A New Endeavor

There is something new on the horizon and I am excited. I have become quite involved in Cub Scouts because of my church calling, and last night as I was sitting at Round Table I made a decision. I was going to seriously look into starting a Girl Scout troop in our neighborhood for Hailey and her grade level friends when they start Kindergarten next year.

Ethan will be starting Cub Scouts in seventeen months and I really want my girls to also enjoy Scouts. We were a big Scout family growing up. My dad always seemed to be a Boy Scout leader of some degree, and my mom was Evelyn's Girl Scout leader for many years. Everybody in my family did Scouts in some way and I for one loved it.

The problem is that Girl Scouts is not very big in our area. In fact, the one and only Council takes up almost the whole state and it is very diluted. It is much bigger in Texas, and the Council we fell in took up the greater Houston area. Way more compact! I dream of my "next" life when I am released as the Primary President and I have a little more time to do things I want to do. By this time next year I should be released and a new woman! So today I made some phone calls and when I asked if it was possible to start a new troop in our area, the lady on the phone was overcome with excitment! We talked for a long time and she told me everything I need to know to form a troop.

Daisy Scouts starts in Kindergarten when the girls are five, and it is good to keep each troop to their specific school year (mainly because advancement is often times done at the end of the school year and the girls move up together as a troop). Next May or June is when I need to get the ball rolling to actually organize the troop. Get girls registered, figure out times and places for weekly meetings, etc. I am really hoping to have ten girls registered for our troop who will be in Kindergraten in 2011-2012. Oh, and I of course need another leader! I hope a mom will want to volunteer for that.

I hope this takes off and gains popularity in our area. I want my girls to have the same experience that I did with Scouts. Some of my greatest memories come from those years! Since I of course can only lead one troop, I will be unable to lead another troop when Lauren starts Kindergarten in 2013. I hope that by then someone else will take the reigns and form a new troop for girls her age. That is exactly what happened with me and my sister, since she was one grade ahead of me and my mom was her leader. Luckily my very best friend's mom stepped up when I was in first grade and started our troop.

Like I said, I hope to get enough interest from other girls and moms in our neighborhood so we can be all set next summer. It will be such a great experience for our daughters!