This year is “The Year of the Girl.” According to whom? Well, according to the Girl Scouts of America that is. This year will mark the 100th year of Girl Scouting across the country. I’d like to take the time to give a brief overview on how Girl Scouts how particularly impacted my life. I started going to public school in first grade, and right off the bat my mom had me join Girl Scouts like my older sister. I remember knowing no one, and making my mom sit through every meeting with me. Slowly, but surely, I became acquainted with my troop members. Around fourth grade, my troop merged with another troop, and I made even more friends having already been familiar with the faces from around school. To this day I am still close friends with those girls from my Girl Scout troop. We were always taught to, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and another is gold.” I never realized, but I have always made a conscious effort to keep in contact with all of my friends, and I think its because of how Girl Scouts taught me to value friendships.
Girl Scouts also taught me to value myself. They had numerous self building camps and activities that I attended that helped me become determined to be the best me I can me. Through learning about team work while working on one of the awards a scout can earn, to learning about how to work independently on a more advanced award I was taught to be diligent and hard-working. I have been taught many important morals and values through Girl Scouts and for anyone reading this; it is NEVER too late to become a scout. It has impacted so many girls’ lives, and I’m sure boy scouting has a similar impact. So join a local troop, get involved and learn to be encouraged to be the best person you can be.
