Why I Decided to Volunteer as an Adult Girl Scout

I feel like an appropriate first post here would be to answer the question of why I decided to return to the Girl Scouts. I am a busy graduate student who already struggles to find enough hours in the day to get it all done, so why add something else onto my plate?

I was a Girl Scout for 8 years, 5th grade - 12th grade. I braved the cold grocery store booth sales to sell cookies in the winter, went camping, did service projects, and earned awards just like every other Girl Scout. When I moved to a different state, the first place I made friends was in my new Girl Scout troop where I was warmly welcomed. I loved being a Girl Scout, even when I was in high school and it was pretty uncool. Well, I wasn't cool in high school anyway, let's not kid ourselves....

So why did I not bother to bridge into adults? I wasn't very active in my troop during the later half of my junior year and my senior year. All of my close friends in the troop had already graduated high school, and all of these new girls came in that I not only didn't know, but were 4 years younger than me (we were a multilevel troop). I had already decided to not pursue my Gold Award (although I did earn Bronze and Silver) due to the changing requirements (ugh, Studio 2B) and being busy trying to prepare to go to college. As much as I loved it, it was in my best interest at the time to put it on the back burner.

So now it's time for me to return. I've felt a pull for a few months that I needed to volunteer, so I finally bit the bullet, registered as an adult in my new council and submitted all of the paperwork to become a volunteer. I have been approved as a leader or co-leader, but I would like to dip my toe into event planning as well.

I want to be a positive influence in girl's lives. Girl Scouts was fundamental in shaping me into the person I am today and was a huge part of my identity growing up. I may not have any kids, but that doesn't mean that I can't give back to the organization who taught me so much that I could have never learned in school, and gave me friends that I will never forget.