Local girl scouts create music program at Woodbury Senior Living

• 'Generation Jam'

Woodbury girl scouts, Jessica Schrimp and Clare Odin have designed a music performance program at Woodbury Senior Living, called Generation Jam, where young musicians volunteer at the nursing home by performing for the residents. Submitted photo.

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Clare Odin and Jessica Schrimp are proud Girl Scouts.

Both have been involved with the organization most of their young lives.

“Girl scouts is just a great opportunity for girls to get together,” said Odin, a senior at the Perpich Center for the Arts.

The teens have climbed their way to the top of the Girl Scouts ranks and recently received their Gold Award for a project they completed with Woodbury Senior Living.

Their project, “Generation Jam,” bring young musicians into the nursing home to volunteer and perform for the residents.

“Everyone can kind of connect through music,” Odin said. “It’s kind of a timeless thing.”

“We wanted to bridge the gap between the older generation and the younger generation,” said Schrimp, an East Ridge senior.

The Gold Award is the top honor in the Girl Scouts organization. The service project must be unique, sustainable and address a community need beyond girl scouting. The project requires creativity, development of leadership skills. As well as at least 80 hours of work.

The pair spent some time brainstorming for their Gold Award projects and finally settled on one they worked on together.

Odin said her initial idea was to create a brochure for Woodbury Senior Living encouraging people to come in to volunteer.

Eventually the two girls joined forces and decided to bring their love of music to the residents through volunteer opportunities.

Schrimp has been playing violin for 10 years and percussion for six years.

“Music has always been a major part of my life and I’ve always wanted to share it with others,” she said. “I love what you create with it.”

Odin has been playing piano and singing for 10 years.

Both girls had previously caroled at Woodbury Senior Living during the holidays and saw first hand how much of an impact music has on the residents.

“Just to see how much joy it brought the residents is amazing,” Schrimp said.

Schrimp and Odin started their project about a year ago by contacting Woodbury Senior Living about possibly creating a music program at the nursing home.

From there, the decision was made to create and design a link on the nursing home’s website to a volunteer website that detailed Generation Jam and included a volunteer application.

Both girls assisted in the design of the website.

“It was a lot of communication and making sure everything was clear,” Schrimp said. “But, I don’t regret ever getting myself into it.”

So far, roughly 10-20 musicians have already performed at Woodbury Senior Living as a part of Generation Jam.

“Performing for the seniors is such a great thing because they are such an appreciative audience,” Odin said.

“The seniors are reminded of their experiences in their youth with music,” Schrimp said. “The most rewarding part of volunteering is just seeing how people react.”

Schrimp and Odin said they have come to the end of their girl scout careers for the time being, but both may consider becoming leaders at some point in their lives.

“Girl scouts really encourages girls to reach — the sky’s the limit,” Schrimp said.

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