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). 

Nobuko A. (Lifetime Girl Scout/Leader)

When Nobuko was ten, she heard about a Girl Scout exchange program between Japan and Korea in the news. She was so impressed with the idea of an international exchange and having sisters abroad that she decided she wanted to join the Girl Scouts. Since her mother knew nothing about how to join, she used the phone directory to find the Girl Scout headquarters in Shizuoka.  When she told them she wanted to be a Girl Scout, they got her in contact with her local troop. That was almost fifty years ago.
In the time Nobuko has been a Girl Scout, the uniform has changed three times, Girl Scouts broke into different levels (Tenderfoots, Brownies, Juniors, Seniors & Rangers), the role of Girl Scouts in Japan changed and the words of the Japanese Girl Scout Promise changed (but they still kept their original foundation).

One of Nobuko’s favorite memories from when she was fourteen her leader planned international exchanges. Nobuko had an Okinawan Girl Scout (in an American Girl Scout uniform) come and stay at her house. They stayed in touch for a few years after that, but lost touch when the girl graduated high school and moved to the mainland. But that wasn’t the end of Nobuko’s international experiences. With the Ranger Scouts she learned of the Girl Scouts of the West Pacific. In the offices of the Girl Scouts of the West Pacific, she made a friend who invited her to a conference. At the conference, she got to meet some very active leaders, some of whom were American.

Comparing the Japanese Girl Scouts and the American Girl Scouts, Nobuko said that the Japanese girls more quiet, preferring to listen rather than talk. The American girls, on the other hand, have a lot to say. Nobuko liked the “American Way” - as she put it, and she kept in contact with the leaders. Together, they created a program where American Girl Scouts on military bases and Japanese Girl Scouts get to meet each other and have get-togethers and exchanges. The program that Nobuko is part of is called Friends of the US.

Recently, Nobuko’s Girl Scout troop had a tea ceremony with an American troop for the New Year’s festivities. They also invited foreign Girl Scout troops to their Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri) festivities.

Nobuko always starts her meetings with the song When E're You Make a Promise. Nobuko has taught this song to many of her American friends, and she is surprised that this song fell out of favor with younger leaders since it's that promise that is what Girl Scouting is all about. Nobuko also know the internationally famous Friendship Song, Taps, Smile Everybody Smile (lyrics in a comment under post) and the song Penguin Attention.

Nobuko plays many games with her troop. Two of the most popular games she plays are Kim’s game and Wide Game. Every year Nobuko’s troop competes in the annual badge design completion. On the topic of earning badges, Nobuko always tries to instill in her girls that even after the badge is earned, they must keep going forward and learning more.

If Nobuko hadn’t been in Girl Scouts, she wouldn’t be able to speak English; she wouldn’t have made as many friends; and she wouldn’t have such a deep feeling of sisterhood and camaraderie with all the girls of the world. In Nobuko’s eyes, Girl Scouts are the seed for world peace.

“In one hundred and forty-five countries, there are many Girl Scouts. So the Girl Scouts make world peace because we are sisters all together, no more war, no more fighting. That’s the value of Girl Scouting.”

Nobuko was especially touched when she watched Malala’s speech and immediately came to the conclusion that she was a Girl Scout (though, she isn’t). Nobuko feels that all girls should be like her and tell their opinions to the world.

Fun fact About Japanese Girl Scouts: They don’t actually sell Girl Scout cookies. Instead, three days of the year are spent gathering donations for the Red Cross and for things like nature conservation.

Nobuko has shared a story on the history of Girl Scouting in Japan elsewhere. The story can be found here.

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.

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.

Harini P. (Ambassador)

Harini began her Girl Scout career the same way many girls do: she joined her local (Wisconsin) troop in elementary school with a bunch of friends. During this time (2001 – 2004), she remembers many things that she had a lot of fun doing.

One of those things was the local Fall Festival. She and her troop decorated pumpkins. After that, as fall passed into winter, she sang at the senior center and skated around the ice rink.

Harini left her Girl Scout troop in 2004 to move to California, and for the next few years she was involved in choir and school centered activities. In 2011, she found out she could rejoin Girl Scouts.

In her new troop (during High school at the age of an Ambassador), she has done many things including gaining a passion for the Women's Rights Movement. One of the things that really affected Harini was when she learned about the "horrors and the terrible things that happen to women of all ages, all colors, all religions and all sizes around the world." She was really affected by the book and movie Half the Sky. She knows for a fact that she wants to volunteer and get involved more with promoting women’s rights through Girl Scouts and on her own.

She says Girl Scouts taught her how to be a good citizen, student, friend, daughter and person. Girl Scouts has taught her to be confident and proud of goodness in opposition to the current belief that one shouldn’t be too much of a "goody two-shoes." It encouraged her to pursue what she loves. It has taught her the valuable lesson that kindness is a strong asset.

In her words, Girl Scouts “makes you feel like you are important even though you might think that you are just one person amongst millions of people in this world. It reminds you that each person makes up the world and if everyone can just think positive thoughts and believe in their worth, then we can actually really effect the world that we live in a good way.”

She plans to become a troop leader, and help mentor and give feedback back to middle school and high school girls.

Marcy R. (Current Leader)

When Marcy’s daughter joined the Girl Scouts in first grade, Marcy didn’t know that it wasn’t only the start of her daughter’s Girl Scouting experience. It was also the start of her own.

She started out as a parent volunteer in her daughter’s troop. She remembers when they did an activity with jellybeans and the girls thought it was the coolest thing. They used to get so excited over everything when they were younger.

Around 2003, the troop leaders of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop ceased being leaders, and Marcy and a few other parents took over as the leaders.

Marcy has led her troop as they have earned numerous patches along with Journeys and awards. For their Bronze Award they gathered materials which they placed into tubs called “troop tubs” for new troops. For their Silver Award they redecorated and restored the Habitat for Humanity mural in Oxnard. A lot of the girls in her troop are currently working on their Gold Awards.

Though camping is a huge Girl Scout tradition, Marcy calls her troop “the Urban Troop” since they are more at home in a mall than in the woods. They have camped a bit at Kaleidoscope and in other places, but not much elsewhere.

At Kaleidoscope, they have directed the games workshop, and they enjoy doing the one pot cook-off there every time.

Marcy’s troop loves to cook. Besides the cook-off they have also completed a badge about cooking around the world. They learned to cook Dutch-oven style and participated in something called “Thinking Day”. During this Girl Scout tradition of “Thinking Day” girls explore different cultures and their cuisines. Sometimes, her troop also has the urge to spontaneously whip up baked goods like fresh brownies and cookies for their meetings.

Besides being adept at edible crafts, they are also good at handicrafts. They have done many over the years, including making newspaper beads and inventive S.W.A.P.S (Small Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere).

As Marcy and her troop have changed and passed through the different stages of Girl Scouts, Girl Scouts has also changed. The Journeys have evolved to help girls explore the world as they follow a story arc that is concluded with an award at the end instead of a "scatter-shot" of badges. The Journeys are much deeper compared to what they used to be.

Marcy and her troop are also interested in the state of the world. They recently went on a field trip to see an exhibit for the documentary Half the Sky. She believes that Girl Scouts has been in sync with the Women’s Rights Movement all along. Juliette Lowe was pretty radical in her day about what equals women’s rights and what women ought to be.

Marcy states that what she mostly sees in girls that come out of Girl Scouts is confidence. Confidence in the way they handle themselves and how they live. "It doesn’t matter how many badges or how much experience they have had, above all, they exude confidence."

She says that part of what drew her to Girl Scouts are the character vows of being honest and being a sister to every Girl Scout (as part of the Girl Scout Promise and Law states).

Marcy has been with her daughter’s troop since the Brownie days and has helped them along starting as a parent volunteer and then being a leader through out the years, in addition she also holds a position in the Girl Scout Organization as a Learning Facilitator and Gold Award Committee Chair.