Françoise B. (Girl Scout from 10-16, Past Leader)

In 2013, Françoise was walking a chilly mountain path with her husband and some friends. As they passed blue and purple dots of wildflowers and yellowing grasses, she gathered a bundle and knotted her jacket to carry them. As she knotted it, she thought “This was the knot I learned in Girl Scouts, around 50 years ago.”

When Françoise was a 10 year old girl in 1949, there was a trend among girls to join the Girl Scouts. The leader of the Girl Scouts in Montreux (Françoise’s hometown) was very good at the time Françoise joined. Though Françoise doesn’t remember her name, she says that she was very sensible, and she promoted the vote for women as well as wanting them to get involved in politics. The girls in Françoise’s area were also a lot of fun, and even after all these years Françoise is still in contact with many of them.

Every year that she was a Girl Scout, rain or shine, Françoise was at Girl Scout camp. At Girl Scout camp they slept under tents, learned to sing, had nature nicknames (Françoise’s was a type of bird), learned many things about the nature and how to get along all by themselves.

There, they also learned to communicate using their arms (semaphore). In daylight, a girl would stand on a hill with arms outstretched, communicating to the girl on the next hill who would pass the message to the girl on the next hill.

Françoise also remember a prank she played on a counselor one year when she was in Girl Scouts. She and her best friend Silvia really disliked their counselor and wanted to get back at her for something so they drank lots and lots of water, filling their chamber pots to the brim over and over again, making the poor counselor empty the brimming pots.

They also played games where they were searching, running, spotting things, or question games where to go forward a step you have to answer a question correctly. After they played the games, they would cook their meals. Françoise remembers a meat and vegetable dish they used to make. To cook it they would make a deep hole in the earth, inside the hole they would place a saucepan filled with meat and vegetables, next they would keep it hot in the Earth until the meat became tender and delicious.

Françoise’s Girl Scout uniform consisted of a belt, a skirt (it was not common for women to wear pants back then) and a long-sleeved blue blouse. By the time she came back from Girl Scout camp, it was usually very dirty because she was having so much fun.

At that time, if you wanted to go further in the organization you had to take a little exam where you had to answer questions. After a few years, Françoise became  une chef de section or troop leader of a small group. To her group, she imparted the wisdom she had learned, that they were never alone, and there was always another scout or leader with them. They also learned how to cook and treat wounds.

In 1955, Françoise had to leave Girl Scouts to go to Germany. A few years after she left, the Girl Scout Program in Montreux fell apart.

Laura C. (Brownie - Junior)

On a beach in California, hands are shaping the sand into a heart. They furrow deep and insert a single wick, pouring in hot white wax after it. Later on the body of the hands sits on the same beach around a campfire smelling the sweet smell of the cake cooking over the flames in a mini oven as it sings songs like Going on a Bear Hunt and Titanic. That body and those hands belong to Laura, the beach was in Carpinteria, California, the time was the late 70s and early 80s.

Laura’s troop was as close as Velcro strap is to a new shoe, they were stuck together. They all went to the same school, all went to the same birthday parties and even went on trips together, each-others names were constant on each-others guest list. Today, even though they have gone there separate ways around the country, they still keep in touch via Facebook and treasure the same memories of how their troop leader impacted their lives, making them feel so loved and important.

Going back to when they were a troop, they also did the typical Girl Scout things. They earned badges for camping, baking and service. They went to Girl Scout Camp on Catalina Island to learn how to go sailing and make lanyards. They also did plenty of skits.

Each mother in Laura’s troop had a special talent, and one mother in particular was a star with dramatic productions. Laura remembers (and still has some videotapes) doing the different skits this mother helped produce; there was Snow White and there was also The Three Bears. Laura also remembers the things the other troop mothers taught her. In Girl Scouts, she learned about hard work and respecting people’s differences. They also taught her that she could, like the boys and men, do anything she wanted when she grew up, and to be strong and independent. The troop mothers made a big impact in her life, and she hopes that she can be that kind of influence to her daughter and her daughter’s friends.

Laura was the first Girl Scout in a family of Indian Maidens (her grandmother, mother and sister), but she hopes that she isn’t the last.

Kiera M. (Daisy - Ambassador)

Kiera came from long line of Girl Scouts, her mother was a Girl Scout and her mother's mother was a Girl Scout.  With her mother as her troop leader, Kiera's troop was formed around Kindergarten and lasted past high school.

Kiera started out as a Daisy and came out an Ambassador. As time passed, she earned many badges, as well as her Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. She also learned how to sing many songs that are still popular today like Little Red Wagon, Princess Pat, Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear and Little Piece of Tin.

Besides being a long-time Girl Scout, Kiera has also been a Girl Scout camp counselor. She started her counselor-career at the “Adventure Weekend Camp” near San Diego. This camp was at the end of the week and lasted two days at a time, each two-day time-span had a different theme. Kiera remembers that one week was a nature theme and they learned about the environment and did tie-dye. At this camp she was a counselor to Brownies and Juniors, but she later progressed to being a counselor for older girls. Kiera spent every summer, between the ages of 6-18 at Girl Scout camp.

Kiera also works for Voice 4 Girls. Her jobs mission is to build strong independent girls. As a result of Kiera's Girl Scout background, Kiera is strong and very outspoken about what she believes in,  Primarily, this gift has taught her to be always be giving and live a life of generosity, which she tries to impart this gift to the girls she works with.

Kiera’s troop could have given up and broken apart while she was growing up, but they became a tight unit and stayed together during tough times. As they passed those boundaries, Kiera slowly became the person she is today and learned that she could make a difference. As she points out, many female leaders in the U.S. were Girls Scouts, which includes 80% of American female entrepreneurs.  See list.

Kiera is really happy that Girl Scouts was part of her life and if she has a daughter, her daughter will definitely become a Girl Scout.

Sanna F. (Former Girl Scout, Current Leader)

A girl in baby blue pants, a beige shirt, a scarf, a sash and a hat with a name pin and troop number. That girl in uniform was Sanna from age 7 to around 14. Sanna was a Swedish Girl Scout in the late 70s and early 80s.

Sanna was part of a 30 to 40 person CO-ED troop with 3 leaders and a lot of parent volunteers.  Shocking as this may seem, it is how it was back then where she lived. Her troop didn’t sell nuts or cookies and was funded solely by the member’s fathers and mothers.

Sanna’s troop did community service, camping, survival backpacking and more. They traveled out of their city to the countryside to do their camping. When they went camping, it was “primitive” in her words. When she and her daughter’s troop go camping, they bring lots of pre-made stuff and wood. When Sanna’s troop went camping it wasn’t always on designated campsites.

The tents would have 6 to 8 people per tent and an adult. They would hike and backpack the whole day. They would also gather wood for the fire, discover natural foods and catalog tree leaves.

When they went camping they learned about nature. There were plenty of trees and they would often find new leaves to place in their books. They each carried a book in which they collected crushed leaves. They would identify what tree each leaf belonged to and learn a bit about it.

Back then they didn’t have the awards or Journeys, but they did have patches, songs and campfires. Girl Scouts helped Sanna learn how to forge bonds. She compares it to her daughter’s troop which started with seven friends in Kindergarten and grew from there. Sanna still has friends in Sweden from her scouting days. Since 2005, she has been the leader of her daughter’s American Girl Scout troop.

Rose M. (Past Girl Scout (Junior, Cadet) & Current Leader)

In the late 60s and early 70s in Santa Monica, California, Rose joined the throng of girls in her class who were becoming Girl Scouts. She was only a Girl Scout for a short time, a Junior for two years and then a Cadet for a while. She has also led a Girl Scout troop of her own. Both her sisters are past Girl Scouts and her grandmother helped lead her sisters' troops and Rose’s daughters troops.

When Rose was a Girl Scout, her leader was called Mrs. W., and she was a character. Rose’s troop was huge, comprising of around 28 girls. Rose has many memories from her time with this troop of girls.

She remembers that whenever they used to travel through a specific tunnel in Santa Monica, they would lift their arms to “keep the bus up.” Rose still does this tradition with her kids, whenever they go under a tunnel they stick their arms up “to hold up" the roof of the car.

As she and her troop traveled, they also sang lots of Girl Scout songs, one of them was Make New Friends (the song I quote at the top of my blog), another was Sailing Over the Water. The song that she most remembers is Rose, Rose, Rose Red. Rose hated this song because she always felt that the other girls were talking about her and asking her when she would get married. Most of the songs her troop sang were sung in rounds.

After they had sung the songs and passed the tunnel, they would reach their destination of a campsite or Girl Scout summer camp. They would travel to the main encampment and a few Girl Scout Houses. There was also a big encampment in Inglewood that they used to visit.

Rose remembers that there used to be a local cat shelter in Santa Monica. Her troop used to get their community service hours spraying down and cleaning the cages at the shelter.

Rose’s troop also did a lot of crafts. She remembers making a yarn doll and tying scores of knots (many of which she is still able to do today). Her leader was also a fan of something called “liquid embroidery” (tri-chem) so they did a lot of that too.

Her troop didn’t really earn many badges since badges back then were more work than they are now. But, they did do quite a few bake-offs, which she still has the ribbons from.

Back then, girls didn’t get to do as much as they do now or go as many places as they can now. There were no Journeys back then, and the badges were much different. Rose thinks the badges have been “dumbed down” since a person used to have to do way more steps to earn a badge.

Rose still has her uniform, all her badges, her mess kit, her silverware kit, her hat, her canteen, knife, compass and a scrapbook. The scrapbook was made by her grandmother for her sister, and it also houses many of Rose’s memories.

Because of Girl Scouts, Rose is much more family oriented and independent. Being a leader has helped her do things she otherwise might never have done in her lifetime, like taking on the product chair, handling the cookie money and leading her troop.

Girl Scouts has taught her not just to think for herself, but to think bigger.  It teaches girls that they can do more then they can think they do, that anything is possible.

Rose and her troop are heading towards a bright tomorrow, and have plans to help feed the hungry and go on bigger trips with bigger plans.