| Thirteen
years ago I sat in a school cafeteria on a Girl Scout rally night. My
daughter Jessica, or Jessie as she now likes to be called, wanted to be
a Brownie Girl Scout. We were there to register her in a Girl Scout troop.
Quickly, the parents learned some of us would have to be leaders if our
daughters were going to be Girl Scouts. Three volunteered to be leaders
if the others would be helpers. We registered, I become a troop parent,
and Troop #11000 was formed.
Troop #11000 in the early years.
During that first
year, I occasionally brought snacks, helped with crafts, and did a little
shopping for the troop. The next year, Ms. Teresa became our leader, and
I registered as the co-leader. When the girls became fourth grade Juniors,
we switched roles in the troop and I was the leader with Ms. Teresa as
the co-leader. Over the years, other girls joined and still others left.
We added two Do-Dads, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Phillip, a registered mom, Ms.
Rene, and another co-leader, Ms. Susan. This past May five girls graduated
from high school and completed their final year as "girl" Girl
Scouts.
3
C's of Girl Scouting
Girl Scouts are
often known for crafts, cookies, and camping. My house is still littered
with Girl Scout crafts_the heart wreath for Mom and craft stick pencil
caddy for Dad made in first grade, a "mom" cross stitch completed
in the second grade, a doily vase with silk flowers made sometime along
the way, a hand-shaped magnet note pad for the refrigerator door, painted
wooden spoons and clay pots for Mother's Day, and a sequined glass pitcher
with two glasses made just this past Christmas. I have many more in closets
and in a cedar chest. Along the way Jessie learned pink is not the only
color; it is more important to give rather than receive; and you can find
joy is seeing another person's face light up as she opens a gift made
just for her by you.
The troop sold cookies
and lots of them. They loved earning recognitions although I'm not certain
they have many of them today. And they earned a lot of money which they
used to purchase supplies and recognitions and finance activities and
trips. When they were sixth graders, the girls earned enough money to
finance a day at Glamour Shots where they had their makeup and hair done
and posed for pictures in four different outfits. Boy, were the dads surprised
when they saw the "grown-up" daughters they had. And that night,
they treated themselves to dinner at Benihana's. Along the way, they learned
the importance of setting goals. They learned just a little customer service
can go a long way. They also developed leadership skills and understood
teams can accomplish more than individuals. They learned about budgets
and made decisions on how to best spend their money and not to spend it
all!
The troop camped.
With eight camps in our Council, they had lots of opportunities. They
camped in tents, both on the ground and on platforms, in the rain and
in cabins, dorms, yurts, and tree houses in the cold. For a while, we
only knew how to camp in the rain and cold! But they also camped in a
teepee at the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation. The girls have camped
as a troop, at service unit weekends, during Council events, and with
their families. In fact, troop family camping at spring break became a
tradition. We cooked foil dinners and dump cake over an open fire, breakfast
tacos over a propane stove, one-pot meals over a gas stove, and breakfast
crackle in an oven. Girls swam, hiked, canoed, biked, rode horses, paddleboated,
and spent countless hours making perfect beds in perfect tents, cabins,
and dorms.
Look
out world, here we come
The troop also traveled
beyond camp. They climbed Enchanted Rock in Fredericksburg and walked
down into the caverns at Natural Bridge. They visited Galveston for its
recreation, Plattersville for the Texas Renaissance Festival, San Antonio
for Sea World and its Texas history, Corpus Christi for a night aboard
the USS Lexington, Austin for its beauty, Dallas for its fun and
fashion, East Texas for its land richness. They traveled to Savannah,
Georgia, the birthplace of Girl Scouting; Washington, D.C., the heart
of our democratic nation; and London. In July 2003 they spent two weeks
at Pax Lodge where they met Girl Scouts from other states and Girl Guides
from other countries. They learned that although we may live in different
parts of the world, we are more alike than we are different.
Troop #11000 before they graduated.
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The
girls have performed as Green Starlettes, assisted at day camps and twilight
camps as program aides, participated with younger troops as LITs and senior
troop assistants, served on girl planning boards, and represented their
area on the Senior Senate. One troop member, Courtney, represented GSSJC
in UNICEF's Bear Hugs to Venezuela project; she actually traveled to Venezuela
to visit with children whose homes were devastated by flooding. The troop
was featured as "November" in a Council Girl Scout calendar,
and has appeared in and on the front cover of The Golden Link.
Through Silver Award projects, they facilitated a school rally, ran a
softball clinic, and collected and organized donations for a halfway house.
Through crafts,
cookies, camping, through Girl Scouting, the girls learned so much. They
developed a sense of who they are. Jessie does not yet know "what
she wants to be when she grows up" (I
don't even know what I want to be when I grow up), but she has identified
her skills and talents and knows her challenges. She can make decisions
and stand up for herself. The girls have also made friendships. Jessie
counts as her best friends the other girls in the troop. And they are
not just friends in Girl Scouting. They plan "girls' nights out"
twice a year. And yes, she may have made those same friendships through
school or church but she would not have made them so soon nor would they
have lasted so long.
Service
with a smile
The girls have a
strong sense of community and service. They recognize others for their
uniqueness and what they can offer to the whole. They embrace race, culture,
ethnicity, and religion. And they give rather than just take _ donations
to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund; food donations to the Houston
Food Bank; holiday carols sung at a retirement center; blankets, coats,
and jackets given to the Star of Hope; a baby shower for the first girl
born on Girl Scout Day at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Woodlands;
school supplies and Christmas Shoeboxes; a Christmas meal and presents
to an adopted family; a walk around America for the March of Dimes; a
nail painting party at a senior citizens home; a Christmas party for the
needy; gifts for the newborns at Ben Taub Hospital; a race for the cure
for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; clothes and toiletries
for Dress for Success; a Gold Award project to benefit M.D. Anderson cancer
patients and their families. I still remember the Christmas party where
my daughter, she was about 10 years at the time, overheard a 15-year-old
comment she had just received her first Christmas present ever. Imagine
learning others are not as fortunate as you!
Girl
Scouting is a tradition
Now I have been
carried along with them. I have made crafts and I'm not a craft person.
I've carried cookie order forms and helped staff cookie shops. I've camped
and I'm not really a camping person. But oh, I am glad they carried me
along. I've had such fun. I've been touched by kindness and generosity.
I too feel a sense of warmth when giving to others. I've traveled and
had wondrous experiences. I've made friends. In fact my two best friends
today are Girl Scouts. We met through Girl Scouting, but we've developed
a friendship that is more than just Girl Scouts. We set dates on our calendars
to meet and have fun. Now we may tell our families we have a Girl Scout
meeting to get out of the house but we have the best intentions!
I have attended
trainings, workshops, and conferences. In October 2002 I attended the
Girl Scout National Convention in Long Beach, California. I have served
on event planning committees. I've been a service unit administrator and
am now an area advisor. I am a Council trainer and serve on Council committees.
I am an archery instructor, certified in canoeing, and an American Red
Cross CPR/First Aid instructor. And I am also a Council vintage uniform
model (imagine me a model). And in April, I became a lifetime Girl Scout;
the girls presented me with a lifetime membership, a surprise at a service
unit meeting. I was not the only one who cried that night.
Members of Artale's Junior Troop #11377 enjoy the outdoors.
I began by saying
that 13 years ago I attended a Girl Scout rally. Well, four years ago
I sat again in a school cafeteria. With the "big" girls in their
last year as Cadettes, I began to wonder what I was going to do when they
graduated from high school and were no longer "girl" Girl Scouts.
I was suffering empty nest syndrome with a Girl Scout twist. I offered
that night to lead a first grade Brownie troop if a parent would not.
And lo and behold, Troop #11377 was formed with six girls. Today that
troop begins its fourth year as first year Juniors with 10 girls.
I will no longer
spend Monday nights in troop meetings with the big girls. And I will miss
their chattering, disagreements, laughter, and silliness. But Girl Scouting
goes on; the tradition continues through another troop. More crafts to
make; more cookies to sell; more camping to do.
Through Girl Scouting
we all_daughters, moms, dads,
siblings, grandparents_have
an experience of a lifetime and a lifetime of experiences. |