Kathy A. (Troop Leader, Lifetime Girl Scout)

Step back in history, to the time of the Vietnam War, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California. Travel to Sacramento, go through security and enter the governor’s office. What you see ahead is the same thing Kathy saw when her Girl Scout troop traveled to Sacramento and got to meet America’s future president.

Kathy began her Girl Scouting career at the time that was common for girls to start troops in the 60s, as a brownie in second grade. When she was a junior, her mother became her troop leader and when she was a cadet she made the historic visit mentioned above.

When Kathy was a Girl Scout, women weren’t as much into careers as they are now, so Girl Scouts was more focused on woman as a homemaker then woman as a breadwinner. At that time Girl Scouts was way more focused on camping and getting woman outside the house then it is now.

Back then they also didn’t have Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. What they had as the highest award was something called “First Class”. They earned it part by part. As juniors they would earn badges like the “Silly Badge” (on humor), the “Hospitality Badge” (on home-making) and numerous camping badges. After that they would earn the “Sign of Air” and the “Sign of Star”. When they were cadets they would earn more badges and “challenges”, followed by community service. For earning a “First Class” there wasn’t one main focus, it was mainly just mainly different little projects clumped under one award.

During the time she was a Girl Scout, Kathy also went camping and did many Girl Scout Camps with her troop. When they went camping as a troop, they would often travel to different mountains throughout Southern California and visit different places owned by the Girl Scout Council. While they were camping and traveling they would sing songs and do many crafts. Some of the songs Kathy remembers singing are “I Know A Place”, “Girl Scouts Together” and the “Brownie Smile Song”. As crafts they would combine leaves and rocks with plaster of paris. They would also practice their knot-tying and cooking skills.

A Girl Scout camps, Kathy often acted as a P.A.. As a P.A. she would teach young girls skills like sewing and cooking. They did a lot of cooking since they did it with their families too. At the Girl Scout camps they had to cook all their own meals, they did it over an open fire, in foil ovens, in Dutch ovens cooking and lots of different varieties of things that they did not normally use at home and stuff.

Kathy has been a Girl Scout for over 40 years, when she started, the only levels that existed were brownies, juniors, cadets and seniors. She is still heavily involved in the program, she is on the Girl Scout board in Colorado and her daughters are Girl Scouts. She wants to share the skills, organization, leadership and values Girl Scouts gave her with the world. She is headed forward to a bright tomorrow.