Monday, December 19, 2011

100th Anniversary - Guest Blog: Frotscher

This week, we are featuring Sally Frotscher, someone who has known the importance of Girl Scouting her entire life.  Sally is the Regional Director at our Des Moines location, and Greater Iowa is proud to have her on staff.  We thank her for her reflections and thoughts on the Scouting experience.

As a reminder, our offices will be closed next week for the Holidays.  If you would like to be our next guest blogger, please email us and tell us your story!  Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
___________________________________________________

Sally Frotscher
Regional Director
Girl Scouts of
Greater Iowa

     As we approach our 100th anniversary I have been reflecting on the changes that I have seen and things that have stayed the same about Girl Scouts since I joined in 1965.  As I like to tell people about the "dark ages"…. the 60’s ... the only thing for me to be involved in was Girl Scouts or 4H.  Our school district, North Scott, though consolidated in 1957, did not have girl’s athletics.  We signed petitions and finally got intramurals like bowling and archery; but by then I was in high school and Girl Scouts and a part time job filled up my extra time.
     I joined Girl Scouts in 3rd grade – Daisy Girl Scouts were not available for the younger grades and Brownies were second and third grade.  I remember asking/begging to join and finally by third grade I was able to join my friends.  Back then, North Scott was a hodge podge of older small elementary schools, and one room buildings in the area.  I went to second grade in a one room building.  In third grade, I went to the small elementary in Eldridge which meant I could walk to the Lutheran Church every Tuesday with my friends to Brownie meetings.  Back then, Brownies did not work on badges, instead, we did a lot of service projects and had a lot of fun.  In fourth grade, I was back in a one room building and continued with Girl Scouts as the buses took us to Eldridge for our meetings still on Tuesdays after school.  We continued meeting on Tuesdays all through high school. 
     I was a fortunate girl as two of our leaders stayed with us all the way – they were two very strong, and different, women. Mrs. Arp was a farm wife who helped run their dairy/grain farm.  They always seemed to have a baby calf in the kitchen that needed just a bit of extra care and warmth to survive.  She showed us that women could do anything as my own mother, also a farm wife, modeled.  Our other leader was Mrs. Swanson, a wife to the manager of the grain elevator.  She had a fun spirit and her hair style reminded us of a duck tail - she never minded the teasing of that!  We did lots of crafts, camping, and selling of cookies.
     The culmination of Girl Scouts came after our Junior year of high school.  Our troop saved money for several years, and Mrs. Arp and a woman from the GS council in Davenport – River Bend, chaperoned a group of us to Europe.  We most enjoyed the nights at Our Chalet and hikes up the mountain to watch the cheese maker blow his horn to let the community know that the cheese was ready.  We also met Girl Guides from England and Norway who were staying there with us. 
     When I graduated high school, though I stayed in touch with my Girl Scout friends, I thought my Girl Scout days (10 years) were over.  Fast forward to 1991 when my daughter comes home at the end of kindergarten with an "I’m Interested in Daisy Girl Scouts" flyer - somehow, I magically became a Girl Scout adult volunteer!  I checked the box that said I would help the leader, and so did my neighbor.  We became co-leaders and good friends, due to our daughter’s interests in Girl Scouts.  We continued to be their leaders for nine years as they got older and interests varied they had so many more choices of things to give their free time to than I had as a child. 
     While Girl Scouts has been changing with the times and working hard to keep up to the speed of girl… some things do not change.  One is our continued goal to provide girls with leadership experiences.  When I think back to being patrol leader of my Junior Girl Scout group, I realized I gained valuable leadership experience.  I gained confidence by speaking in front of my peers in those patrol meetings.  I was shy as a child and my parents raised the six of us to be “seen and not heard” as that was how they wanted their children to behave.  But the good thing with Girl Scouts is it allowed me to have a voice.
     I was reminiscing with one of my sisters at Thanksgiving about our fond memories of a week at Girl Scout camp, Camp Conestoga.  We are a year and a half apart in age and had different interests.  For me, it a week away from the family.  I had an entire week at camp all to myself – no siblings at all in the same group - it was my vacation time. 

     I know that some day when my they are a mother to a girl who brings home that "I’m Interested" form, that the girls from my daughter’s troop have the courage to volunteer to help their daughters and her friends make our world a better place.

-Sally Frotscher
___________________________________________________

Monday, December 12, 2011

100th Anniversary - Guest Blog: Carroll

This week we are honored to feature Norah Carroll, a digital strategist at Lava Row, as our guest blogger. We want to thank Norah for her unique perspective on the lessons she took away from the Girl Scout experience.   Enjoy!

If you are interested in becoming our next guest blogger, email us and tell us your story!
______________________________________________________

Norah Carroll
Digital Strategist
Lava Row

When I was growing up, I participated in just about every activity I could find. I took ice skating lessons, piano lessons, swimming lessons, and Irish dance lessons. I was in the art club, the chess club, student council, and the school band. It might have had something to do with my mom being a teacher – “learning opportunities!” – but I was eager to seize every opportunity that came my way, and when I learned that a few of my 4th grade classmates were in a Girl Scout troop, I knew I had to join.
 


I don’t remember much from the two years I was in Girl Scouts, though the Girl Scout Promise has managed to stick with me (does anyone ever really forget that?) To be honest, my time in Girl Scouts wasn’t particularly life changing. I was in a troop with girls I never got to know very well, and though I was ambitious about earning badges, Girl Scouts was never a priority among all the other activities in which I participated. 

But there was one aspect of my Girl Scouts experience that changed me forever: how it ended.
 
By the end of my second year in Troop 870, my fellow Girl Scouts and I were in the midst of preparing for the start of middle school – saying goodbye to things like recess and playing outside after school and swapping out our flavored Lip Smackers for (gasp!) colored lip gloss. Elementary school was ending, and with that, we faced the unknowns of a new school with new expectations and social pressures. Girl Scouts took the hit.
 
It all started when my troop voted down a camping trip because hairdryers weren’t permitted on the packing list. I remember complaining to my mom about it when she picked me up after our troop meeting, “But I don’t even use a hairdryer!” From there, everything went downhill. The rest of the girls became convinced that Girl Scouts wasn’t cool, and our troop disbanded before we started 6th grade.
 


No one ever describes middle school as the best years of their lives. For many young women, these “in between” years are our most vulnerable (and most painful), filled with uncertainty and hurt and questions and the seemingly insurmountable feeling of being alone. My Girl Scout troop disbanded on the brink of all of that, and though I knew I wasn’t ready for my Girl Scouts experience to end, I didn’t have the courage to voice the unpopular opinion. What 11-year-old does?
 


Girl Scouts, if we let it, can be the bridge that carries our young women through these most confusing years. It can be the sisterhood cheering them on as they take risks; as they strive to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams; as they find their own ways, big and small, to begin changing the world. A movement that builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place? I may not have had the courage to stand up for it at 11, but I do now.

- Norah Carroll
______________________________________________________

Monday, December 5, 2011

100th Anniversary - Guest Blog: Lidgett

This week we bring you a guest blog entry from Liz Lidgett, co-founder of 100+ Chicks for Charity. We want to thank Liz for contributing to our guest blog and for all of the work she does in the community.

If you are interested in being our next guest blogger, email us and tell us your story!
______________________________________________________

Liz Lidgett
co-founder
100+ Chicks for Charity

My 4th grade year, one of my best friends asked me to join her Girl Scout Junior troop. When I decided to become a Girl Scout I thought that it was going to be just a fun way for girls to get together and braid each other’s hair. Nothing important would come from it but it would be fun...

What really happened is that I had a fantastic year where I met great girl friends but also learned the importance of girls working together to create an impact.

Years later that same lesson is what stayed with me when a group of women decided to create the 100+ Women Who Care and the 100+ Chicks for Charity. Our members come from all walks of life and different financial backgrounds. As individuals we feel that it can be difficult to make a very large impact, but as a group we have the ability to contribute to the growth of our community in ways that we never thought possible.

During my year as a Girl Scout, I did end up learning how to french braid... but I also learned so many more valuable lessons that have stayed with me to this day.

-Liz Lidgett 

______________________________________________________