This week we are featuring a former troop leader and a lifetime member of Girl Scouts, whose passion for Scouting began when she was just a young Brownie! We want to thank Maggie Stumme for sharing three of her most memorable stories from her Girl Scout experience!
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| Maggie Stumme Former Girl Scout Leader Lifetime Member |
When I was a Girl Scout Brownie, one of the girls in my troop became sick. We didn’t really understand at the time what cancer was and why she couldn’t come to all of the troop meetings or why her hair was falling out. But we were excited when our friend was there and we missed her when she wasn’t. I will always remember the day our troop leader told us that she would not be coming to our meetings anymore. She was too sick. A short while after that, she passed away. It was the first time in my life that I had experienced the loss of a friend in that way. We had moved away from friends, but never lost one forever. But much later, looking back at that experience, I could see how amazing our troop leader had handled it. With a small group of little girls in their Brownie smocks and knee high socks with orange tabs, she took us out into the woods and we stood in a circle and we talked about our friend we lost. Then we made little rafts from twigs, put candles on them, and sent them down the stream in the woods and sang Taps. We didn’t talk all the way back to the road and into our cars. As an adult leader, I learned about ‘Scouts Own Ceremonies’ and how important that ceremony can be, and I am glad our leader understood that for us as little Brownies.
When I was a young mother, I was so excited when my Kindergarten daughter brought home the flyer about Girl Scouts and a new program at the time (23 years ago) called Girl Scout Daisies. I signed up to be the leader of the troop and could not wait to begin. I found out there were no other parents that wanted to help in our area with the troop, so I recruited my Grandmother to be my co-leader. She was a little reluctant at first, but really got into as we got started. All the little girls called her Nana, just like my daughter and we had an amazing year. We had each girl’s parent volunteer to help a week at a time. During that year, the girls earned their promise center and all their Daisy petals. My grandma tried very hard to teach them to knit. She taught me to knit at the age of five, so she was convinced that she could teach eight little girls to knit with my help. It was a lot of fun trying. We took them on trips around town and made more crafts than I can remember. The elementary school was wonderful and let us meet there every Tuesday evening. When those little girls bridged to Brownies, I don’t think I have ever seen bigger smiles on the girls or the parents, or my Grandmother. I went on to nineteen more years as a leader with three more daughters, a community coordinator, a day camp director, and council trainer. My husband even got me a lifetime membership as a Christmas present twelve years ago.
My family lived in Juneau, Alaska for eight years. During that time I had the pleasure of directing Girl Scout Day Camp for a few years. My favorite two years were out at the Methodist Camp. This was out of town a little ways. It is a beautiful camp in the woods. There is one main lodge and several smaller cabin areas, a large field in the center and a lot of trails. It rains a lot in Juneau, so with planning day camp, you need to be flexible in planning indoor and outdoor activities that can be done rain or shine. One of the years, about ten years ago, when American Girl Dolls were the big rage for girls, I was trying to figure out a way to plan Girl Scout activities and work with what they were really excited about into a camp experience. My theme ended up being, “Girls Through American History.” I researched what girls were doing all through American history, throughout Alaska and throughout the entire country, and planned crafts and activities and games all based on that theme. The day camp committee and I found volunteers from all over town to come out for different activities and crafts from Native crafts to making and flying our own kites. My personal favorite activity was my assigned craft and game. I had the girls make juggling balls from balloons, filling them with dried lentils and then taught them to juggle. I had to work for four straight weeks ahead of time to teach myself to juggle first. I drove everyone I knew crazy with my juggling balls and instruction book, trying to teach myself to juggle for this activity. I did manage the basic skills and can still juggle ten years later. The girls had a great time that entire week with every activity, even in the rain.
I know that day camps throughout the country have similar experiences, but I am not sure that many of them start day camp out with bear safety training like we did. Stay in a group, sing songs so you are loud, if you see a bear, go the other way and let the adults in the cabins know… Remember, the bears are more afraid of you than you are of them.
- Maggie Stumme
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Love your memories, Maggie. You were my best co-leader ever. Our Girl Scout memories stick with us for a lifetime. Happy 100th Anniversary, Girl Scouts!
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