Alumnae Story
Why Am I a Girl Scout?

By Margot Rudstrom
Minneapolis, Minn.

Have you ever asked yourself that question? As a girl? As an adult? Why am I a Girl Scout?

I am getting ready to leave Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines, and move to the Dakota Horizons Council. I have been involved in Girl Scouting in the Morris area since 1998, when my oldest daughter joined a Brownie troop. She is now a Senior Girl Scout and my youngest daughter is a Junior Girl Scout. Now is a good time for reflection.

My Girl Scouting experience started long before our move to Minnesota. When I was in fourth grade I joined the First Stewiake Girl Guide Troop. I was incredibly shy when I was a kid. My first troop meeting was overwhelming, to say the least. Mrs. Moore, the troop leader assigned me to Allison's patrol. We were the Bluebirds. Allison was so grown up and so pretty.

I was a tenderfoot and went to work learning the Girl Guide promise and law. I remember winter camping at Baden house. We made s'mores and the facilities were outside. There was thick frost on the doors in the morning. We made candles one Christmas at Mrs. Moore's house. Just last month I had the opportunity to ask her if she was still picking wax off her stove.

In 1977 I got to go to the World Camp at Marion Bridge in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Looking back, it was an amazing experience. Can you imagine 2,000 girls from around the world singing our world camp song under the avenue of flags?

The year was 1977
The place was Canada's east coast
To gather guides and scouts together
And we pledge our toast

To choose peace with understanding
To choose joy in life each day
To choose guiding as our tomorrow
As the light to show us the way

Its 30 years later and I still sing the words. They are still as true today as they were back then.

Girl Guides gave me confidence as a young girl. It taught me to reach for the stars. Set a goal and go for it. The confidence I gained in Guiding helped me to challenge myself, step out of my comfort zone, and try new things. I thanked Mrs. Moore last month for the huge positive impact she had on one shy young girl.

My oldest daughter started in Girl Scouts in 1998. I became a troop leader. I often think about Mrs. Moore as I navigate the world of adult volunteers. I hope I can make a difference in the lives of girls in my community.

It is such a rush when a girl who had been in my troop waves to me on the street, or says hello to me in the grocery store. At our last troop meeting, one group of girls asked if I had e-mail and MSN. "Can we e-mail you or talk to you online after you move?" How can you beat that as a reward for volunteering? I must admit I chuckle to myself at their amazement that someone as old as me would even know about e-mail and MSN. I wondered if I should share that I have a Facebook page too.

My hope is one day the girls will have a flashback to the time we started flower seeds on my kitchen table, or the time they told me I snored when I sleep, or the time when we were hiking across the campground singing at the top of our lungs "We are the Girl Scouts. Mighty, mighty Girl Scouts…" or the time that we stopped at a bar because some of us had to go and that was the only place to stop for the next 50 miles, or the time that...

I still smile when one girl said her favorite thing as a Daisy was making mud at Margot's table. That was the starting flower seeds activity and making mud was the end result. The way I see it, things have come full circle. My Girl Guide leader spent time picking wax off her stove and I spent time scrubbing mud off my table and the floor at my house. The end result was the same for both Mrs. Moore and me, a memory to last a lifetime.

Why am I a Girl Scout? Guiding made a positive and lasting impact on me as a person. Part of who I am is a direct result of the adult volunteers from my youth. Why am I a Girl Scout? I hope to have a positive impact on another young girls' life. I cannot think of a greater gift to give to a girl, than that of confidence in herself. The rewards I have received from the girls and my Scouting friends in the council have given me memories to last a lifetime.