In keeping with long-standing College tradition, more than a dozen MHC students served as leaders this year for seven Girl Scout troops in South Hadley, Granby, and Amherst. Leading girls from age five to eleven is a rewarding and multifaceted volunteer experience that goes far beyond selling those famous Girl Scout cookies, students say.
"It's a big transition from being a scout to leading them," says Hannah Thomas '99. "We have to learn to communicate with local Girl Scout Council staff, juggle our student lives with the girls' schedules, and teach the girls that leaders are facilitators, not baby-sitters." Thomas and coleader and roommate Ramona Smith '99 are both longtime scouts who find that they "can't give it up." Kit Robertson '98 initially signed up to be a leader "out of a sense of duty, feeling I was honor-bound to give back something to scouting, but now I see so much in the girls that I want to help develop. It's my contribution to the world."
Since Girl Scouts work toward earning five categories of badges, troops must decide as a group which badges to work on. Leaders help the girls work well together on whatever projects interest them. "Our job is to make that process interesting and fun," explains Thomas.
For example, when Robertson's ten fourth-graders selected the "jeweler" badge, she organized a trip to a local jeweler's where the girls looked at diamonds under a microscope and learned how stones are tested for quality and authenticity. This field trip provided insights into careers and science as well as satisfying one of the jeweler badge requirements.
Troop leaders also feel that their role is to support the girls in learning to take initiative and develop their own ideas. Tonya Picot '99 believes that because scouting, unlike school, is noncompetitive, her six second-graders are less intimidated about trying new things. This month, Robertson's troop will work in a Granby park, planting flowers, picking up trash, and providing activities for a Brownie troop--a project developed independently by three troop members.
All the leaders feel the three to four hours a week they spend on scouting is well worth the time. "I love the relationship I have with the kids," says Robertson. "We're not parents and we're not people being paid to work with them. At some level, they seem to appreciate that we just believe in them."
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