Newsmakers
The Calvert Gazette
Thursday, September 20, 2012
14
Spotlight on Volunteers Girl Scouts Opportunities Not Only For Kids By Sarah Miller Staff Writer Girl Scouts offers young women opportunities to grow as leaders and serve their community, all while having fun. It also offers the adults working with the girls similar opportunities. Field Director for Calvert County Nadine Happell was a Girl Scout for three years as a child, and when her family moved she decided to stop. Happell got pulled back into Girl Scouts as a “supportive parent” when her daughter wanted to join a troop. “As she got more involved, I got more involved,” Happell said. When her daughter’s troop leader moved on with some of the older girls, Happell’s daughter and a few additional Brownies needed a new leader. Happell said she was asked to take the position. From there she became a service unit manager, and worked her way into the position she holds now. Adults get as much out of being involved in Girl Scouts as the girls do, Happell said. Along with the girls, they learn to be leaders. They also organize encampments and activities. Parents help organize cookie sales and keep track of units sold and make sure there are girls at the cookie booth. They learn time and people management skills, all while acting as mentors and helping girls grow to be responsible young women who will be leaders in their community. One time Happell said she knew she was doing something that made a difference was during an art project. She had her troop make a tambourine by putting beans on a paper plate, folding it in half, then gluing the edges shut. The girls then decorated the outside of their instruments and got to take them home. One of the girls in her troop was from a family who didn’t have much, and she was excited to show her parents what she had made. Happell said that was one small instance where she saw a girl take pride in her accomplishment, and want to share it with others. “That was when I stopped being a leader because of my daughter and started being a leader because I wanted to be a leader,” Happell said. She said another time, she had two girls in her troop whose parents were divorced, and they and their mother had been in Project ECHO. They were starting with nothing, and Happell said she saw the girls get involved in their community through Girl Scouts, and their mother developed leadership skills by working with the troop that she could apply to her job. During the time Happell knew the family, the mother worked her way up the ladder at work, and the whole family got into a better situation in life. “I saw that family change,” Happell said. Volunteer activities for adults aren’t limited to being troop leaders. Happell said there are openings for adults who can only give a couple days or a week to help with camps,
Photo By Sarah Miller Nadine Happell talks to parents at a Girl Scout open house.
or to help with distribution during cookie season. For adults who don’t think they could handle 10 or more hyperactive girls for extended periods of time, there is always plenty of administrative work that needs doing. There are adults who specialize in presentations and programs, such as in financial literacy, and troop leaders bring them in specifically to teach the girls on that one program. Photo Courtesy of Nadine Happell The Girl Scouts will take any volunteer, Happell said. There is always an opening for any skill set, and she said she Girl Scouts have fun and learn during various activities. is happy to match volunteers with projects in the Girl Scouts. The girl spoke no English, but her troop would act out games Girl Scouts does not let go of volunteers easily, either. “Once you’re in, it’s hard to get out,” said Ann Schnei- and make sure she was always included and knew what was expected of her. der, a troop leader and former Girl Scout. Girls are not always in the troop associated with their Schneider said she has been involved with Girl Scouts school. Troop Leader Karen Walling said she once led a for more than 40 years, starting as a Brownie and now leading as ambassador troop, the oldest age group for Girl Scouts. troop that consisted of girls from public and private schools, She is in the middle of planning a backwards encampment for and even a couple who were home schooled. None of them this weekend. She said everything will be backwards, from went to school together, but they became good friends having the campfire and s’mores in the morning and bacon through Girl Scouts. When it comes to joining troop, it is important for the and eggs in the evening. Her daughter even put together a girls to be comfortable with the leader and the activities the pre-encampment report detailing all the fun the girls had. Schneider said she got involved in Girl Scouts as an troop enjoys. Some troops go camping every weekend, and adult when her daughter wanted to join a troop. She had di- others go on a trip to get manicures and pedicures at the end rected a summer camp for the past 10 years, and seen girls of every school year. Every group is different. “Your troop is who your leader is,” Schneider said. in her troop grow up. Some parents stay with one troop from The adults involved in Girl Scouts become friends too. Daisy to Ambassador while others stay with one age group and lead a different troop every couple years. Schneider said Walling said she is still in touch with her former troop leader she is considering finding another troop to get involved with and parents from Happell’s daughter’s troop still have “troop when her girls graduate high school. She said Girl Scouts meetings” to catch up with each other. For more information or to get involved, visit www. is a “wholesome, enjoyable, activity” for everyone involved. girlscouts.org or contact Happell at nhappell@gscnc.org or She said girls learn tolerance, and they make sure no activities exclude girls with physical or mental handicaps. She 800-834-1702, extension 4011. said one time, a girl from China went to camp with her troop. sarahmiller@countytimes.net Anna Corteville, Natalie Williams and Olivia Owen, ready to talk to potential Girl Scouts.
Photo Courtesy of Nadine Happell
Photo By Sarah Miller