Seniors Continue with Girl Scouts Through High School

A light flickers on inside of the house and illuminates the yard through the window. Seniors Kayla van Thullenar, Sara Sharp and Molly Ross crouch behind the cars in the driveway, waiting it out. Their black-clad bodies blend into the night as they finally creep forward onto the dew-drenched grass. Armed with pink plastic flamingos, they spread themselves out evenly with the other girls from Troop 1476. They stick the flamingos into the earth and run to the waiting cars and drive off. The flocking is complete.

Flocking is a fundraiser the Girl Scouts of Troop 1476 hold in order to raise money for their trip to Costa Rica this summer, where they will volunteer at schools and donate supplies. Van Thullenar, Sharp and Molly are three of the few girls who continued on with Girl Scouts through high school. In elementary school, van Thullenar and Molly were part of a troop with over 30 girls. However, by the time middle school began, the two, along with a few other girls, were forced to merge with another troop. Fortunately, the girls already knew the scouts from Troop 1476 from Girl Scout summer camps, so the switch was easy.

“A lot of girls thought that scouting is just a grade school thing and so they dropped out,” Molly’s mom, Vicki Ross, said.

Vicki was the Girl Scout leader for Molly’s troop in elementary school and is currently one of the three troop leaders for Troop 1476.

“I think it’s really fun to watch girls transform into young women with really incredible leadership skills,” Vicki said. “Challenging them when they’re young, watching them come together to practice and implement those leadership skills as young women is fun to watch, too.”

Girl Scouts at the high school level is completely different than Girl Scouts at the elementary school level. The girls spend more time volunteering and keep track of their community service hours. Their volunteering efforts include organizing the roses that are passed out to cancer survivors during the annual Run for the Cure. They also organized a picnic for the Heart of America Humane Society and ran the day care during the annual Chili Cook-Off at St. Pius.

Another aspect of Girl Scouts that has changed since grade school is the meetings. Instead of holding meetings in the art room after school, the girls have meetings at scout’s houses.

“The meetings aren’t really meetings,” Molly said. “They’re like little parties. They’re sleepovers and people bring food and we go to movies. We’re all going to see “Wicked” in a couple of weeks.”

In 2011, the troop organized an eight-day trip to San Francisco, where the girls were able to bond as a troop. They were in charge of the entire trip. The troop organized what activities they were doing each day, such as visiting Alcatraz, hiking through Muir Woods and walking down Fisherman’s Wharf. Though the trip was definitely designed for the girls to have fun, it was also a learning experience. The girls had to manage the money, the activities, transportation, airfare and the living conditions.

“We all kind of became sisters,” Sharp said. “It was a lot of fun and I’m glad our troop has stuck together over the years.”

Girl Scouts at the high school level does not solely consist of flocking and going on trips, though. In addition to volunteering with her troop, a Girl Scout who has reached high school has the opportunity to earn the Gold Award.

A Gold Award for a Girl Scout is equivalent to an Eagle Scout for a Boy Scout. This is one of the highest achievements a Girl Scout can earn. The girl must organize a project that she’s passionate about and try to contribute somehow to her community or the world beyond. The Gold Award also makes a Girl Scout more eligible for college scholarships and grants. Both Molly and Sharp are currently working on their Gold Award.

Molly’s Gold Award is a 12-page junior ranger booklet about the Shawnee Indian Mission. Each page has different activities for kids of different ages. She conducted research, helped design it, scheduled meetings with other volunteers, contacted a printing company and a company that makes badges. So far, Molly has spent 60 hours on her Gold Award, but by the time it’s finished she’ll have logged 80. On the weekend of Oct. 12, she will be volunteering at the annual Fall Festival, which is held at the Indian Mission. The Fall Festival is where her booklet will be available to the public for the first time, and she’ll be there to guide the kids through it.

Sharp’s Gold Award is making bracelets to send to regions of the world where women don’t have access to birth control, such as Kenya. The bracelets aren’t for decoration, but a type of calendar based on each woman’s cycle and when it’s safest for her to have sex without the risk of getting pregnant.

“They don’t usually have birth control in places like that,” Sharp said. “The bracelets basically make them healthier. They get to choose when it’s safest for them to have sex.”

Though being a Girl Scout requires hours of volunteering and hard work, Troop 1476 knows how to reward themselves.

The troop began flocking in June to raise money for Costa Rica. Two years ago, when the troop returned from San Francisco, they began to discuss a bigger trip. The decision had to be made between Europe and Costa Rica, but the cost of Europe was too high. With Costa Rica set as their destination for the summer of 2014, each girl set out to raise $2,000. The girls also raised money through selling Girl Scout cookies, babysitting and getting summer jobs.

“People think that Girl Scouts is kind of stupid and without much purpose,” van Thullenar said. “But it’s a lot more than just selling Girl Scout cookies. We try to be better people and we try to better our community.”