Director’s cut: Girl Scouts make movies at Park Meadows

Many teenagers (and soon-to-be teenagers) are more than happy to do a little shopping at the local mall. But on Saturday, July 17, a crew of Colorado Girl Scouts converged on Park Meadows Mall with much more than shopping on their agendas. With help from the Microsoft Store, girls took a turn in the director’s chair and designed, shot and edited their own movies.

“It was a great way to express myself,” said Abby Rodgers of Parker. The 14-year-old, along with a team of other girls, developed a script set and captured footage using video cameras. Back at the Microsoft Store, teams learned to edit their video, insert graphics, add special effects and set the finished piece to music.

“I loved coming to this,” said 12-year-old Liz Schmidt, who enjoyed meeting new girls and just plain having fun. The Parker Girl Scout’s only wish for next year’s event? “To do it again for a longer period of time.”

After the event, Microsoft burned DVDs of the teams’ final videos and sent them out to the girls as a keepsake from the event.

The girls who attended this event walked away with the technical skills to super-charge school presentations using common computer equipment and software. In a time when men are landing most of the country’s computer and mathematical jobs (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), Girl Scouts of Colorado encourages girls to take an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Collaborative, hands-on programs, such as Microsoft Movie Mania, show girls their STEM potential. For more information on Girl Scouts of Colorado and how you or a girl you know can get involved in our programming, visit www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org or call 303-778-8774.

Photo (Courtesy Girl Scouts of Colorado): From left, Abbie Chopper, 11, of Thornton;
Jessica Whitcomb, 10, of Erie; and Ashley Vargo, 10, of Highlands Ranch, smile
for a picture before setting out to shoot footage in Park Meadows Mall.