Personal Narrative: A Career In Girl Scouts

I spent a lot of time considering my senior project, and at first I tried a focus on mechanical engineering. As fascinating as the topic is, and as wonderful as a newly designed motorcycle could be, many of the projects associated with engineering were both too difficult and had little to no benefit for my community. Instead, I connected with a Girl Scout troop I had participated in several years ago. I decided that I wanted to have some sort of leadership role within Scouts, but didn’t know yet if I wanted to be a leader or just an assistant. I did know that I wanted to be an integral part of the planning as well as the execution of meetings, and that it would have to culminate in some sort of awards ceremony, as is traditional in Girl Scouts. I contacted Vicki Risner, the leader of our local troop

In my last years of scouting I had maintained more of a leadership role within the troop than a scout role, and she and many of the other girls, scouts and leaders alike, were thrilled at my return. However, this would be my first position in the organization as a full leader with all the responsibilities and expectations that go along with it. I felt apprehensive at first, especially considering how young my troop would be - Daisies, from kindergarten to first grade. My three co-leaders, Vicki, and I all met a couple weeks prior to the first meeting to begin planning for the year. Arts and crafts meetings tempted all of us, but we had to schedule at least some events that would relate to the curriculum of our “journey,” involving animals and pet care. Furthermore, we had to schedule around several troop-wide events, such as the Halloween party and Masquerade ball. It was difficult to coordinate schedules at the various levels of leadership, but with good communication, effective texting skills, and a weekly planner, we managed to get a rough draft of the year planned