My Girl Scout Beginnings
A long, long time ago, I started Girl Scouts in the San Francisco Bay Area Council, as a third grade Brownie in Oakland, California. We were a close bunch and so proud to wear our complete Brownie uniforms (even on school picture day!), hauling around our boxes of Girl Scout cookies to sell, poring over our Brownie Handbooks together at meetings and working on little service projects in our community. I fondly remember caroling on a boat that broadcast our singing on Lake Merritt at Christmas time and then going for hot chocolate afterwards at Fenton’s, which was the greatest ice cream parlor in those days.
A Few of My Favorite Memories
The Junior years of Girl Scouts were wonderful for our group and the greatest time of my young scouting experience. Our leaders taught us ‘girl stuff’, poise, sewing, simple home economics, cultural awareness, civics and basic guitar. Our campouts were so memorable. Patrols, badge work, camp cooking, KP charts, spooky stories and skits at campfire all in two full days and a night. The camp counselors were just wonderful, inspiring young women. We all dreamed of ‘growing up’ and becoming camp counselors with our own unit troops at camp. I eventually did in high school and college and brought all that I had gleaned in scouting to that experience. Those camping experiences cemented my appreciation and love for the natural world.
