GSUSA allows girls to insert an appropriate replacement for God in the Girl Scout Promise.

Individual troops should make decisions about other religious terms, like in songs or poems.

Interesting. We haven't heard anything about this in my daughter's troop. I looked at the GSUSA web site and they do have everything split between 11-14 and 14-17. It seems a little awkward to say "My daughter is an 11-14 Girl Scout". Perhaps I'm just a sucker for tradition though :) And, they're still doing a bridging ceremony for the 14 year olds to go up to the 14-17 Girl Scout category. I'll have to ask my daughter's leader about this.

ETA: I'm not crazy about the Studio 2B format because the books are so expensive and you have to buy so many of them. Having everything in one handbook was much easier. I'm trekking to Council constantly now.

They might eventually come up with another name. We call our youngest girls Sparks (age 5 and 6. Brownies is 7 and 8), but if I recall correctly, they were called "Fives" when their program first started in the late 80s. Back then, Brownies was 6,7,8.

Canadian girls have three programs (all fall under the name Senior Branches) for high school aged girls. They have a choice between Rangers (structured unit with a structured program, like the younger girls...the oldest Senior Branch program), Cadets (leader training) and Junior Leaders (working directly with a unit of younger girls (I worked with Brownies). Going through the Cadet program is not needed to go into Junior Leaders.)

I was a Brownie and then a Junior for one year. I remember when they started Daisys. :) Now, when I think of my years as a Girl Scout I can't help but thing of Troop Beverly Hills starring Shelly Long!

Oh man do I miss my scouting years. I did work at the Girl Scout camp I attended from the time I was wee. My grandmother and mother also went to the same camp. Those of you from Southwest PA might remember Camp Henry Kaufmann closing last year (or was it 2 years ago)? That was really, really hard for me. Thankfully Redwing is still up and running :).

I still occasionally find myself singing the Johnny Appleseed Grace, which is always brought rain...
"I thank the lord
for a thousand things
for the flowers that bloom
and the birds that sing
for the sun that shines
and the rain that drops
for ice cream and raisins
and lollipops!"

and of course, the Rub a Dub Dub Grace:
"Rub a Dub dub, thanks for the grub, yay god!"
There was also:
"good food, good meat, good god, let's eat!"

And please tell me that someone remembers the Bear in Nike Airs song? I've had it in my head for about a week now and I can't get over it.

I was actually in the 'pre-Brownies' when I was 5, back in the early 80s and we were called Pixies. We had red & white checked half-bandannas/scarves and red apron/smocks with pockets. That was where our patches would go. I am sure my Mom has it somewhere.

I remember painting Pixie rocks and going to meetings. It was fun and I was so upset when I had to switch to the brown uniform for Brownies...I thought it was not pretty at all! :p

And Girl Scouts switched from Pixie to Daisy, but I preferred my red ensemble! But the Daisy name made sense because that was the GSUSA founder's nickname.

ps. Juliette 'Daisy' Gordon Low did not attend college (rather finishing school in France), but I think that if she had she probably would have been in a sorority!

As I watch my daughter cross over tonight from a Senior Girl Scout to the ranks of Adult Scout, I will fondly recall her 13 years of active participation from Daisy in kindergarten in CA, Brownies in both MA & NY, Juniors in NY & KS and finally her Cadette and Senior years in VA.

Girl Scouting has provided her with innumerable experiences and opportunities. From earning her first petal for her Daisy smock to earning the Gold Award, my child has benefited from Scouting. It has taught her leadership, cooperation, independence.

I thank her myriad of leaders for the time they devoted to troops. My daughter is a better person for incorporating Girl Scouts into her life.

In this month's Leader magazine from Girl Scouts, they have a whole section on college selection, getting scholarships, etc. My daughter was looking it over and wanted to read about the scholarships. It specifically mentioned the scholarships from Kappa Delta and she said "If I go to a school that doesn't have your sorority, would you be mad if I joined that one? I think it's cool that they support Girl Scouts." I told her she could join whichever one she wanted, whether there was an Alpha Gam chapter or not. Then she asked if she could still join Alpha Gam if she got a scholarship from Kappa Delta. She's only 12, but she's so driven and focused. She spent the rest of the evening looking up the Ivy League schools and trying to pick one.

Anyway, Girl Scouts has been great for her too. It will continue to be for a long time. She definitely has aspirations to earn the Gold Award and is starting to think about Silver projects.

I did both. I was a girl scout for 11-12 years, and I got my Silver award. Then I went to college, rushed, and became a Tri Delta. We don't have Girl Scouts as our philanthropy, obviously, but one thing I learned is that both of those org.s stay with you for life, regardless. I will always be a girl scout and have that philanthropic spirit, and everything I do with Tri Delta makes me remember my GS days. It doesn't matter, in the end, as long as it's something she loves. Congrats to your kid for being such a young go-getter.

:confused: The director of the Scout camp where my daughters go just told me that several councils are being forced to combine. In Alabama, for instance, it'll be Cahaba, Cottaquilla, North Alabama, Tombigbee, and I think one other. Northwest Georgia will band with Concharty and a couple of others. We're afraid that this will mean that several camps will be dumped. I hear that Camp Adahi in Chattanooga has already been sold to Coca Cola.:(

I was in the Girl Scouts from first grade all the way to my senior year in HS. I was able to earn my silver award, but due to all my other activities couldn't get my gold award. During my last 4 years in HS we did so many fun things together as a troop like, horseback riding, skiing, and white water rafting. Many of those things I probably would have been able to do if I were not in GS. Our troop was a close knit group, just like a sorority is!!

When I went through rush KD had just picked up the GS as one of their philanthropies. That was something that really drew them to me, along with all their other work with children.

I was asst. GS leader to a local troop that we had in KD. It was so much fun to be connected with them again.

Carnation, I just found out that my home council is being combined as well! Nationals wants Licking Valley to combine with Great Rivers, but we're a Kentucky council and Great Rivers is in Ohio so they're at least trying to get together with another KY council. My camp is being dumped too, I'm completely heartbroken over it. It's been a while since I've been up on all the national politics. Any thoughts on why all the change?

All I can figure is money. Back in the day, practically every little girl was a Brownie and usually she was a Junior as well. Around the late sixties, it became uncool to be an older Scout in many areas.

Anyway, now numbers are really down because girls have all these options that they didn't have before, like sports, and the money coming into Scouting must be way down as well.

I can totally see why the money would be down in Licking Valley, I mean, who has heard of Erlanger, KY? But in Atlanta? When I was involved in that council, my advisor told me they got all their money from Coke, Delta, Home Depot, ... you get the idea. Are they really hurting that much?

Combining councils across state lines is not necessarily a huge issue. The Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital includes all of the District, parts of MD and parts of VA. It works for our area.