Jaimee C. (Past Girl Scout and Current Leader)

Jaimee always tries her best to be “honest and helpful.” She is always “responsible for what [she] says and [does]” and she definitely “[respects] authority.”

Did you notice that I was quoting the Girl Scout Law? That’s because the things mentioned above are all things Jaimee learned as a Girl Scout.

Jaimee’s troop leader was a good mentor; she was very structured and organized. She always had something to do or teach. She led their troop to learn how to bake cupcakes, earn their sewing badge, making fire starters, cooking over an open flame and doing community service (outreaches to the local Boys and Girls Club where they would help underprivileged children).

Jaimee’s favorite part of Girl Scouts was definitely Girl Scout camp. Her troop would all pack up their mess-kits and clothes in their suitcases and then hit the road to camp. When they finally got to camp they would separate and each of them would go to their assigned cabin. The cabins were on raised platforms and each carried six bunks. The cabins were spread in different camps all over the main camp and lake area, but they all shared the same mess hall.

At the mess hall, their meals were like this; breakfast was always something simple like cereal, at lunch they would make their own sandwiches and at dinner it would always be a big dish that was cooked in bulk (like pasta). They would also have campfires where they would eat s'mores.

By doing Girl Scouts, Jaimee gained many valuable skills for life and she also gained a greater appreciation for friendship. If she hadn’t done Girl Scouts, her life might not be the same.

Angie H. (Past Girl Scout and Troop Leader)

A group of girls dances garbed in vibrant clothing. Their hands and feet swirl in time to the Tarentella. The crowd at the church goes wild. The girls are around all around 13-15 years old, among them is Angie in a dress she handmade especially for the occasion.

Angie was a Girl Scout in the 1940s. It is 2013 now and Angie doesn’t remember much from her time at Girl Scouts  besides earning a few badges, going to some court of awards ceremonies and dancing the Tarentella with her troop. Angie’s memories are more intact however when it comes to around 10 years later when she was the troop leader for a collection of girls in upstate New York.

It all started when a mother at Angie’s church came up with an idea. She wanted to form a Brownie troop and wanted Angie to be her co-leader. Neither of them had had any prior experience of Girl Scouting (besides Angie’s few years as a Girl Scout) so they did it all "by the book". They told the 27 7-yearolds what was expected of them as Brownies, which were things like “You always have to have a ‘Brownie taste’ before you say you dislike something” and "You should follow the 'Brownie Way'."

When they first started, Angie’s troop didn’t have any uniforms yet, so they came in whatever clothes they wanted, which more often then not turned out to be a copy of whatever their leaders had worn the last meeting. It all started on the day when Angie went to the meeting wearing a little scarf; the next meeting all the little Brownies came in wearing scarves. This went on until they finally got their uniforms. They used to all attend mass on Sundays together in uniform so that everyone knew that they were the local Brownie troop and later, the Girl Scout troop.

When the troop used to travel to places like the park they would always have to scrunch together in cars, with about 9 people per car. The troop’s favorite car to ride in was Angie’s blue and white Ford Convertible. With 5 girls in the back seat and 3 girls in the front with Angie, Angie definitely thinks that the police of today would have been on her case for safety reasons.

Angie also remembers the first time she took the girls camping. They went out to a big one-room cabin in March. It was so cold that there was snow still frozen around the cabin area.

The good news for the girls was that their dinner was a hot dish called Brownie Stew. However, Angie remembers one little girl who did not take the Brownie Stew as welcome news.

Little Girl: Remember, I don’t like onions!

Angie: We’ll see about that. You probably won’t even know they are in there. They are not in there, they are not in there.

After the girl walked away Angie continued on with the recipe, added onions and fed the girls the stew.

Little Girl: I can taste the onions.

Angie: Do you like it? Do you think it tastes good?

Little Girl: It’s okay…

Angie: You see what you’ve done. You’ve tasted it. You’ve had your Brownie taste and you like it. So now, don't tell me you don’t like onions because you do like onions.

When it was time for the girls to go to bed after dinner, Angie had them unroll their pre-made bedrolls (not sleeping bags) and they changed into their pajamas in the cold air.

Angie and the other leader had made the girls change in the cold air to teach them the Brownie way, but Angie remembers that she, the other leader and the mothers decided to  cheat and just went to sleep in their clothes. Luckily they woke up earlier then the girls so that the girls were none the wiser. They were only staying one night so after the girls woke up, they packed and boarded the cars.

Angie and her family left New York for California 5 years later and that was the end of her time as a troop leader of 27 girls. She still thinks that saying yes to being a troop leader was one of the best choices she ever made.

Madison Z. (Girl Scout Adult)

At Madison’s school, joining Girl Scouts was like joining a club or sport. Girl Scouts was just one of many choices, at the time kids her age were participating in sports, art classes or Girl Scouts. It was some kind of event that involved other groups of children, so it became a social event with community service mixed in.

An example of some of the community service Madison did with Girl Scouts was visiting an old age home. At this home they did caroling and they also made rag dolls for the women at the home (earning their sewing badge in the process).

Madison’s favorite memory from Girl Scouts was their trip to Lake Lakota. While they were there they learned how to camp, they learned some new songs, they did trust games and also did some bonding games. Madison remembers late night talks and pillow fights as well.

Lake Lakota was just one of the many trips that Madison’s troop did. Her troop did trips almost every chance they got, during school breaks of all seasons.

Madison has all three of the metallic (Bronze, Silver & Gold) Girl Scout Awards. She earned one of the awards by adopting a fire station. What this meant is that Madison would often be in and out of fire station 99. She constantly visited and went on tours with them and in return they taught her what a day of work was like, how to preform CPR and how to do first-aid.

Girl Scouting has affected Madison’s life in many ways. It has given her the physical and mental skills that place her a cut above the rest. When Madison has done jobs babysitting and tutoring, many parents chose her above others due to her Red-Cross certifications. When Madison’s class went on a camping trip and no one knew how to pitch a tent, Madison took the lead and taught them all how. She can sew and cook, but she can also do many things that people don't expect a girl to be able to do. Madison feels very empowered and being a Girl Scout is a large badge of pride for her.

One of the biggest things Girl Scouts has given her is self-confidence, whether it is confidence that she can survive on her own, save a life, cook for herself, protect herself in the wilderness, stich a blanket or work in a hospital, she has it.

Madison is currently a junior in college, she is a third generation Girl Scout and she’s living the dream.

Kotoe K. (ことえ) (Ambassador)

Kotoe has not only been a Girl Scout in Tokyo Japan, but she has also been a Girl Scout (American Girl Scout Overseas) in Seoul, Korea and a Juliette in the UK.

As young child in Japan, Kotoe’s parents sent her to an International School in Tokyo. When Kotoe was in third grade she joined the Brownie troop at her school. As a “Japanese Girl Scout” (part of Japan’s Girl Scout Association) Kotoe wore the Japanese Girl Scout uniform. Her uniform consisted of a light blue beret, a white shirt, a light blue skirt, a navy blue belt, navy blue knee high socks, black shoes and a red scarf (the color specific to Brownies, when she became a Junior she began to wear a brown scarf). Despite being a Japanese Girl Scout, Kotoe earned the American Brownie Try-Its and sewed them on her uniform.

Kotoe's first overnight camping happened during her time as a Brownie. During their trip it rained so hard that they couldn’t light a fire, so they lit candles. When it was time for sleep Kotoe remembers they had to “put the light away” with their fingers.

In fifth grade, Kotoe quit Girl Scouts. In the time when she was absent from the Girl Scout organization, she moved to Korea and proceeded to go to another international school. In seventh grade, a Cadet Girl Scout Troop was formed at her school and Kotoe joined it. Kotoe’s troop was made of the daughters of expats from Bolivia, the UK, Australia, Italy, the USA and Japan (Kotoe). Kotoe’s new troop often took trains to different parts of Korea to do different activities. Once they made sandwiches for the homeless of Seoul. Another time they took a trip to the army base in Seoul. Yet another time they rented snowboards and went snowboarding together. They tried to earn the Lady Baden-Powell Badge together but they couldn’t complete the camping part of it due to the fear that they might catch swine flu.

As was mentioned above, Kotoe is considered part of the American troop and her troop occasionally did joint events with the local Korean Girl Scouts. To communicate they mostly used English with the Korean girls who knew English translating for those who didn’t. They also used a good deal of hand-motions and shows of emotion.

Besides learning about the culture of her host country, Kotoe also learned about the different cultures of the countries of the girls in her troop. The troop would often go to different girls houses to do different activities (like once they baked Christmas cookies at the Bolivian girl’s house) and while Kotoe was at the houses of her fellow scouts she would often learn a bit about their native country due to the food her fellow Girl Scouts served or the decorations that adorned their walls.

When Kotoe was in elementary school in Japan, she was never the outdoorsy type but that all changed when she got the opportunity to go to Girl Scout camps. She attended camps during her summer breaks from school in Korea and later from school in the UK.

The first camp she ever went to was located near Amalu’s hometown in Okinawa. It lasted for around a week (the longest time Kotoe had spent in a tent up until that time) and consisted of the normal camp things like singing and games. Some of the songs Kotoe knows like Five Little Angels, The Princess Pat, The Guiding Light (learned from an Indian Girl Scout) and Taps, were learned at that original camp.

The second camp was at a place called Tama Hills. Kotoe’s campsite was parked at the top of a tall hill. It took half an hour to get up or down the hill. Kotoe thinks they spent at least two hours a day going up and down the hill. They had to go down the hill to eat meals (breakfast and dinner (not lunch)) and to do some activities. They traveled the hill so often that they got blisters on their feet.

At almost all the camps Kotoe went to, it rained. It rains so much that generally, by the end of the week, all the Girl Scouts are huddled in a cafeteria or craft room of the camp due to the unfortunate fact that their tents and campsites are flooded. Tama Hills was no exception to this common occurrence.

At the time she did this camp (the first Tama Hills experience), Kotoe was 15 and she was the odd one out since all the other 15-yearolds were P.A.s. At the time Kotoe didn’t even know what a P.A. was but when she found out, she decided it was something she wanted to do. The next year Kotoe did the camp she came back as a P.A. and she loved it. Teaching younger girls how to do crafts, sing and more has given Kotoe the chance to build her confidence and communication skills. At her school, Kotoe interacts with younger and older girls alike in many ways, if Kotoe hadn’t been a P.A., she might not have had the skills and guts to become the head girl at her all girls boarding school in the UK.

Due to Girl Scouts, Kotoe went to the same Mt. Fuji Leadership program that Amalu did. At the program, Kotoe learned a variety of things; to sew, to make cosmetics from food (Kool-Aid to lip gloss), do orienteering and how to be a leader. To Kotoe, leadership is not just the job of the “appointed leader”, it is a job shared by everyone. Everyone is a leader in her own way.

Another Girl Scout event Kotoe went to was one located in Iwate, Japan. Kotoe and some other scouts took a bus to visit Japanese Girl Guides in Iwate whose homes were affected by a tsunami. They taught the Iwate Girl Guides American Girl Scout songs and games, and they even shared a meal of classic PB&J, a meal some of the girls had never tasted before in their lives.

Kotoe also recently visited the WAGGGS gender equality event in Tokyo called The World We Want for Girls. The event discussed the different examples of gender equality around the world and possible ways to reduce the gender inequality in some places and improve the life of women around the world. Kotoe was especially touched by a Girl Guide leader from Maldives. In her country girls are married in their late teens and have children in their early twenties. Love is not even a factor in their marriages. Kotoe had heard stories like this before, but hearing it from one who had actually experienced it meant way more to her then the stories she had read or seen in the news.

Kotoe has just graduated high school and the road of her life is ahead of her. When she goes to college in the UK or in Japan, she plans to become a Girl Scout leader. Kotoe wants to share the opportunities, skills and knowledge she has gained. One of the final things she mentioned in the interview is that Girl Scouts taught her that happiness is contagious. As a Girl Scout, one does many good deeds, and each one, no matter if it is small or large, is bound to make at least one person happy. That one person will spread their happiness to countless other people. This will improve our world one person at a time.