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Detroit office helps metro Detroit Girl Scouts go places, including California

Published

7 months ago

May 19, 2024

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Detroit office helps metro Detroit Girl Scouts go places, including California

Girl Scout cookies are an American favorite. But Monica Woodson knows that when Girl Scouts across southeastern Michigan do “revolutionary” things, local communities and even the world takes notice.

Located just outside of Eastern Market — one of the most popular Detroit destinations for foods of virtually any kind — is an organization that is also known by many for its longtime connection to a famous sweet treat.

However, while anyone affiliated with the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan would be delighted to discuss and sell many boxes of their popular fundraising Girl Scout cookies during a certain time of year, there is considerably more that can be said about the ever-evolving story of Girl Scouts across metro Detroit.

In fact, sometimes that story stretches well beyond metro Detroit and Michigan, which will be the case when a group of metro Detroit Girl Scouts travel to California soon to participate in the Western Edge FIRST LEGO League Open robotics competition. The event, which will take place from May 31 through June 2 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California, will bring together teams from around the world, including six Girl Scout Juniors from Farmington Hills — fifth graders Navika Anil, Raina Cranson, Aarushi Chatterjee, Katie Gee, Avery Pitchford and sixth grader Kate Wilpula — that comprise FIRST LEGO League Challenge Team 35450, also known as the “Gear Box Girls” by people that have become acquainted with the dedicated team coached by Karen Gee.

“It’s incredibly exciting and we couldn’t be more proud of these young ladies,” said Monica Woodson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM), headquartered at 1155 Gratiot within the Brewery Park Corporate Campus. “They have worked so hard to get to this point in their journey, not only with their robot, but also through raising the funds necessary to get to the global competition.

“These girls, along with all of the Girl Scouts that participate in robotics and additional STEAM activities, are forging their own paths while preparing for a future without inequities, discrimination and glass ceilings.”

From refurbished office space that formerly housed Detroit’s historic Stroh’s Brewery, Woodson and her team develop programs and activities that touch girls from miles away while focusing on the Girl Scouts’ four program pillars: entrepreneurship, outdoor education, life skills and STEAM. For example, the robotics experience that the Gear Box Girls and approximately 85 other area Girl Scouts have participated in since 2023 was supported by a partnership between GSSEM and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Michigan, which has connected the Girl Scouts to additional community resources.

As a result of the partnership, through robotics competitions like the FIRST LEGO League Michigan Championship in Saline on Dec. 16, 2023, where the Gear Box Girls earned an invitation to the global competition in Long Beach, California; and, specific age and troop-level training workshops, Girl Scouts across southeastern Michigan have been directly engaged in robotics. The participating Girl Scouts also have included Daisies (troopers between the ages of 5 and 6 or in kindergarten) that built and programmed a dinosaur LEGO robot with motors and motion sensors; and Brownies (second and third graders) that constructed and programmed a barking dog LEGO robot to demonstrate how robots interact with the world.

These activities and more support the statement that Girl Scouts are “more than cookies,” which members of Woodson’s team say they have heard a time or two from their leader.

“Girl Scout cookies are a great way to raise funds and awareness, and the activity of selling is a fun way of introducing Girl Scouts to the concepts of money, sales and working together toward a common goal,” Woodson, who oversees a service area that touches nine counties and reaches more than 22,000 girls, said. “That being said, we would be doing a disservice to our Girl Scouts and their communities if we didn’t introduce the boundless opportunities available to them. Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan represents girls with all sorts of curiosities, so we offer a variety of programs to stimulate and nurture those interests. When Girl Scouts are introduced to our dynamic and diverse programs, these amazing community projects are really the grand finale to a girl’s portfolio of experiences that bring the Girl Scout Law to life.”

Woodson’s mention of the “Girl Scout Promise and Law” provides a reminder of the profound words toward the end of the Girl Scouts Law that call for all Girl Scouts to “make the world a better place.” And there are several recent examples that show how Woodson and her team are helping area Girl Scouts respond to that noble call to action through programming that goes beyond robotics, like the 10-part “Virtual Friday Night Live with a Commissioner,” made possible through a partnership between GSSEM and the Michigan Women’s Commission, which allows Girl Scout Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, Volunteers and Ambassadors to learn how to “make the changes they want to see in the world” through live virtual interaction with female leaders in Michigan government, such as Maria Martinez, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who will chat with Girl Scouts on the evening of May 24. Before that event, an expected 200-plus Girl Scouts and their chaperones will descend on downtown Detroit for Discover Detroit Day on Saturday, May 18, a collaboration between GSSEM and City Tour Detroit, which will allow the participating Girl Scouts to earn Discover Detroit, People Mover and Urban Explorer patches during a day focused on education and exploration.

Then there are the ongoing Girl Scout Gold Award projects that address community issues, such as the project conducted by Sage Johnson, a member of Troop No. 43550 from Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. Johnson, a graduating senior at Mercy High School, created a project aimed at inspiring elementary and middle school students to explore STEM fields and develop problem-solving skills through experiments she conducted with students attending Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy in Detroit. Due to the success of the project, which also included medical professionals as advisers, the school has decided to host the event annually.

“From mental health services on school campuses to disability awareness on the playground to developing a pollinator garden, Gold Award Girl Scouts take action to discover a root cause of an issue that they feel passionate about that has national and/or global ties, while creating a sustainable and measurable impact,” explained Woodson, whose organization received a fundraising boost connected to the recent NFL draft thanks to a Girl Scout-themed, giant cleat artwork created by Laura Mettam — a GSSEM parent volunteer — and Kay Blair. The artistic giant cleat was installed at the Detroit Foundation Hotel as part of the DCLEATED exhibit, which raised money for local charities. “You never know what might spark a revolutionary resolution to an issue. And our Gold Award Girl Scouts embody this theory.”

And while there may not be a way to predict just when a Girl Scout will do something that is “revolutionary,” one observer of the local team heading to California has an idea of what competitors from around the world are about to see.

“The Girl Scouts are a force to reckon with,” proclaimed Leon Pryor Jr., a 2024 co-recipient of the Woodie Flowers Award presented by FIRST Michigan to outstanding mentors, who provided information and motivation to members of the Gear Box Girls and other Girl Scouts that participated in a Robotics Expo presented by GSSEM and FIRST Michigan in Dearborn on May 4. “For sure, their (the Gear Box Girls) invitation to compete in a global event is a victory for the entire local robotics and STEM community. Our team at Marygrove High School has volunteered at workshops where we have been able to share with Girl Scouts, and they tend to dominate FIRST LEGO League competitions.

“We wish the team going to Long Beach continued success and we encourage them to stay the course when it comes to STEM engagement.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.

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California man beheaded his 1-year-old son with a knife, authorities say

Published

25 minutes ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

California man beheaded his 1-year-old son with a knife, authorities say

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man has been arrested on suspicion of beheading his 1-year-old son, Northern California authorities said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday that deputies responding to an early morning family disturbance call found a woman outside a home who told deputies that her husband Andrey Demskiy, 28, assaulted her and her mother.

Deputies forced their way into the house in northern Sacramento County when they learned Demskiy was inside with the boy. As they took him into custody, they found a “severed child’s head” in the bedroom where Demskiy was detained.

Detectives said Demskiy used a knife to behead his son after his wife and mother-in-law left the house, according to the statement. He was in custody and ineligible for bail, and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

The sheriff’s department and the county public defenders office did not respond to emails seeking information on whether Demskiy had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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Protests Swept California Campuses Last Year. Schools Are Now Blocking Them | KQED

Published

8 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Protests Swept California Campuses Last Year. Schools Are Now Blocking Them | KQED

At UC Santa Cruz, police arrested one student who was using a megaphone during a demonstration on Oct. 7, according to an eyewitness who spoke to LookOut Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office public arrest reports show one person was arrested on the Santa Cruz campus for obstruction of a public officer and battery without injury that day.

While no arrests were made, Pomona College has suspended 12 students for the remainder of the 2024–25 academic year following an Oct. 7 demonstration in which they entered, damaged and vandalized a restricted building, according to the student newspaper. The college also banned dozens of students from the four other campuses of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium that includes Pomona.

Private colleges have implemented their own policy changes. Pomona College now requires students and faculty to swipe their ID cards to enter academic buildings. Since last semester, students and visitors entering USC are also required to show a school or photo ID.

Some students are still facing charges from last year’s protests

Few charges have been filed after UCLA’s encampment made headlines in April when counterprotesters led an attack on encampment protesters while law enforcement did not intervene for several hours. The following day, 254 people were arrested on charges related to the protest encampment. In October, two additional people were also arrested for participating in the counter-protester violence.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is pursuing three felony cases against individuals arrested at UCLA in relation to violence during last spring’s protests.

Meanwhile, the city attorney’s office is reviewing 93 misdemeanor cases from USC and 210 from UCLA, according to information it provided to CalMatters last month.

Lilyan Zwirzina, a junior at Cal Poly Humboldt, was among the students arrested in the early morning of April 30 following protesters occupying a campus building and ignoring orders to disperse from the university. Law enforcement took her to Humboldt County Correctional Facility, where she faced four misdemeanor charges, including resisting arrest. Zwirzina thought she’d have to cancel her study abroad semester, which conflicted with the court date she was given.

“I was pretty frustrated and kind of freaked out,” Zwirzina said. Authorities dropped the charges against her in July.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demand police officers go home during a protest outside of Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata on April 22, 2024. (Mark McKenna/CalMatters)

The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office didn’t pursue charges against 27 of the 39 people arrested, citing insufficient evidence. The 12 remaining cases were referred to the Cal Poly Humboldt Police Department for investigation. Those cases remain under investigation, according to the university.

For 13 people, including students, arrested at Stanford University in June, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has not pressed charges as of Nov. 20, according to information his office provided CalMatters.

Elsewhere across the state, some district attorneys are pursuing misdemeanor and felony charges against student protesters. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is pursuing misdemeanor charges against 50 people, including two UCI professors, a teaching assistant, and 26 students, stemming from a protest at UC Irvine on Oct. 22, 2023. Charges include failure to disperse, resisting arrest and vandalism.

At Pomona College, 19 students were arrested on April 5 on charges of trespassing after some protesters entered and refused to leave an administrative building. Students arrested either had their cases dismissed or have accepted community service in lieu of further legal action. James Gutierrez, the attorney representing the arrested students, said he asked that the college drop charges against its students, citing their right to protest the use of paid tuition dollars.

“They are righteously demanding that their colleges, the ones they pay tuition to and housing fees and pour a lot of money into, that that university or college stop investing in companies that are directly supporting this genocide and indirectly supporting it,” he said.

Students fight back against campus protest policies

As administrators face the challenge of applying protest policies more uniformly and swiftly, the truer test of California public higher education institutions’ protest rules will be playing out in court.

In one already resolved case, UC leadership agreed in August to comply with a court order requiring the campus to end programs or events that exclude Jewish students. A federal judge ruled some Jewish students in support of Israel who were blocked from entering the encampment had their religious liberties violated — though some Jewish students did participate in UCLA’s protest encampment.

Now, students have filed at least two lawsuits against their campuses and the UC system for violating their rights while ending student encampments last spring. In September, ACLU NorCal filed suits against the UC and UC Santa Cruz for not providing students due process when they immediately barred arrested students from returning to campus.

“Those students should have gotten a hearing, an opportunity to defend themselves or to explain themselves, and the school would have shown evidence of why they created a risk of disturbance on campus,” Chessie Thacher, senior staff attorney at ACLU of Northern California, said.

UC Santa Cruz spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said the university “appreciates the court’s careful deliberation” and that the university “is committed to upholding the right to free expression while also protecting the safety of its campus community.”

In October, ACLU SoCal filed lawsuits on behalf of two students and two faculty members against the UC and UCLA, alleging the actions the university took to break down the encampment violated their free speech rights.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez told CalMatters via email that the university would respond in court and that UCLA “fully supports community members expressing their First Amendment rights in ways that do not violate the law, our policies, jeopardize community safety, or disrupt the functioning of the university.”

“The encampment that arose on campus this spring became a focal point for violence, a disruption to campus, and was in violation of the law,” Vazquez said in the email statement. “These conditions necessitated its removal.”

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