By Girl Scouts for Girl Scouts is the major focus of this year's Hopkinton Girl Scouts Boston Marathon Tea. 

The 2011 event planned to take place in Hopkinton at the First Congregational Church on Thursday, April 14, will focus on Scouts teaching and sharing with other Scouts.

The Go the Distance theme of this year's event highlights a patch Girl Scouts of  Eastern Massachusetts can earn as part of the Go the Distance patch program created in Hopkinton.

Focusing this year's Hopkinton Girl Scouts Boston Marathon Tea on the Go the Distance theme will allow Hopkinton Scouts who have already earned the Go the Distance award to showcase the organization skills and creative and artistic accomplishments they achieved en route to earning the patch.

By sharing their discoveries, connections and actions they will educate and hopefully inspire other Scouts to pursue completing this patch or develop a new project or patch of their own.

Through the use of varied presentation formats including:

Running-wear and sneaker-design development displays;

Trade-show-like display booths of nutrition information and healthy snack options and recipes;

Access to Boston Marathon runners to interview them about why they run;

And access to professionals who represent future career paths such as physical therapists and chiropractic medicine, the Scouts will spur those working to complete the patch.

They will also inspire other Girl Scouts to begin working on the patch.

Throughout the planning stages of each annual Hopkinton Girl Scouts Boston MarathonTea, the Hopkinton Athletic Association and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts have provided financial support and mentoring for the Hopkinton Girl Scouts.

This year's program is also supported in part by a grant from the Hopkinton Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. 

With the additional grant support, the Hopkinton Girl Scouts will make greater progress toward their goal of educating the Hopkinton Scouts, the rest of the 58,000 member Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts scout council and the Hopkinton community about the sport of marathoning and the long-term goals that can be realized when training for both physical and metaphorical marathons.

For more information on this Hopkinton Girl Scout event, please contact Karen Bograd ktbograd@gmail.com or Nancy Burdick nancyb88@hotmail.com.

- Nancy Burdick