The Girl Scouts in the Greenhorn Valley are active again after the COVID pandemic. Longtime leader Jill Marostica says they were able to start having meetings again in October and the number of participants is growing each week.
Marostica said that finding a meeting place was still quite a challenge even as recently as last month. The schools and many other organizations still have COVID restrictions that made it impossible for the Girl Scouts to meet at those facilities. The leaders were looking for a place that the children could go directly after school and not have to have parents pick them up and drive them to a meeting. Fortunately, the Table Mountain Church stepped up and the meetings are being held there on Monday’s, beginning right after school until 4:15 p.m. for elementary school-aged girls. The middle school and high school-aged scouts run their own programs and meet when there is a need.
The local Girl Scouts had a very disappointing end to last year’s meetings. The shutdown of activities and meetings came just as they were nearing the end of their year. Many were working on projects to earn their badges that had to be abandoned. Marostica shared that a big banner the Brownies had been working on as an art project to be displayed at the Bank of San Juans resides in her attic as they never got to display it.
Moving forward to this year, everyone is hopeful that meetings and activities will continue, and that the traditional day camp scheduled at Lazy Acres in June can be held.
Girl Scouting in the United States began on March 12, 1912, when Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low organized the first Girl Guide troop meeting of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia. It has since grown to a peak of 3.7 million members.
Girl Scouts is a girl-led progressive club and, as such, scouts are taught responsibility and decision making as it is appropriate to their ages. Beginners may start out with small choices as to what color paper they wish to use in a project, but by middle and high school they are running their own program. The Girl Scout mission statement is: "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place."
Marostica explained the girls do many different projects and events while earning their badges; and for each badge they earn there is a “take action project” that usually involves completing a community project. Some of the projects they have worked on in the past include, trash clean-ups, Christmas caroling, making valentines for veterans, and hosting a senior citizen spaghetti dinner.
Girl Scout projects teach the children different life skills, make them more aware of their community and world and let them explore careers. For example, as Marostica pointed out, Girl Scout Cookie sales are not just to provide delicious treats to their customers. The girls learn sales skills, money handling, business concepts, and even how to run their own online sales page.
The local favorite, Girl Scout metal recycling, is a good example of community projects the girls learn from. They accept cans from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the Colorado City swimming pool parking lot on the 2nd Saturday of each month. 100% of the funds earned from this project stay in the valley to be used for scholarships and camp registrations. The girls get a chance to earn money while working on recycling, helping save the planet, and learning science.
Local Volunteers that keep Girl Scouts going in the valley:
Noel McDonnell, Becky Thompson, and Lindsey Kirby-Brown are in charge of the Daisy troop, Kindergarten and first graders
Tiffany Weston and Krystalyn Ford are in charge of the Brownie troop, 2nd and 3rd graders.
Jill Marostica, Laura Bowler, and Heidi Larson are in charge of the Junior troop, 4th and 5th graders.
Sarah Griffith, Amy Himmelberg, and Dean Parrish are in charge of the cadet/seniors, all ages above the 5th grade.
For anyone interested in joining the Girl Scouts, Jill Marostica oversees the Greenhorn Valley group and can be reached at 719-569- 5687.