What do Girl Scouts do when their meetings are canceled because of COVID-19, the new strain of coronavirus? Set up virtual meetings, of course.

Cadette Troop 6038, of Whitehall, had planned an event for March 17 at Chick-fil-A, on MacArthur Road, to celebrate Girl Scout Week. For this event, the troop planned to set up cookie samples, hold a trivia contest and have materials available to make cards for the military.

Then, Pennsylvania school districts were ordered to close - at that time, for two weeks.

This event and others, including a first aid/CPR class and service unit camping trip, have now been canceled.

“Our Girl Scouts council has canceled all our meetings and events through May 11 at this time,” troop leader Jen Harper said. “(There) could be an extension depending on how this goes, so we may have to cancel several other speakers we had lined up to help us with various badges.”

Harper said the girls were disappointed they had to cancel these events, but everyone agreed it was best to do this to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Harper and Jamie Morton, another Troop 6038 leader, came upon studies of the many ways school closures can affect students. To combat this, they decided to still have the girls and their leaders meet - but instead of face to face, doing it virtually using Zoom, “a free app that’s easy to use and allows participants to see and talk to each other,” Harper said.

The troop usually meets weekly for an hour and a half, but Zoom offers only free 40-minute meetings, so the girls and leaders are sticking to that time limit.

“That’s our plan until things go back to normal,” Harper said.

To keep the virtual meetings fun, Harper and Morton are planning some entertaining aspects for them.

“We showed our pets at our first meeting. (For) our second, we wore our pajamas. I even had the girls vote on how short I should let my kids (ages 10 and 12) cut my hair. And [this] week, they get to see what it turned out like,” Harper said.

“I think having them see each other gives some degree of normalcy during this time that’s anything but normal,” Harper added.

How long the virtual meetings will last will be decided by each troop.

“Girl Scouts is girl led, so we often let the older girls make these types of decisions - would they like to meet, how often and what they want to do. It also depends on if the leaders want to and if they are comfortable with the technology,” Harper said.

Currently, only two troops are holding virtual meetings. Harper is keeping an eye on what other troops are doing, including how to earn badges.

Autumn Harper, Jen Harper’s daughter and a member of Troop 6038, has participated in a three-part Zoom series offered by Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama to earn the Space Science Researcher Badge.

“It’s been wonderful to see so many councils offering not only virtual programming but opening it up to all Girl Scouts no matter if they are in their area or not,” Harper said.

During one of the first virtual meetings, Harper said, “We also got down to troop business and discussed getting our Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey done while everybody was at home.”

“Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through citizen science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs,” according to nationalgeographic.org.

After reviewing the scientific method, the troop leaders and girls found a citizen science project that - and this is the important part - can be done while practicing social distancing.

“Using an app called iNaturalist, the girls can take observations or photos of plants and animals in their backyards or in their neighborhoods and log their locations. They can help scientists learn what’s blooming, what insects and animals are present and even get help identifying species in our part of the world,” Harper said.

She noted the girls are identifying different birds and budding plants.

“The app helps identify what the organisms are, which is interesting to the girls, and also helps scientists know what’s been seen in various geographic areas,” Harper added.

Harper also noted the Girl Scouts are doing their part to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Members have been educating others to cover their mouth when they cough.

“I’ve noticed that many people, especially adults, don’t cover their mouth,” Autumn said.

The Scouts brainstormed what they could do to help. They decided posting something on social media would be a great idea since many people are home and online a lot right now.

“Autumn made a graphic, and the troop came up with wording to get their message out,” Harper said.

They asked family and friends to share the post to hopefully educate others to help stop the spread of the virus. Troop members want the graphic to be shared as much as possible on social media.

“Even though we’re stuck at home, we can still help make the world a better place,” mother and daughter agreed.