Latinos Give Back to Their Communities through Girl Scouts

October 19, 2004

By Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan

Volunteerism and community involvement are often instilled in us when we're young as part of our culture. Latinas all over the United States are proof positive of the vitalizing effects of tradition on community. Esmeralda, a 25-year-old Latina volunteer, put it best: "I really can't remember the first time I volunteered it really was just a way of life for us."

Take, for example, Angela Gonzalez, who serves as former PTA president, choir singer, and Brownie troop leader for 11 girls. As a child growing up in Colorado, Angela was a self-described "campfire girl" who remembers all her outdoor scouting adventures and ceremonies that meant so much to her. As a mom of three children, she couldn't wait to provide that same experience for her daughter.

Making Music

For the past three years, Angela has been a volunteer with the Arizona Cactus Pines Girl Scout council. As a troop leader, she has enhanced the girls' sense of music appreciation through teaching them how to play instruments, taking field trips, and participating in song fests and caroling. An aficionada of music since she was a child, she herself will soon be singing at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in a nearby town.

A full-time journalist for the Business Journal in Phoenix, Arizona, Angela will also soon be starting a school newspaper teaching students journalism skills. But all of these activities seem to flow naturally for Angela, whose involvement with youth and the arts seem to exist effortlessly. Her involvement with her community and schools has always been a part of who she is since her first camping adventure. And now that sense of community pride and heritage has been passed on to her children.

To Angela and the many other Latinas across the country—we celebrate your commitment and leadership in Girl Scouting!