I was first recruited to join Girl Scouts by my best friend in 4th grade, Amber. There weren’t a lot of social opportunities in the rural Virginia town where I lived, so the girls in Scout Troop 682, with our headquarters in the basement of the local Lutheran church, ended up becoming a big part of my life.

Looking back, my experiences as a Girl Scout helped lay the foundation for my career as an advocate for our environment.

Learning leadership

Many former Girl Scouts will likely nod their heads when I write that your fellow scouts – your sisters in the fellowship – and the troop leaders, offer support, mentorship and a safe space to try out different versions of the person you will become. Our troop leader, Amber’s mom, Rain, gave us the reins in charting our path. She encourages us to decide which badges we wanted to pursue, what events we wanted to organize and what opportunities we wanted to explore.

We dove into things we were excited about. We made masked imprints of our faces and decorated them with beads, feathers, paint and glitter to match our self expression. 

We organized our own intra-troupe fashion show. Complete with dramatic outfits, runway walks and overdone make-up, we strutted our stuff that night in the church basement, projecting confidence. And while, owning your catwalk and projecting a strong presence isn’t everything you need to nail your presentation at a press conference to stand up for the environment, I recently flexed many of those same muscles while releasing a new solar energy report at a press conference on a solar rooftop. 

Working for something bigger than myself

A massive hurricane, Hurricane Hugo, tore through our town in the fall of 1989. Blocked roads, flooding and downed power lines canceled school for a week. High winds had torn oak limbs off the trees all over town and the yard of the church where we held our troop meetings was a mess. 

We cleaned it up. We rented a chipper shredder and learned how to work it. We raked the whole yard. We chipped the branches. It took us two days and was a ton of work, but it felt good. We even earned a media hit in the Floyd Press.

We also connected with and gave back to local families and elders. In keeping with the quilting tradition of the Appalachian foothills, as part of earning our sewing badges, we collaboratively sewed a lap quilt for the Hibberts, an elderly couple who lived nearby.  When we brought them the quilt, we asked them to share about their life growing up in Floyd, which was part of earning another badge.  Our scout leader, Rain remembers our visit with the Hibberts as “a beautiful exchange”, generations sharing their knowledge about the place we called home.

Visiting the Hibberts and hearing their stories helped me become curious about people’s life experiences and learn not judge. Today, as an advocate and grassroots organizer, I work to meet people where they’re at, listen with an open heart and mind, whether I’m talking with them at their doorstep while I’m going going door-to-door to raise support for a campaign, standing outside a store while petitioning for a cause, or working with an intern and asking them to take on more leadership on the campaign.

Sparking a hunger to win systemic solutions

Scouting helped me see that acts of service alone weren’t going to scratch my itch of wanting to make the world a better place. 

When we cleaned up Hurricane Hugo’s mess in the church yard, I remember feeling proud. But later, driving home and looking out the windows of my mom’s station wagon, I saw downed branches in yards all across our community. Not everyone had a resident Girl Scout troop with eager hands, rakes and a chipper shredder to help them. This was one of many realizations that I had over time that helped me understand that I wanted to work on a systemic level to solve problems that affect us all, which led me to a career in advocacy and organizing around public interest issues.

Reinforcing my love for nature

I already loved the outdoors when I started as a Girl Scout, and my experiences in Troop 682 reinforced it. We explored nature and wove baskets with the reeds we found. We made fresh flower arrangements, went for hikes and collected things from the woods to make nature weavings.

We swam, camped and baked foil-wrapped banana boats in campfire coals at Sherando Lake. 

Outdoor experiences as a scout expanded my world, helped me appreciate beauty in everyday things, and instilled the idea that clean air, clean water, and access to open spaces are worth protecting for future generations. 

“Scouting made us all better people”

When I reached out to Rain, my scout leader about this article she wrote, “I think scouting made us all better people.  We worked together and played together. We planned, organized, and carried out. We had so much fun with all that we did. I think it all made a difference somehow in each girl’s life.” I know it did for me. Scouting built my skills and confidence and prepared me to find my way as an advocate for the greater good in our beautiful, broken world.