Kathy K. (Girl Scout Leader & Former Girl Guide)

When Kathy's daughter was in kindergarten, Kathy decided to give her a gift she hoped would give her the same joy it had given Kathy when she was a small girl in Toronto. She wanted to give her daughter the skills for leadership, empowerment and respect for the world. So she gave her daughter a Girl Scout troop.

Kathy's original Girl Guiding journey started when she was in first or second grade. Her friend was in the local pack* (Canadian Girl Guide word for troop) and since it seemed like a fun thing to do, Kathy became a Brownie. 

Being a Brownie was a different experience back then. As a Brownie in a time when there were less women in the workforce, they learned many more homemaking skills then empowerment methods. They had to be able to vacuum, iron and sew. They also had to make bread and tea for another person.

As a Brownie she wore a uniform of a brown cotton dress, belt, knee-high socks, black shoes and of course her vest. When she graduated into a higher level she took on an outfit of a blue skirt, shirt, belt and beret. As Ranger she was allowed to wear a white blouse. Among the many badges Kathy displayed on her vest/sash, the one Kathy was most proud of owning was the Canada Cord, which was the highest award a Canadian Girl Scout could get at that point in history.

Kathy's favorite Girl Guiding activity was camping. One of her favorite memories involves camping at Lake Simcoe for a few weeks. Her troop stayed in Kansas style tents (bottomless tents) and tried their best not to disturb the local nature in the process. Along with their sleeping bags they brought a ground tarp to lay down on the grass and they used their lashing skills to make a luggage rack from the wood they foraged.

When Kathy was older, her pack went winter camping. They made a visit to one of the few local camp grounds that was open in winter. They stayed for two nights. During the time they were there, it snowed and was very cold. But, since Kathy's pack had adequate clothes and supplies for the weather, they were able to enjoy everything to the fullest.

On these camping trips the pack took, they cooked using camp stoves, griddles and an open fire. Kathy remembers making banana boats with her pack as they sat around the fire singing songs. One of the many songs that they sang was Barges. Barges was sung in a round and it was a song that Kathy would later share with her daughter's Girl Scout troop in America, twenty or so years later.

*In Canada, troops are called packs. Packs are made of 25-30 girls. They can be broken up into what Kathy calls sixes (smaller patrols). 

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.

Carol J. (Troop Leader, Life Time Girl Scout)

Carol grew up on a farm in a place that no Girl Scout troops existed, but when she had children of her own both her daughters became Girl Scouts. She has been actively involved in Girl Scouts for about 50 years now.

One of the big changes she has seen in Girl Scouts during her time is the way that girls progress through the program and the order they do things in. It used to be that you would start by “gaining steps” at the time you were a Daisy to Brownie. You would cook simple things like bugs in a log and the first overnight camp out would start at the end of Brownie year. For Carol’s troop’s first overnight, they camped out in Sycamore Canyon Park (California).  Later, they went to the Spanish Trails Girl Scout conference. As a Junior, a girl would go both scout house camping and open camping. Carol’s troop went to Mt. Palomar in San Diego to see the observatory and camp out. Cadets could go even farther on trips.  For example, Carol’s troop went to the state capital as their Cadet trip.  They also went to Sea World. As a Senior Girl you would run and direct the camps with adults, teaching cooking and songs like Something In My Pocket (AKA Brownie Smile Song) (most songs were found in a small grey book called “The Girl Scout Song Book”).

Back in the day, leaders - not only Girl Scouts - had to wear uniforms. Carol has three different Girl Scout leader uniforms hanging in her closet. As Carol worked closely with her daughter’s troop, she made friends with many fellow leaders along the way.

Carol’s Girl Scout troop did many crafts and projects:  they wrote letters and made Care Packages for the returning Vietnam veterans, they cleaned up hiking trails, they helped out at hospitals and they won their “First Class” Award. Carol has never been that much of an artsy person, so when she was running activities with her fellow leaders, she was the person who taught the girls respect, the flag ceremony and all the outdoorsy things. She also helped run many Girl Scout camps and mini camps.

Carol really enjoyed watching her daughters grow up and learn how to accomplish anything they wanted in life. Carol holds the Girl Scout values of respect, honor and care of the nature close to her heart. She really believes in what the motivational speakers that she used to bring in to her Girl Scout troop said about how a strong woman can accomplish anything.

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.

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.

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.