The Story Of My Dream - Part Two
January 29, 2008 | In About |
Table of contents for Life Story
A Variety of Service - The Influence Of Girl Scouts
I was a Girl Scout for 12 years, from the time I was six years old until graduation from High School at age 18. It’s impossible for me to separate my efforts for Girl Scouts from my efforts to figure out a career, but it was a distinct part of my life, so I’ve chosen to discuss it separately.
I have always been an overachiever, and an emulator of others. Perhaps this comes from a desire to be well liked, or a desire to succeed, I’m not sure. Either way, I took everything I did to an extreme. Take earing badges, for instance. I earned tons of badges. At one point, I met a woman who had been a leader for a number of years and she had a “Girl Scout Jacket.” It was covered in patches. Before too long, I had a similar Girl Scout vest.
When I was a Girl Scout, the official uniform had the option for a sash, about six inches wide that you wore across your body and over one shoulder. While this had lots of room for badges and patches on the front and back, this wasn’t enough room for me. I opted for a vest because it had much more room.
I provide this as background to explain why I did so many different things during my Girl Scout years. I volunteered at a local hospital and volunteered as an assistant for educational programs at the Maryland Science Center. I volunteered at a church I attended to help out with Vacation Bible School, teaching the little kids. I went on many camping trips and fell in love with camping. One summer I went to a horseback riding summer camp. While I don’t ride horses anymore, I still have the boots I bought for that camp and I still wear them occasionally.
The Girl Scout Silver Award
Girl Scouts, and my push to earn as many awards as possible led to two events that had a profound influence on my life. The first was the earning of the Silver Award, the second highest award you can earn as a Girl Scout. Three years later was the second event, the earning of the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. This is equivalent to the Boy Scout Eagle Award.
Both of these awards require extensive community service, badge earning, and a significant project as the final step. For my Silver Award, I worked with a friend to host a community recycling day in my area. In the years since, my area has instituted a curb side recycling program, but at the time, if you wanted to recycle, you had to take your items to the dump, which wasn’t that close.
This experience taught me several things: how many people want to help the Earth, the power of viral marketing, and the necessity to plan for a much bigger turnout that originally expected.
My friend and I planned out the project. We arranged for the use of the High School parking lot for the day (a Saturday, if I recall). We arranged for people to help and had stations for the different kinds of recyclable: paper, plastic, glass, cans. We made up flyers and distributed them. We looked into getting a dumpster, but for some reason were not able to get one. We expected only a few people and thought we were set. How wrong we were!
We had so many people turn out, that we very quickly overflowed the containers we had for collecting. I remember spending the better part of the day riding back and forth to the dump taking over load after load of recyclables. We didn’t have any down time between trips; by the time we returned to the High School, there was another full car load to transport.
This was a very hectic day, and unfortunately, we didn’t keep track of how much we collected, but it was a massive success. I earned my award and got to relax a little. But only for a short while before I was back at it again.
A New Direction - Adventures On The Lady Maryland
I earned the Silver Award at the end of my 9th grade year. The summer after my 10th grade year, I took a Girl Scout summer trip: a week long experience on the Lady Maryland. The Lady Maryland is a replica Pungy Schooner, a 104 foot long sailboat that was historically used on the Chesapeake Bay to transport perishable items, such as melon, to port and market. Because they were built with a shallow draft (the amount of the ship that is underwater), and large, easily adjustable sails, they were quick and able to get into shallow water - perfect for the Chesapeake Bay of the 1800’s. She is even painted in the traditional colors of pink and green.
Photo of Lady Maryland courtesy of Living Classrooms Foundation
This trip had a huge impact on me. I had so much fun that I not only went back for a second week long trip the next year, I also planned my Gold Award Project around the Lady Maryland.
For my Gold Award Project, I coordinated a day long trip on the Lady Maryland for a group of younger Girl Scouts. As part of the experience, the girls learned about knot tying, navigation, the mechanics of sailing, and the history of the Chesapeake Bay. This was done both on land during a pre-trip education day and on the water for the actual day long trip. Just as I had the for my trips on the Lady Maryland, the girls got to experience raising the sails by hand, steering the boat, and catching some fish to examine (they were thrown back later). This project was considerably more difficult, but had it’s lessons as well. In the end, I had my Gold Award, a United States Flag flown over the US Capital Building in my honor, a letter from President Bill Clinton congratulating me, and a new career path. My love of conservation combined with my love of teaching perfectly in the role of a crew mate on the Lady Maryland.
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