My Leader is Special Because...

Girl Scout leaders are the unsung heroes of the Girl Scout movement!  They work tirelessly to make sure our girls are learning, growing and, most of all, having fun as a Girl Scout!  Each year around the nation we celebrate these amazing women (and men) on April 22, the official Girl Scout Leader Appreciation day.  This year we polled girls to find out what they think is special about their leader.  Below you will find some of their answers.  As you can see their reasons are can be silly, fun, and heartwarming.  The common thread is that the girls recognize that the leader is the person that makes the experience one that they will remember!  Thank you, troop leaders for all you do! 

My Leader is special because…

(About a college student that is their leader)

…She has endless patience. – GS Junior

…She has good style! – GS Junior

…She is really really beautiful! – GS Junior

…She is funny and cool! – GS Brownie

…She works very hard to help all of us! – GS Junior

…She can take care of us. – GS Junior

…She is awesome and fun. – GS Brownie

(About a Troop leader/Cookie mom)

…She works very hard and lets us do stuff at her house – GS Junior

…She can be very serious and fun! – GS Junior

…She knows how to get stuff done! – GS Cadette

…She is the best cookie mom ever – GS Junior

…She is funny and fun to hang around with and the BEST cookie mom ever! – GS Junior

…She is fun, funny and the BEST cookie mom ever because she is sooo encouraging and teaches us new things! – GS Cadette

(About a Troop leader/Treasurer)

…She is great and nice and funny.   – GS Brownie

…She makes really great animal impressions – GS Junior

…She has a funny personality and is also AWESOME! – GS Junior

…She is sooo kind! – GS Brownie

…She is really kind and sweet! – GS Junior

…She keeps track of our troop money and helps us know how to use it like budgets and plans and stuff. – GS Cadette

(About a Troop leader/Mentor)

…She is the one that keeps things going and teaches us so many wonderful things. I think we appreciate her more than she knows.  GS Cadette

…She puts in a lot of work, goes out of her way to help us and makes things fun and interesting.  - GS Junior 

…She is smart, kind and funny. - GS Junior

…Today is her birthday and she is here, she goes on every trip, and she is appreciated. - GS Junior

…She chose to be our troop leader and it takes a special person to lead a troop of girls. - GS Junior

…GS Junior says, "My leader is a great leader because she is fun and humble and knows a lot about Girl Scouts." Mom says: I think by modest she means more like humble because [the leader] was saying last night, "Don't write stuff about me on the board, just [about the other leaders]." 

Please take a minute today and often throughout the year to tell your Troop Leader why she is special to you.  It will make all the difference to her!! 

Leader's Day

As Girl Scouts, tomorrow marks a big day of celebration for our community. We will not only celebrate Earth Day but also Leader’s Day, which acts as a day of recognizing great leaders in our lives. In my 13 years as a Girl Scout, my leader – my mother – has been the backbone of my scouting experience. It is because of my mom I was introduced to Girl Scouting in the first place. My mother was a Girl Scout through her entire school career (led by my grandmother!) and I am so grateful she decided to involve me and my kindergarten classmates in the Girl Scout organization when she started a Daisy troop.

Certainly every level of scouting comes with its own difficulties as a leader, but my mom has taken each year in stride, welcoming new projects and bigger dreams with a smile and a can-do attitude. As Daisies, my troop and I loved crazy, MESSY craft projects, and my mom was always enthusiastic, providing us with fun activities at every meeting. When we bridged to Brownies, we couldn’t wait to go on our first camping trip, and my mom jumped into action, organizing a fun campout, while still including us girls in the planning process.

With my mom, everything – from selling cookies to planning trips to setting up fun little meetings – involved troop input; my mom never simply took over a project just to get the job done! This allowed my troop to become truly invested in every Girl Scout project we completed, and made each activity a learning experience. As we got older, our projects got bigger, and my mom began giving my troop more responsibilities. We organized our own meetings, held fundraisers for international Destination trips, and planned and completed our Girl Scout Gold Award. But even with our newfound independence, my mother was always there to provide support and input in everything we did.

I recently mentored a Daisy troop at my old elementary school, and as I led their meeting, I heard my mother talking with their leaders. My mom insisted “The only advice I can give you is to have fun, because the minute you stop having fun, you’ll quit!” As I near the end of my senior year, I look back on my life as a Girl Scout thus far and I realize that the badges I earned, the trips I went on, the awards I received all pale in comparison to the fun I’ve had in Girl Scouting, and it thrills me to know my mom had just as much fun every step of the way! It is thanks to her and every Girl Scout leader and volunteer that is a part of this organization that we Girl Scouts get to have so much fun. It is also the reason we become the people we are today. So join us in celebrating National Leader’s Day tomorrow by remembering to say “thank you” to your troop leader or any other kind of leader your life. Remind them that they are making a difference in not only your life but the lives of so many others as well!

-Annie L.