Submitted by Samantha K.
Mountain Communities
Steamboat Springs
Everyone has a place they feel most comfortable; whether this is their home, with their friends, on the sports field, or just a special place. Mine is with my Girl Scout troop. Throughout my life, I have been a quiet person and Girl Scouts has made me reach out of my bounds.
My first day of Girl Scouts remains prominent in my memory. It was a sunny afternoon, school had just started and the trees had yet to change. I was in fourth grade, I went to the charter school in north Routt County and had few friends in Steamboat. My mom brought me to the meeting place. Butterflies fluttered wildly in my stomach and I wanted to cry as we approached the meeting. Then the door flew open and a stream of girls flooded out of the building. Immediately, I was engulfed by a swarm of friendly Girl Scouts all my age. They welcomed me into their group like I was the long lost sister they had been looking for. This was my first troop. I learned how to interact with other girls and how to plan and run an event. We were a team, a family.
Slowly this troop changed; people left, people joined, but two of us remained- just Grace and I. Grace is one of my best and longest friends in and out of Girl Scouts. Now the troop is Grace, Julia, Annette, and me. All of them make me feel welcome and help the real world can disappear. When I am with my troop, I act with confidence. All responsibility lifts off my shoulders and I am wrapped in a warm blanket of friendship. After each meeting, I leave feeling replenished as if I had a drink of happiness. In this troop, we support each other. Each of us has issues that drag us down every day, but when together we help each other through anything. This is my happy place. They are my second family.
Our group works to be the leaders Steamboat Girl Scouts need. We were the ones who brought back events that Steamboat had lost. These events are still happening and it has been seven years. At first, our events heavily relied upon the troop leaders, but now we are running them with minor help from adults. I have learned so much but would have never reached this level of confidence without my Girl Scout troop.
Even out of Girl Scouts, we take care of each other and have become better friends because of it. I do not know where my life would be without these amazing people. I do not know who I would be without their influence. The things I have learned have been from not only my troop but Girl Scouts in general. Camp has taught me how to manage myself, events have made me a leader, my troop has made me confident in myself, and my Gold Award project has given me the courage to do the impossible.
Everything that has happened in Girl Scouts has made me a stronger, better person. I have become a G.I.R.L.: go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader, and a person I can be proud of because of Girl Scouts.
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