***Like many of the GSCSA patches, the requirements no longer show up online. The badge is still available though as of this posting. Here are the requirements I'd saved for us to do at the Brownie level. This is a fascinating patch to earn.
Oak Ridge Secret City Heritage Patch* Step 1: Imagine if you had to pack up all your belongings, leave your friends, and go to live in a secret place watched by armed guards. Read the “Event List: Secret City Heritage.” Step 2: Visit the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge (CMOR) to view exhibits about Oak Ridge history. Use the checklist of displays. View the GS exhibit. Step 3: Do one or more of these: ____ Explore a flat top house at American Museum of Science and Energy. ____ Walk through Secret City Commemorative Walk, at Bissell Park ____ Go to International Friendship Bell, at Bissell Park. Step 4: read the play:“1940’s Radio Interview” Step 5: Consider making & sharing a project with others to tell what you learned about Oak Ridge. Examples: Show and explain your project to your family by bulletin board display, video or youtube presentation etc. Event List: “Secret City” Heritage Oak Ridge, Tennessee - Oak Ridge, Tennessee developed the atomic bomb in WW2 that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. It helped to end the war! The Atomic Bomb was the first nuclear weapon used in wartime. 1-“The Manhattan Project”:1942 (WW2) Pres FDR, the U.S.government and Major General Leslie Groves created an official secret area in TN to develop a uranium bomb. Later the secret area became Oak Ridge. 2-It fenced in, with were guardhouses & armed guards at the entrances. Only people w/ special gov’t badges were allowed. It wasn’t on maps. 3-Scientists, construction workers & their families were recruited to live and work there. No one knew the whole story of why they were there. Homes, churches and schools were built, and teachers were hired. 4-Children attended school but could use only first names to protect their dads’ identities for security. 5-In 1943, Elsie Novy, a teacher at Pine Valley Elementary, told her principal’s “We need Girl Scouts –something most girls already know and love” because many were stressed from being moved far from home. 6-Elsie Novy and her principal convinced Manhattan Project’s commanding officer, General Leslie Groves, that GS was necessary for “The War Effort.” General Groves and Miss Novy travelled by an unmarked car to a “secure phone” in Knoxville. They called FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. Permission was granted to organize Girl Scouts in The Secret City. Only one person from Girl Scout National Headquarters was allowed to know about the group! 7-GS was the 1st organized activity for youth in Oak Ridge (1943). Girls and adults were registered for Girl Scouts by first names only. By 1944 there were 3 schools w/ 26 troops. The Army censored GS correspondence and had to approve all equipment & badge orders until Nov 1945.By January 1945 there were 41 troops with 783 girls. 8-Mrs. Willena Stone was involved a good friend of Elsie. Several days after the explosion of the atomic bomb, Willena Stone resigned from Girl Scouting and left w/ her husband but was recognized at her death for her work. 9-In May 1945 Elsie Novy was awarded the Thanks Badge as she planned to leave Oak Ridge for Red Cross service. In August 1945, Japan surrendered, the war ended. Oak Ridge GS received an official charter then. The Officially, Oak Ridge was founded June 1, 1960. 10-Elsie Novy married and was Elsie Novy Atkins. She continued teraching and remained active in GS all her life. She died in 2010, and was still a GS! 11-The International Friendship Bell (aka the peace bell) near Oak Ridge Civic Center, symbolizes int’l friendship and hopes for a peaceful future. It was dedicated in 1996 and provides a legacy of Oak Ridge: Born of war, living for peace, growing through science. “A 1940’s Radio Interview” 1stAnnouncer: In the early 1940’s, during World War II, people came from across the country. There were large families and small, with all their belongings. They came to live in a secret city and left behind friends and relatives too. Fences surrounded 90 square miles and armed guards watched the area. This new city was not found on any map! 2nd Announcer: Thousands of people poured in from 48 states, to live in houses as quickly as they were built. The hammering of nails and the screeching of saws could be heard all day and night. A new house went up in just two hours, some complete with curtains. People came from every part of the country and lived in pre-fabricated buildings. They blended together because they all had the same goal - to win World War II by helping make the most powerful creation ever developed by science. But only a few were aware of what that creation would be - It was a secret! 1stAnnouncer: On September 19, 1942 , the site for this great project was chosen, and by December 31, all families that used to live in the farm land here had been moved out. to house the Manhattan Engineer District headquarters. In January 1943 The Army arrived to supervise construction of roads, railroads, utilities and the buildings , construction began on a city for a projected population of 13,000. Construction workers named the city “Oak Ridge.” 2nd Announcer: The growth of Oak Ridge was historically unique, but the way it developed was traditional: home, church, school, and then citizens’ forming interest groups. The families who came brought their cultural values. 1stAnnouncer: The first dormitories opened on June 15, 1943, and the first families arrived in July. On July 25, the first non-denominational church service was held in a cafeteria. Schools were being built, teachers were hired, and on October 4, the Oak Ridge Schools opened their doors to the first students at Pine Valley School. Some 637 students came that first day. It was a day of confusion, and a time for great ingenuity Teaching supplies were limited; there were no attendance or registration forms. As new elementary schools opened in the weeks and months following, students just moved to whichever school was the closest. No attempt was made to keep attendance records until December. The teachers taught those who were present! 2nd Announcer: On October 15, 1943, at a staff meeting at Pine Valley School, the principal asked: “How can we help these children adjust to the chaos?” Here’s the teacher, Miss Elsie Novy. Elsie Novy: “We need Girl Scouts—something most girls already know and love.” That was the beginning of Girl Scouts in Oak Ridge. But it was not as simple as it sounded. General Leslie R. Groves, who headed the project, had to be convinced that Girl Scouts were necessary for ‘the war effort.’After talking with General Groves, he and I were Knoxville. General Groves used a secure phone to talk with both the FBI in Washington, D.C., and Girl Scout council executives. Permission was granted to organize Girl Scouts in Oak Ridge. Of course, there were restrictions. Because Oak Ridge was not on a map, Girl Scout registrations were listed as coming from the Knoxville Girl Scout Office, but they were actually sent directly to New York by the Army. Girls and adults were registered by first name only, such as two Amy’s, four Mary’s, one Doris, etc. This helped to keep husbands’ and fathers’ last names and identities as scientists a secret.” 2nd Announcer: Miss Novy, what about cookie sales? Elsie Novy: During World War II, there wasn’t much sugar or butter. - The army called it rationing, - so cookies were not being baked, and all door-to-door sales were banned. It was mostly for security reasons, but it was also not to wake up sleeping shift workers. 2nd Announcer: Could you get help from Girl Scout headquarters in New York? Elsie Novy: No, any Girl Scout correspondence had to be approved by the Army, and the Army even had to order all Girl Scout badges—until 1945 when the war was over. 2nd Announcer: How many girls joined to the newly approved Girl Scout program, Miss Novy? Elsie Novy: When I announced the meeting, 43 Intermediate Girl Scouts (grades 5-8) came the first day. Most of them wore uniforms and had handbooks. By the next week, they became two troops, and in a month, there were four Intermediate and three Brownie troops (grades 2-4). I became leader to Troop 1. As other schools were built and more and more families moved to Oak Ridge, the Girl Scout troops multiplied just like the housing. There were cemestos, flat tops, dormitories, trailers, apartments and hutments. Our Girl Scouts lived in all those different kinds of houses and loved being Girl Scouts. 2nd Announcer: I understand that the first executive secretary, Evelyn Harris, is also here. Miss Harris, what do you recall about the Girl Scouts in the early days of Oak Ridge? Evelyn Harris: Women did not have much free time. Men worked shifts and long hours. Wives were encouraged to take jobs because there was a shortage of workers, and jobs needed to be done in a hurry! This was a community of young people, with many new or young babies. The few women who might be free for volunteer work were involved in setting up their new homes. Still, the girls said they wanted to be Girl Scouts! Teachers and mothers volunteered. By January 1944, there were three elementary schools— Pine Valley, Cedar Hill and Elm Grove—and 26 Lone Troops in Oak Ridge. By 1949, ALL girls seemed to know the new Girl Scout song: “Girl Scouts Together.” They sang with love and with pride. They tried to live by their Girl Scout promise and law. Girls talked about crafts and campfires and told each other about what they had done back in talked about crafts and campfires and told each other about what they had done back in their hometown troops before moving to the secret city. In a short time no one would know they had come from towns where materials were easy to get, because now they were using mostly things they “found.” Oak Ridge became home. Life-long friends were made, new babies were born, and very few people died. 1st Announcer: And that’s the story of how Girl Scouting began in Oak Ridge, The Secret City, during the World War II Manhattan Project. ***Adapted by Dot Keller from And the Fence Came Down by Joyce K. Maienschein and Eileen A. Neiler Updated 2013 by Girl Scout Museum volunteers.
0 Comments
|
Why?
Looking for a fun way to teach geography to your Girl Scout? Why not use council badges to do so. When a good option is available, I'll post Council's Own patches that allow you to learn about the region. Otherwise, I'll list a link to purchase a basic council patch and optional requirements that will help you teach your scout in a fun way. This will be an ongoing project. ArchivesCategories
All
|