
Girl Scouts Find Symbiosis with the Library in Butterfly Project
- March 17, 2019
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- Osceolawoman2017
- Posted in Community & PlayFamilyLife & Work
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by Lisa Jones, OLS staff
The West Osceola Library, located in Celebration, has partnered with the local Girl Scout Troops and Osceola County Extension Services to create a Butterfly Garden at the library. All of the Girl Scout troops in the nearby community were invited to take part in the preparation and planting of the garden. The Butterfly Project and The Butterfly Garden were 2 library programs created to give the Girl Scouts the opportunity to earn patches. These programs taught the steps needed to create a garden from start to finish, including the planning, budgeting, and selection of plants. The result of these 2 programs was the actual planting of the garden, along with instruction on how the Girl Scouts will maintain the garden over time.

The West Osceola Library has been providing opportunities for Girl Scouts to earn patches through library programming for over 3 years. Although these programs are created to meet specific patch requirements, they are engaging enough to catch the interest of any young visitor. Last year 19 of these programs were offered. Three additional programs were created that gave the Girl Scouts an opportunity to earn a badge. One example was a 6-week long journey entitled “Think Like an Engineer,” in which both the Girl Scouts and other young visitors used their engineering skills to plan and actually build the obelisk that will be featured in the butterfly garden!
This community partnership has been mutually beneficial. Not only are the Girl Scouts earning patches and badges, but the West Osceola Library’s program attendance has risen, with the engineering program having some of the library’s largest attendance numbers to date.
The Butterfly Garden’s official ground-breaking ceremony was on Wednesday March 6, located at 305 Campus Street, Celebration FL 34747. Visit www.osceolalibrary.org to see what other exciting events are happening at the Osceola Library System.