Whiz Kids: Girl Scouts Celebrate 'Thinking' Day

Know a great kid volunteering in your community... or did your local soccer team take the championship? They may be our next Patch "Whiz Kid" honorees.  Let us know.  This week, our Whiz Kids are some local girl scouts.  Way to go, girls!

You didn't need a passport to travel the world with some local girl scouts at in Minnetonka on Saturday.  In the middle of a global village built by the Hopkins/Glen Lake Girl Scouts, ‘Thinking Day’ was on.

This year's Thinking Day theme was ‘Art Around the World.’ Each troop picked a country and created a display featuring that country's crafts, food, artwork or interesting facts.

“Thinking day is a world wide event or day celebrated by the Girl Guide and Girl Scouts world wide," said Lynn Uthe, Hopkins troop 12279 leader.  "It's a day to stop and think about issues that either involve girls or global issues or both."

Uthe, herself a scout as a young girl, helped put on the day's event-- she said it was too important not to: “The girls learn organizational and leadership skills, and they learn to work within a bigger sense of community.”

At the Ireland table, girls carefully crafted orange, white and green tissue flowers and nibbled on soda bread.

In China, students from troop 17811, offered the opportunity to eat rice with chopsticks.

“You teach people how to use chopsticks. They always use chopsticks," said Mia, an 8-year-old Golden Valley resident. 

“Its about learning about different countries, so if you ever go there you don't have to be like 'Ew, I don't like this!' So you should try one of their famous foods that they have there," 7-year-old Mackenzie, quickly followed up. 

Eight-year-old Claire, from 'Sweden' by way of troop 13352 from in Minnetonka, said--enthusiastically- that the coolest thing she learned about Sweden was, “Vikings were from Sweden and so was IKEA.”

Near the entrance of the global village was a large white banner filled with a variety of handprints representing the community of Girl Scouts present at this event-- from the younger scouts wearing their patch-filled vests and eagerly getting their “passports” stamped at every country to the older, mature high school girls, gathered in the corner busily texting.

Girl Scouts not only celebrate their own community, but as 11-year-old student, Elena from Hopkins troop 12279 recognized, they celebrate their part in a global world.

“I just think it's kind of fun to know that you're part of something that's really big and world-wide,” Elena said.