Girl Scouts Converge on Indianapolis

Hoosier National Forest employees support Forest Service booth at 51st convention of Girl Scouts of America.

Every three years the Girl Scouts of America host a national conference and the Forest Service has long participated with a presence. The 51st conference of the Girl Scouts was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from October 30-November 2, 2008. Attended by leaders, staff, and girls from all over the county Sue Cummings from the Washington Office organized the Forest Service booth and brought activity guides, environmental posters, and literature for leaders, and handouts for the girls. The Hoosier National Forest sent 5 professional women up to help staff the booth and provide role models to the future generation. Cummings explained the Forest Service nationally is part of the Linking Girls to the Land program and collaborates on several national programs such as National Public Lands Day and World Water Monitoring Day.

Those of us who went from the Hoosier had a rewarding experience. Kelly Weigel noted a woman came up and told her she admired how Kelly had been able to follow her dream and break into a non-traditional career. Another participant came up and told Cheri how much her Girl Scout troop had enjoyed working with a Passport in Time (PIT) project on a national forest in her area and that the project had made such an impact on the girls and encouraged the Forest Service to offer more PIT projects for girl scouts to participate in.

Many participants stopped and told us about how they had wanted to work for the Forest Service. They talked about wanting to be wildlife biologists or foresters, or wanted to work in a lookout tower. Some said they hadn't been allowed to be foresters or follow such paths years ago and were glad to see women are now working in those careers. Many picked up booklets on Working for the Great Outdoors for their troops to encourage them to look at similar jobs. One woman said her life's dream was to have a dog, a good book, and live in a lookout tower in the mountains. Since she was in her 60s, she had a great dog and read lots of good books so she guessed she'd have to settle for that. We told her she could rent a lookout tower out west for the weekend, and take her dog and her book and still fulfill her life's dream. She was so excited at the idea that she went off grinning.

Weigel noted that she was especially impressed with the troop leaders who stopped to find out where the nearest national forest was to their town. She said some were adamant that they wanted to get their girls out into the outdoors to camp and learn more about their environment. They were looking for wherever the Forest Service could suggest they go, and whatever activities and tools the Forest Service could recommend to get those lessons across to their troops.

Those of us who attended the conference and helped Sue staff the booth: Becky Bade, Stacy Duke, Ruth Siddens, Cheri Stoops, Kelly Weigel, and I all agree it was time well spent. We felt good about the contacts we made and the women we met and what they were doing to teach American girls more about their environment.