Blog Hop ~ Scouting as a part of life ~ next step up

As I said in my Monday post, I stepped up to become the Leader of the troop and have enjoyed the girls since they were in 1st and 2nd grade (entering 8th & 9th now).   I have lost a few as scouts along the way, some I still see on a regular basis, others I am still connected with their parents through social media, and even a few that have moved on and we didn't stay connected.  

After a year or so of being leader, I was asked to join the North Hills Service Team as the Awards & Recognitions Team Member. I wasn't really sure how the Service Team worked, and I soon found out, because there wasn't really a functioning team  my first couple of years... it was in the process of being revamped and they were trying to form a new team.  Turns out, the Service Team is a team of volunteers - leaders, parents, hearts of gold that want to help- that plans events for the local area of girls.  A step between the Troops and the Council.  As the team reformed, my job as Awards was not only to make sure that all the paperwork was submitted to the Council to make sure that our local leaders were recognized for their efforts, I had to get to know the other leaders and pay attention to them so I was able to help decide how the awards needed to be submitted.  I loved getting to know the other leaders better, but when it came down to that deadline... it was just UGH!  It was a pretty stressful position during that week before they were all due.  There were awards that were awarded at Council level that were the stressors when it came to this position.  Once I got all of those award nominations submitted, then we moved on to the Service Unit Awards! I liked dealing with the Service Unit Awards much more, because once I hit submit, the Council dealt with it from there.  These were the fun ones - you know, the ones where you give them a pack of lifesavers and let them know they saved your life at this certain event, or a gold spray painted plunger, thanking them for plunging right in!  These were the ones that I got to present to them at our final meeting.  The others, we didn't know about until after that meeting.  We did give them props for being nominated though!  

This past December, the lovely young lady that had been in the position of the Older Girl Program Specialist was blessed to receive a job at GIRL SCOUTS! (perfect position for her - she truly bleeds green and is 100% Scout).

That position came open, so I gave up the Awards and took over the OG.  Our former OG held my hand through the planning of the Graduating Seniors Ceremony and passed on the things she had done (this Older Girl Programs was BRAND NEW & in the works for sure).  She and I are pretty close, and I know she has my back when I need her. 

So, we Bridged the Graduating Seniors to Adult Girl Scouts and it was summer time!  No time for a break though... I needed to figure out what these girls want to do, what's the best way to communicate with them and then get some stuff on the calendar!!  I have met with a few of the 6th-12th grade girls and have some ideas, now I am just waiting for the main SU calendar to be firmed up (and for me to get Ry's Boy Scout Calendar) and I will start putting some dates on the calendar for just the Older Girls && hopefully start working with the Graduating Seniors to start planning their year and ceremony.  

I am pretty excited about my new position within the Girl Scouts and I am ready to reach out to these girls and get to know them and let them know that there is an adult in their life that they can come to.  I know that for these older ones, forming relationships with adults can be a good thing for them - allows them to learn to be a grown-up.

If you hopped over here from the Crew Blog Hop, please hop back and visit the others... if you stumbled upon this, you can still hop over there and visit for 5 days of some sort of adventure!!