Yes, Girl Scouts travel the world,
but not before they have traveled in their hometown, their home
state, their home region, their home country, and so on. Girl
Scout activities are based on progression. As the girls advance
in age – they progress from one level to another. As the
girls learn skills they go on to more advanced activities based
on skills already learned.
“Travel” can begin
with a simple walk around the block for a Daisy Girl Scout troop
and then progress step by step to a trip overseas or even around
the world for a Senior troop.
Girls learn to plan their own Girl Scout activities as their
leader shows them how and then steps back so the girls can take
on more and more of the responsibility of planning. It really
works!
Along the way there are many resources available for both the
girls and the leaders. Leaders learn progression and how to
make it happen by attending appropriate trainings. Girls learn
from the experiences the leader provides. They can both learn
from experiences of others who came before them – from
history. Our Council has long had girls interested in travel.
A troop in Houston led the way for Girl Scouts to travel overseas.
Perhaps they will inspire your troop to earn enough money to
take a trip. Nothing is impossible.
After WWII was over, when today’s Girl Scout’s grandmother
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was a Girl Scout, local Girl Scouts
really spread their wings and began to travel far and wide.
In 1947, Elizabeth Reich of Houston Girl Scouts represented
Texas at an international encampment sponsored by GSUSA at Camp
Baree in Pennsylvania with the theme, “Friendship builds
a Better World.”
Three girls from Houston Girl Scouts attended an international
camp in Sweden in 1949. Another girl attended a Western Hemisphere
Camp but it isn’t known where it was held.
During the summer of 1951 Sheila Cooney (Tybor) attended an
international camp in Washington state with the theme of “One
World Through Friendship.” Sheila learned that though
the kind of activities and the mechanics of the program were
adapted to the background and customs of each individual country,
still the aims and ideals proved to be the same the world over.
The following year, 1952, Sheila was one of eleven girls of
Senior Troop #310 who spent two months traveling in Europe.
They were the first troop in this Council to make an overseas
troop trip. They served a lot of spaghetti suppers for several
years to raise the money needed for the their trip. Part of
the trip preparation was learning about the countries where
they planned to travel. In order to be able to answer questions
they learned how Girl Scouts were organized in the United States
from the |
Elizabeth Reich visits Pennsylvania
in 1947.
national level to the troop level. Troop leader Claire Schlumberger
(Mrs. Pierre) and Betty Irick (Laughlin) accompanied the girls.
In the Claire Schlumberger International Room (room 315) at
the Girl Scout Center in Houston Troop #310’s trip is
a featured exhibit.
Before the troop left for Europe in June, they arranged to
share their experiences by writing articles for Trails, the
Council newsletter at that time. Nine separate articles appeared,
from May 1952 until May of 1953, in the Trails. The trip was
in July and August of 1952.
The first article in the Trails told about the girl’s
preparation for the trip. They had learned the Girl Guides
in Europe camped wearing dresses, so they planned to do the
same. They left their shorts at home and only half of |
them took blue jeans to wear when demonstrating square dancing.
Since they would be wearing uniforms most of the time they all
agreed to each have two Senior green dresses, a green skirt,
and blouse and the corduroy suit uniform. Since they knew they
would be giving service at a crippled children’s hospital,
they learned from local doctors the most common causes of crippling
in children and visited a new local hospital for crippled children.
They knew they would at times be setting up their camp site
in an empty field so primitive camping was part of the preparation,
too.
The troop flew to Europe. En route Sheila Cooney presented the
pilot with a Texas horseshoe “to make sure you land where
you are supposed to land.” He in turn invited the Girl
Scouts to visit the cockpit and see all the instruments used
by the pilots. The girls gave the stewardess a key ring with
due ceremony. She asked the date of their return so she could
request to serve on that flight. Only things the girls lost
on the trans- |
