Alumnae Story
Generations of Campers

By Michele Jackson
Dayton, Ohio
Buckeye Trails Girl Scout Council

I have a long history of Girl Scouting. I started in Brownies and went all the way to Seniors, I really miss those old Girl Scout cookies, the oxfords (chocolate and vanilla, vanilla crème), the vanilla wafer mints, the sugar cookie, trefoils/Scot teas, mmmm good!

I had a really good Girl Scout leader, Mrs. Neff. We were Girl Scouts together when Rolling Hills was just a small one-unit picnic shelter, a few platform tents with an outdoor shower (cold). The area is what we now call "Whispering Winds." It was before the lodge was even built. We went on our first camping trip on the back of a pickup truck, when it was legal to do that. I bet if Mrs. Neff knew how dangerous it could be, she would not have let us do that! Plus safety-wise laws have changed quite a bit.

On one camping trip we went to camp Machochee for about four days. I had someone put my big Tupperware bowl of birdseed into the van and someone left the windows down. The raccoons got in and had a ball! We saw a family of mom and baby raccoons. On another trip there a tornado had actually touched down in the area. I was in the latrine and felt quite safe. Once when I was walking on the path close to where the tree house is, a big buck deer crossed right in front of me about ten feet away. That scared the dickens out of me and my heart leaped out of my throat! We loved to go over the fence and visit the old slave cemetery. It was cleaned out and weeded at the time and we were able to get some good crayon drawings.

My troop is grown up and has children of their own now. I have since, two years ago, found a troop with dedicated leaders who take an active role in their church youth group. We have a Girl Scout troop which is taking off just fine. We have been a top seller in our neighborhood this past year, selling over 3,000 boxes of cookies, one young lady selling at least 1,000 on her own. We just recently had a court of awards and our end-of-year annual picnic/overnight at the church, and we went camping last year at Rolling Hills.

I'm an outdoor person and the other two leaders like the indoors. I had brought my own tent to show the girls how to set up a regular tent, at least that was the plan. So I put up my tent in the primitive area by the new lodge and slept like a baby, but my back and legs were sore when I woke up, Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. We have Brownies to Juniors, and are still taking on Brownies. Now we have some new older girls, Cadette age. Their mom was a Girl Scout of my own all age-level troop, in Triangleview Court, back in the early 90's. The leader's daughter is going to be the new Cadette leader this year. Now, isn't that wonderful!

Remembering those days has helped me to become a better adult. I want to do more to try to protect and teach our young Girl Scouts even more. It taught me things I did not learn at home or school. I raised my own family on many of those values, as much as I could.

I have been recently called up to act as neighborhood service team unit camp consultant-helper for the Northwest area.