Personal Narrative: How Girl Scouts Changed My Life

I am a member of my high school’s student council, Girl Scouts, and also the chaplain of my school’s drama club.

The year is 2016, it is a cold and rainy Tuesday afternoon. My father, John Carey, and I are driving to Sherman, Texas. Once I reach Sherman I will go before a board of leaders in order to achieve the ranking of Eagle Scout. I am incredibly nervous, anxious, but really I am ready to get into the meeting and show them that I am trustworthy and capable of achieving such an honor. As we pull up to the church where the meeting will be held, I realize that I could possibly not be ready. I have gone over my project, which they will be asking questions about, a million times. Not to mention I am the one who orchestrated the planning and everything about the project, so I am very familiar with it. Yet, I sit and wonder what if they ask that one question

It was just an ordinary day when my mom asked me if I wanted to go to the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia. Immediately I said yes. Not knowing what in the world a jamboree was, I asked my mom what it was. I was them able to realize that this trip was a trip of a lifetime.

When I'm not in school I have Since my freshman year I have been doing marching band. As a sophomore I took my position as a upperclassman to help my freshman to the best of my ability. I help the freshman in my section to read drill, marching techniques, and how to play the music. While doing that I also do activities with my Girl Scout troop. I have been in Girl Scouts since the 4th grade and that has been a wonderful learning experience. From learning the ways of sales, to taking educational trips around the state i have grown in skill and character. Also for the last 3 years I have been the 2nd in highest cookie sales so that has been been very beneficial. Then during the summer I volunteer at the Durham Art's Council's Summer Camp as

I have been in a few school activities. One of the main activities that I have been involved in is Color guard. Since my sophomore year, I have been on the guard and participating in all of the competitions with the band. It is a great way to get involved, make new friends, and create new experiences. I am also in my school’s National Honor Society which is an organization that consists of the top academic scholars. We do volunteer work and do activities that display integrity. We have done blood drives as well as packaged food for Kids Against Hunger. That is another organization that people can do to help package food for children across seas that don’t have any source of nourishment. I am an active thespian which is a group of sorts that is dedicated to the fine arts. I have been one since my freshmen year and have been either stage manager or assistant stage manager for two plays and three musicals. My junior year as well as this year I was involved in National

Being a Girl Scout from kindergarten until the end of middle school has taught me various life skills. Firstly, it has taught me the importance of teamwork. Through various projects and activities, my troop and I have worked together in achieving any goals set by our leaders and other members of our community. This experience has also taught me life skills that can help me as an individual, such as first aid and how to deal with children. My mother was a troop leader for girls in grades third through fifth, excluding me from the eighth grade, and I acted somewhat as a co-leader for my mum when the actual co-leader was unavailable. I set up crafts and helped the younger girls with badges that I had already gotten in the

In todays society there are many things that people can be involved in. One is volunteering. Local organizations around my community are always looking for people to come in and help volunteer with the young and the old. A local Boys and Girls club is one that I volunteer at when ever I get a chance to. Volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club has allowed me to help the boys and girls to have a safe place to come learn and grow while having fun. It is a place where young people can come and know someone cares about them. Volunteering makes a difference in the lives of boys and girls in the community. (Volunteer1) Volunteering with the Boys & Girls Club has taught me more about the organization, what a volunteer does, and what I can learn from volunteering.

For as long as I can remember I have been involved in my community, as I joined Girl Scouts at age five. This sparked my involvement with the people and the world around me. I am still in Girl Scouts, but currently it teaches me more leadership as we help out with some younger troops of Girl Scouts teaching them to thrive in their community and take responsibility for their actions. I also volunteer at my church, helping run the café, and giving a hand in the nursery. In addition I help at basketball tournaments year round, running clocks and working within the concession stand.

Girl Scout troop 1511 has transformed sufficiently deeper than Monday meetings, camping trips, and a time to see my friends. I joined 12 years ago, unaware of the importance it would it on me. It has become the most consistent and valuable organization I’ve been a part of throughout my life. Girl Scouts has presented me with opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish single handedly. It’s led me to become a recipient of the Girl Scout Bronze and Silver Award. Along with having the opportunity to reach out to my community through service projects and gain numerous life skills that I’m able to use on an everyday basis.

My strongest suits are represented in various activities in my life including marching band, my studies, and my part-time employment. These activities helped me to achieve the aspects of hard work, being conscientious, and demonstrating good work ethic. Even though I faced many hardships, hard work, dedication, and perseverance I was able to overcome them. Marching band has shaped my life in more aspects than one.

Throughout high school, I have participated in numerous school sports and activities. Cross county had a tremendous impact on my life and the lessons I have learned from the sport I will perpetually cherish. Another activity I have been a part of for three years is yearbook. I am the senior editor of the yearbook and have, thus, learned to engage my leadership skills. Additionally, choir is an activity I am passionate about. Singing is an escape from the chaos of my day and I revel in the joy it brings me. Furthermore, my two friends and I brought forth the idea of a cross country ski club at our school, and we initiated its formation.

Rather than being lead by the older scouts, it was me and my friends who began to run the troop. The ones that I had looked up to had mostly left, and, almost seemingly without warning, it was our turn to lead, and mentor the new scouts. I was a troop guide, then an Assistant senior patrol leader, and then the quartermaster. All the while, I continued on my own to advance steadily through the scouting ranks. However, with these greater responsibilities, came greater enjoyment to be had out of scouting. We went to summer camps, high adventure camps, and dozens of troop-sponsored camping trips. I was nominated for, and accepted into, the Order of the Arrow, the Honor Society of Scouting. After being nominated by my Troop, I participated in a service project where we slept under the stars, followed by a period of silence and

Marching band does not sound interesting to most people, at least to me it didn’t. For the longest time I wanted to quit band because I never really enjoyed it, I didn’t think I was good so it made me want to give up. But my mother never let me quit. I hated her for it but I realize now that she was doing something good for me. My mother made me play the flute. The instrument that isn’t like any other, some call it a “hybrid” between the woodwinds and brass. I never liked to practice the flute, but eventually I had to. These factors, hating being in band, my mother forcing me to stick with it, and playing the flute, changed my life.

I am a very hard working, and independent women who has had to go through a lot of tough situations to be where I am today and I am very proud of that. From having to go through rough patches in my life, it has turned me into the type of person who likes to help others when they are struggling in their life as well or just to be a kind human being. I am highly involved in clubs in my school, such as FCCLA, FBLA, Interact, Spanish club, Spirit club, and I was a member of FFA for a year and half because I love the community involvement that they all seek out. I am also currently a certified lifeguard at the Butler Aquatic Center and have been going on three years now. Being able to lifeguard lets me have the interaction with people that I enjoy

I have been an active member of Girl Scouts of America for 11 years. Within my troop we participate in coordinating events for local Girl Scouts and their families, sell cookies, nuts, and magazines annually, as well as participate in community service. Some of the community service events we participate in include, making Easter baskets for the local Women's Haven, making and sending Christmas gifts to our troops overseas and veterans, making and serving food at the Salvation Army, as well as providing hygiene and snack bags for each person we serve, and we recently provided care packs to be sent to the families in the Butte County area that were affected by the recent wildfires that California experienced last year. Also, my Girl Scout troop actively camps and advocates the preservation of the wilderness.