Girl Scouts celebrate 100 years of tradition, service ... and cookies
MARBLE FALLS — Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout.
And this year the cherished organization, which has thousands of members in the Highland Lakes and across Central Texas, enjoys its 100th birthday.
For 63-year-old Jenny Braeutigam of Granite Shoals, you’re never too old to be a Girl Scout.
PHOTO 1: Emily Sethman of Burnet Troop 478 has sold more than 1,500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies since Jan. 18. Her goal is 3,000. Sethman and her troop will join thousands of youngsters in recognizing the 100-year anniversary of the Scouting organization in March. Staff photo by Connie Swinney
PHOTO 2: Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girls Scouts in 1912.
“I got a lifetime membership two years ago on my birthday Aug. 13, 2009,” she said “It meant a lot to me because being a Girl Scout my whole childhood and a Girl Scout leader and a trainer, it’s always been a part of my life.”
Her family continued the Scouting traditions as her daughter Danette, now 39, and two granddaughters, 15 and 9, joined the program as well.
The program’s 100th anniversary, March 12, has inspired Braeutigam to reflect on her experiences and the history of the organization.
“I was in the second grade,” she said. “That would have been about 1955. My sister got in a year ahead of me. I was one until I graduated in 1966.”
Her family pitched in to help.
“My mom ended up being my Girl Scout leader in fourth and fifth grade” in Fredericksburg, Braeutigam added.
Years later, Braeutigam served as a troop leader from 1978 to 1992 and sat on the Austin-based Girl Scout council while living there in the mid-1980s.
No matter where she was in the state, Braeutigam said Girl Scout history, tradition, service and citizenship followed her.
“We learned a lot about (founder) Juliette Gordon Low,” she said. “The history is as exciting to me today as it was when I was a little kid learning about it.”
Girl Scout Promise
On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law
Girl Scout Law
I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.
Low, born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon, came into the world in Savannah, Ga., on Oct. 31, 1860. Low’s father, William Washington Gordon II, a Civil War veteran, made his fortune as a cotton trader in the South. She spent summers camping and hunting with relatives and had a gift for the arts such as writing, singing and acting.
In 1911, when she was 51, she met Robert Baden-Powell, an English nobleman who founded the Boy Scouts. He inspired her to launch a similar group, the Girl Guide troops, a year later in Scotland and England and eventually in the United States. By 1917, the largest fundraiser and signature symbol of Girl Scouting — the Girl Scout cookie — was born.
Today, sales are estimated at more than 200 million boxes per year.
“As a little kid, cookies were 20 cents a box, then they went up to 25 cents,” Braeutigam said. “People complained that year when the price went up, so we didn’t do too good selling them.
“Can you believe they’re $3.50 now?” she said.
As continuing sales demonstrate, she and thousands of other Girl Scout and Scout volunteers, such as Amy Sethman of Burnet, continue to embrace the tradition.
“I think it’s a great thing for the girls to be involved in. They learn money, about being in the public, goal setting,” said Sethman, who is assisting her daughter’s troop with cookie sales this year, which end Feb. 24. “It builds every year.”
Sethman’s daughters — Emily, Rebecca and Savannah— participate in activities with Burnet Troop 478, which includes half a dozen fifth-grade girls from Bertram and Burnet.
“Every year she (Emily) sells a thousand boxes. My daughter wants to sell 3,000 this time,” Sethman said. “She really wanted to go for the gusto.”
Sethman understands the commitment — she herself was a Brownie, a junior category before becoming a Girl Scout.
“So far, she’s at 1,500 and there are about two more weeks,” she added.
Emily Sethman, who is 12 years old, has been Scouting for three years.
“I like to hang out with my friends, go to camps, get involved in helping the community,” she said. “It’s awesome.”
Today, making a sales goal earns the girls money credits, known as “cookie dough,” for activities such as Camp Texlake excursions in Travis County.
Camping events are typically tied to activities to earn badges. Girl Scout badges, patches and insignias cover a wide variety of topics from safety, faith and ambassador duties to community service, citizenship and cookie sales.
Modern Girl Scouts are divided into Daises (kindergarten-first grade), Brownies (grades two-three), Juniors (grades four-five), Cadettes (grades six-eight), Seniors (grades nine-10), Ambassadors (grades 11-12) and adults (18 and older).
Of course, lifetime memberships such as Braeutigam’s come with a pin, card and continued invitations, information and connections to Scouting activities in local communities.
“I just love it. (It’s) the thing that really helped me as a kid. We had so much fun,” she said. “We participated in things at church. We’d do things out at the park. We went around and helped out different people.”
Through the years, some things have changed, such as uniforms which are traditionally green for Junior and Senior Girl Scouts. However, some troops may opt for different color schemes now as well as active and formal-wear alternatives — depending on events.
However, the basic core values — of lives with courage, confidence and character —have remained consistent throughout the program’s existence.
“Girl Scouts teaches the girls a lot about life. They help people. They do things that are cultural and educational,” Sethman said. “It’s an all-around life lesson for girls.”
To find out more about participating or volunteering in local troops and anniversary celebration events in Central Texas, go to www.gsctx.org.
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