Artist's rendering of Girl Scout Program and Training Center

Kalamazoo with New Girl Scout Facility

Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Project Type: New Facility

Hopes for the future will be rising along with an exciting new building to break ground this year in downtown Kalamazoo. The new Girl Scouts of Glowing Embers Council Program and Training Center, to be located just across from Channel 3, will provide an unusual opportunity for "networking" of an entirely different kind! Girl Scouting is a rewarding experience. But studies have shown that girls from suburban and rural environments are often intimidated by the unfamiliar crowds, noise, and commotion on visits to larger cities.

In contrast, girls who live in urban settings are similarly intimidated when suddenly delivered to a remote natural area with few people, no lights, and a very different array of sounds.

The new Program and Training Center will provide an "urban oasis" that will help each group by providing a meeting and camping spot that brings a natural environment into the heart of the city. And perhaps most importantly, it will afford the opportunity for girls from all backgrounds and geographies to be together and get to know one another in a comfortable, non-threatening environment.

Kathy Mills, Associate Executive Director of Girl Scouts of Glowing Embers Council, envisions dramatic long-term benefits from this blending:

"It will broaden the horizons of our Scouts, and give them more confidence in less familiar settings. And it should provide another positive way to counteract racism and break down the barriers between different cultures."

Friendly in many ways-including environmentally!

The Program and Training Center will feature warm and welcoming program, activity, and meeting rooms; overnight facilities; a computer lab; and administrative offices. And wherever possible, environmentally friendly materials, designs, and construction techniques will be employed.

The facility will be used for many purposes, not the least of which is the training of adult Girl Scout leaders. "It's an important job, and we place a lot of emphasis on training our leaders," Ms. Mills emphasized. "The girls need continued inside the support of good mentors and leaders to stretch their imaginations and realize their capabilities."

SKP Design, the interior design consultant, will make the building itself an educational opportunity; in several areas, the structural and mechanical components of the building's infrastructure will be left visible so that girls and other visitors can learn about the construction process.

Camping out...INSIDE!

Perhaps the most intriguing element of the new structure will be the "greenhouse" area. An expansive glass ceiling will provide the warm daylight and starry skies of a real campout, and the sodded grass floor will be perfect for pitching tents. Sand will be brought in and provide the basis for outdoor recreation such as "beach volleyball."

The one-of-a-kind greenhouse facility provides a genuine camping experience, natural beauty, and recreational opportunities, all at half the cost of building a traditional "gym."

But all the natural beauty isn't confined to inside! On the south side of the building will be exterior gardens representing the four "World Centers" of Girl Scouts in Switzerland, Mexico, India, and England. Girl Scouts will plant and maintain these gardens with the plantings and designs common to the areas they celebrate.

The $3.5-4 million Program and Training Center is targeted for completion in the fall of 2006. And the first program scheduled to take place in it, appropriately enough, is "Living On My Honor"-helping to celebrate our differences and similarities as different cultures, but one people. Pretty much sums up the whole project's mission! As Ms. Mills puts it:

"Our Council needs a space like this because girls need a space like this to realize their potential-and we are the prime organization for girls in this area. With all the things this facility will make possible, it will meet important needs of the girls of this county, this country, and even internatio

The Girls Scouts of Glowing Embers Council represents girls in Allegan, Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and part of Van Buren counties.

Key corporate and private donations have provided initial funding for the project, but major fund-raising efforts continue. If you'd like to help support the Program and Training Center, call the Girl Scouts of Glowing Embers Council at (269) 965-5519.

In addition to SKP Design's services, the architect-of-record is Design Plus, and the design architect is H3 Architecture. Landscape architect is O'Boyle-Cowell-Blalock & Associates. CSM Group is construction manager, with Project Director Todd McDonald overseeing construction of the center.