It has been a while since I have posted what my troop has been up to, so I thought I would take this holiday downtime to share what my 9th Grade Seniors have been doing.
This past summer, I wrote in detail about the Mission:Sisterhood Journey that we did over two consecutive days. At that time, one of my five remaining girls had dropped out of Scouts for good and the other did not come to the summer meetings as she was not interested in the Journey.
Fast forward to September and the start of high school, and for the first time ever, all of the girls were attending the same school. In the past, they had gone to different elementary and middle schools. My daughter even has a class with one of her scouting friends from the other middle school, and both are delighted to be together.
Photo from Pixabay
We spent our cookie money on a horseback riding experience in early October and the girls had a great time. However, the one girl who has been with my troop since kindergarten decided not to return. Her mom gave no reason and she has not told the girls why she left when they see each other at lunch or in the halls. I totally understand not wanting to return, but I believe it is a courtesy to let me or the other leader know after all of these years. We got the hint since she did not register in the fall, and all attempts at reaching out went unanswered. In all my years as a troop leader, this is the first parent to not tell us via email or in person that her daughter was not returning. I have never taken a girl leaving personally, and I love having a small troop. (I wrote about the benefits of having one in this blog post).
We did not meet in November, but did meet this week to bake cookies, muffins and other treats for the homeless program that we have participated in for the past six years. The girls are very independent and it was lovely just hanging out in the kitchen and listening to them chat as they decorated cookies. They even talked about going for the Gold Award, which would be quite a feather in their cap if they try to do this!
Photo from Pixabay
Picking Out Badges to Earn
When they finished, I sat down with them and told them that as Seniors, they needed to be girl led. I know that follow-through is tough and that finding time to get together to plan is also challenging, given their different activity schedules. I told them to look up the Senior badges and requirements online and find some badges they wanted to earn. They found three, the first being Room Makeover. They liked the idea of doing things for their own rooms, and two of them already had Pinterest boards full of ideas, which is Step 1. For Step 2, Paint Something, they want to go to one of the painting stores and make a creation for their walls. With only three girls, we have plenty of cookie money left from the two years that we sold to make this possible and not drain the account.
Photo from Pixabay
They can also get together at my home to sew pillows for Step 3, Sew or Glue Something. The fourth step is a challenge, but I think we can tie dye some pillow cases to repurpose, and we can do that together as well.
For the fifth and final step, Build Something, the girls can look and find a simple project that can be done together. They can text each other ideas until they find something they all like and I can buy the materials.
Looking forward to the new year, we will be earning this badge and learning about the requirements for the Gold Award. We will not be selling cookies, as we have money in the bank and the three families are willing to bankroll anything the girls do once the money runs out. For our little tribe, staying together is goal. This is a safe place for the girls, and together they can have great experiences as well as do service for others.
What is your troop doing in 2018?
