This past week, on March 12, Girl Scouts celebrated their
100th birthday. In honor of
this special day, I posted some old Girl Scout photos on my Facebook page which elicited plenty of comments from old friends. Such wonderful memories we all have! I became a Brownie Girl Scout in 2nd
grade, at that time the youngest age that a girl could join. I continued in Girl Scouting through my
senior year in high school. In fact, I rejoined
Girl Scouts as an adult to be a leader for my own girls, and then later I also
took on the role of Service Unit Director.
However, the childhood memories are the ones that returned this
week.
In those days our troops were big; my photo of our Junior
troop shows 32 girls in 4th-6th grade and I’m sure some
girls were missing (and I thought I had a big troop as a leader with 22
girls). Nearly everybody wore a Girl
Scout uniform, complete with accessories, to school for our after school
meetings. We were proud to wear
them. Girl Scout cookies could not be
preordered. We would go out in pairs,
ringing doorbells in our neighborhoods.
We carried cookie boxes in a cardboard box with handles. I remember that I could never get enough thin
mints to sell. I have wonderful memories
of taking a bus to day camp and doing fun activities like making crafts out of
eucalyptus bark and pods. I attended week-long
Girl Scout camps and had wonderful adventures.
We learned to canoe and I acquired an appreciation for backpacking which
carried into my adult life. One year as
a young teenager, a friend and I went on a burro pack trip into a wilderness
area. We learned how to pack and handle
our burros, very stubborn animals. This
turned out to be more of an adventure than we expected—an unusual summer
snowstorm forced us to hike out a week early.
My biggest Girl Scout adventure was our trip to Europe. When my friends and I were in 8th
grade we were talking about how some of their older sisters had gone to Our
Cabana, the Girl Scout/Girl Guide house in Mexico. We decided that we could do better than that—we
should visit Our Chalet, the Girl Guide house in Adelboden, Switzerland. This discussion led to the formation of a
travel group from girls in our Cadette troop, in grades 7-9. We worked hard for 3 years to earn money by
doing newspaper collections, a spaghetti feed, a fashion show, and many other
fundraisers. There was plenty of time to
decide where we would go—the final itinerary included not only Switzerland, but
the Netherlands, England, France, Italy, and Austria plus a split with us going
in different directions (my group went to Ireland). The big day came after my junior year in high
school. Our families all went to see us
off at the airport—it was the first airplane flight for many of us. There were 17 of us plus four mother
chaperones. We were so excited. If I remember correctly, our trip was only 21
days, so we never spent more than 2-3 days in one place, with the exception of
Switzerland. Oh the Alps, how beautiful
they were. I felt like Heidi, walking
through the wildflowers with the snow covered peaks always in view. We met girls from different countries at Our
Chalet, but we were surprised at how many were from our own country. I could go on and on with stories about our
travels (and my friends could add more), but I would have to say that my
favorite country was Italy because the people were so friendly. Now 17 girls did attract a lot of attention,
especially from men (and Italian men are notorious). I especially remember a group of Italian
nurses who tried to communicate with us—they didn’t know English and we didn’t
know Italian. However, they managed to
tell us they were nurses by pantomiming a hypodermic needle. And when we indicated we were from San
Francisco (the closest large city to us), they broke into a chorus of “I Left
My Heart in San Francisco.” Such
delightful memories.
As I look back on these memories as an adult, I realize how
much Girl Scouting influenced my life.
At the time, I was just having fun with my friends. I learned valuable leadership skills and how
to make plans and organize. I learned
how to live, work, and play with others.
I developed a love for the outdoors which sustains me
today. My appreciation for other
cultures was nurtured through folk dances, music, programs celebrating the
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and of course, my trip to
Europe. I am not afraid to try new
things, to be adventurous, and to be curious about the world around me. Through Girl Scouting I gained confidence in
myself. I thank Juliette Gordon Low for
that first troop she started in Savannah, Georgia, 100 years ago.