Local Girl Scouts troops seeking adult volunteers to join ‘adventure’

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — Volunteering to lead a dozen or so kindergarten and first-grade girls sounds a bit overwhelming, but Susan Cangemi did just that last year when her daughter, Ambra, joined the Girl Scouts as a Daisy.

“It sounds scary and terrifying,” Cangemi said. “But it was the coolest thing ever. For such little energy on my part, the returns were incredible.”

Midway through last year, she even told her daughter if she didn’t want to continue with Girl Scouts the next year, that was OK, but Mom was going to keep volunteering.

But both will be enjoying the upcoming year of Girl Scouts, and Cangemi hopes other adults and girls join the adventure. As a troop leader, Cangemi helps impact the lives of up to a dozen girls.

Girl Scouts is open to girls from kindergarten through high school. Even though the organization typically has sign-ups and registrations early in the school year, interested girls can join at any time.

However, it’s the adults who local leaders are hoping to hook as well.

“The biggest problem in our area is not having enough girls, it’s getting enough adults,” Cangemi said. “Last year, I think we had to turn away a couple of girls because we didn’t have enough adult volunteers. And we don’t ever want to do that.”

The Girl Scouts organization starts at the troop level, where an adult works with a small number of girls, maybe up to a dozen. Cangemi said the Girl Scouts doesn’t want the troop to get too large to manage, leading to the girls and the adult volunteers becoming disenchanted.

A group of troops forms the service unit. A council is made up of a number of the service units.

But the heart of the organization is the troops. It’s where the girls will spend the majority of their time. Cangemi said a troop can meet several times a month or even once a month.

“It’s what works best for that troop,” she said. “This year, for my troop, we’ll be meeting up to four times a month. But that’s what works for us.”

While the only interaction many people have with Girl Scouts is during the annual cookie sale drive, Cangemi explained the program is much more than thin mints (though the cookie sales teach many lessons, such as goal setting, team work and business ethics).

“Girls Scouts is about building life skills,” she said. “It’s about these much bigger ideas. And it’s very much a family activity. We don’t have girls in the Girl Scouts, we have families.”

Last year, area Girl Scouts participated in a number of events, including one with members exploring global cultures. Cangemi’s troop also traveled to the Lower Colorado River Authority’s McKinney Roughs Nature Center outside of Bastrop where they learned about insects, wildlife and the environment.

“They get to do a lot of fun stuff,” Cangemi said. “The girls get to see things and do things that they may not otherwise do. They learn so many things. Last year, the back of my daughter’s Daisy vest was covered with patches for all the things she did. It’s great to watch the girls grow and learn.”

This year, Cangemi’s set goals for an overnight camping trip in May and at least one hike each month starting in October.

“The girls will plan the hike,” she said. “Next spring, we’ll actually go out one Saturday morning and actually set up camp and spend the day out there so the girls can see what it’s like. The next step will be to hold an overnight camping trip.”

But the adventure starts for both the girls and the adult volunteers by saying “yes” to joining the Girl Scouts. There are several ways to join. Cangemi said the Girl Scouts will send home fliers at the various elementary campuses early in the school year explaining how girls and adults can get involved.

“We’ll also get the word out to the middle school and high school campuses as well,” she said.

People interested in the Girls Scouts also can go to www.gsctx.org or email Cangemi at susancangemi@gmail.com for more information.

“For me and my daughter, it’s been a life-altering decision to become involved in Girl Scouts,” Cangemi said.

daniel@thepicayune.com