meaningful lasting project for a recipient in the community. We were required to complete at least 20 hours each to go into the project including choosing the project, doing the research required to develop the project, creating the plan, implementing the plan and presenting the final project to the recipient to complete the requirements for the award. These Tinker boxes were created to help Ms. Annette McGuire, the Activities Director with the library, in her desire to use them while working with her S.T.E.M. Program at the library. S.T.E.M. stands for science, technology, engineering and math.”
Emma shared, “We are presenting four Tinker Boxes today which contain assorted hand tools such as screw drivers both standard and ratcheting, assorted types of wrenches, rachets and assorted types of screws, bolts, nuts, anchors and washers. These tools will be used with these wooden stands that we created to allow the user to learn how these different types of screws and bolts. We created two each of these types of Tinker Boxes including step-by-step instructions on how to use the kits. In addition to these four Tinker Boxes, we also made one of each Tinker Box which teaches the user how a flashlight works. These Tinker Boxes contain different types of flashlights and all the parts that go with them. Instructions are included on how to put each flashlight together, including how the batteries are assembled and what has to happen to allow the batteries to have the light come on. We want to thank Ms. Annette and all of you for allowing us to help the library in this way and hope that these Tinker Boxes will help the kids to learn about these things in a fun way. This completes our presentation and we thank you all for allowing us to be here.”
Congratulations, Katelyn and Emma on your accomplishments and to the Leeds Jane Culbreth Library for being the recipient of this wonderful project!
National STEM day is November 8 and the library will be officially presenting the Tinker Boxes made by Emma and Katelyn for everyone to view at the library at their all-day STEM event. Hands-on activities will be available for all ages to explore and library staff will explain what STEM is. Plans are to expand their STEM program to be available for adults and tots in 2023.
STEM activities require gathering and using evidence to create knowledge or solve problems. The Leeds Jane Culbreth Library’s monthly STEM Club provides hands-on challenges to stimulate higher thinking skills through activities for children explore, play, and try new things.
For more information about this and other library programs, please visit www.LeedsLibrary.com.
Pictured here with their project L-R: Todd Hower, Emma Cox, Patrick Sessions, Barbara Carney, Linda Miller, Susan Miller, Brent Reese, Katelyn Finn and Liz Johnson.