Day 3

What a long day! After a nice breakfast out with the GSSNE delegation, we split off in different directions. The delegates went to their council session and the GSLI members went off to our discussion groups. After lots of swapping and working on the selfie game, we went to our different topic groups. I have Gender Equality, Chloe has Teen Violence, and Nicole has Inclusion & Diversity. We each had a speaker specified to our issue and then had speakers who spoke about advocacy, financing, team building, and many others. The speaker schedules were designed to be centered around our Take Action projects. We had a lunch where Candice Kislack spoke, who is from the company Toms. We then got some time in the Hall of Experiences in the afternoon before going back to more speakers. We then had an absolutely inspirational speaker dinner with Elizabeth Smart. Her book was on sale, which I purchased. If you would like to learn more about her story, please visit http://elizabethsmartfoundation.org . We then went to take action project planning and did a lot more swapping. Afterwards, we walked around downtown and found a cute gelatin shop before coming back to the hotel. It was a long day, and I hope tomorrow is full of more fun!

Day 2: Pictures

Sorry I couldn't post yesterday, the hotel wifi was in and out and when I finally got the pictures up the website crashed. So, take two!

 photo in the hotel

 right outside the convention center!

 building life size jenga with our new friends from Mexico!

 swapping with Mexico

 With a woman who has a coat COVERED in patches of places her troop has been!

 a close up of Anna Maria Chauvez leading the GSLI girls to the opening of the Hall of Experiences

 our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Tererai Trent, gave a very inspirational speech about dreams and determination.

 selfie with California!

 selfie with Pennsylvania!

 Selfie right before the opening ceremony started

 a view of the opening arena - 6000 people attended!

after the opening ceremonies we walked around downtown SLC and found a ballet center, so of course we had to take a picture of it!

Join the conversation

You can be part of the Convention tomorrow afternoon! 

Join in for a livestream of Conversation of Consequence “Leadership in Action: Inspiring Others to Lead” on October 18, from 4:30-6:00 EDT. 

Girl Scouts will be discussing with top-notch panelists the changing nature of leadership and how women can lead social change. When it's time, just click here: http://new.livestream.com/Dell/gsleadership

A high-speed internet connection and web browser such as Chrome, Explorer, Firefox and Safari will yield the best viewing.

Thursday recap

Neil Stamps, Nina Dash, Pat Smith, Elsie Foy & Tricia Borgia at registration

As the adult delegates arrived, registered, and got settled in, Chloe, Grace & Nicole spent time in the Girl Center - with games and activities, swapping, sharing contact info with girls from around the world - including Mexico!

The girls then made it to the opening of the Girl Scout Leadership Institute, with keynote speaker Dr. Terrai Trent. "What an amazing story and journey her life has been. So inspirational. One quote that comes to mind is: 'When you applaud your sister Girl Scouts, it is because she is a mirror of yourself - you applaud the courage, strength, and good in other.'" - Melissa Paquin, Attleboro SUM, and GSLI Chaperone

After dinner, it was time for the opening ceremony of the Convention!

Nicole, Neil Stamps, and Melissa Paquin

"Last night blew us all away!  The energy in the room was incredible and the speakers, girls, and performances were spectacular!" - Neil Stamps, GSSNE CEO

  

Convention: Day 2

I don't have much time to write about everything that we did today, but here's a few highlights:

- We met some some Girl Guides from Mexico!
- I traded a few a ton of SWAPS
- Heard from some AMAZING speakers such as Dr. Trent, and Alison Levine
- Met Girl Scouts from every corner of the USA
- Heard some awesome ideas!
- Spent some time in the hall of experiences (we only got 1/4 done in a hour)
- Had LOTS of fun!

Hopefully when the wifi is better, I'll be able to post the vlogs (video blogs) and more pics!
-Nicole

Adult Delegates have arrived!

GSSNE CEO Neil M. Stamps, left, with Bristol/Warren SUM & Voting Delegate, Tricia Borgia
on the plane, ready for take-off

Neil & Tricia, with Pat Smith, GSSNE's Younger Girl Program Specialist and Voting Delegate, on right
- waiting to the get their bags in Salt Lake City

Morning fun!

So far we've met friends from Utah, Pennsylvania, New York, Idaho, Mexico, and many other places! Pictured here are the girls from Mexico, Idaho, and Iowa!