Girl Scouts of Colorado is celebrating extraordinary volunteers throughout the state in honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month. Tammy Davis in the Metro Denver region is a shining example of the wonderful role Girl Scout volunteers play in the lives of girls and our community.
GSCO asked Tammy to answer a few quick questions about her volunteer experience. We hope you find her as inspiring as we did.
Why did you become a Girl Scout volunteer?
I originally was asked to be a co-leader of my oldest daughter’s troop. The leader of the troop’s daughter was best friends with my daughter at the time and both girls were excited to be in something together. I wanted to make them happy. When the other two troop leaders had to step away after the first year though, I stepped up to lead the troop with two new co-leaders and it still makes my older daughter happy to be apart of something with her friends.
Tell us about your different volunteer roles as a Girl Scout.
First and foremost, I am a proud troop leader of ten seventh grade Cadettes. I am one of three leaders and plan a third of the troop meetings during most years. I plan badge and Journey meetings. I also am responsible for sharing all the financial information with our parents 2-3 times a year and planning parent meetings. During cookie season, I am the troop cookie manager of a very busy troop of excellent and experienced sellers. I do plan some trips and outings, but my co-leaders are a lot better at planning those. Lastly, I am a team member of our Harpers Ferry service unit. I do most of the service unit communication. However, I help plan service unit events and help out new troop leaders or other troop leaders when they have questions or concerns. As a service unit team leader, we help with recruitment events, back-to-troop events, and end of year events not only for our Girl Scouts, but leaders and volunteers as well.
What have you learned as a Girl Scout volunteer?
I have learned how to “take a step back.” I am a person who will take over projects or work when it is not being done right or to my standards. As a leader, I have had to learn how to teach a lesson or instructions on any given topic, but then stand back and watch our girls do things their own way, or even fail at first. I want all our girls to be successful, so not doing things for them is actually really hard. However, taking that step back has let our girls grow as an individual.
What do you hope girls have learned from you?
I hope the girls learn to go out in the world and always try new things no matter what the situation. We have a rule in our troop when we are asked to do something Girl Scout-related and within reason we are not allowed to say no. We have to give everything a try. After the girls try it, then they can choose not to do it again. When they were younger, there was always a lot of girls that would say no to everything and not want to try or do anything that they were not familiar with. A lot of it had to do with fear of failing, or just the fact it was new and maybe scary. Once everyone had to do it, they felt they had a support system in each other. Let’s just say that there is a lot less of the word no in our troop meetings.
Want to nominate a volunteer for Girl Scouts of Colorado to spotlight? Please email Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper at annemarie.harper@gscolorado.org.