Springfield Girl Scouts Celebrate 100 Years of Scouting

This year, the Girl Scouts celebrate their 100-year anniversary as an organization. Springfield troop members are marking the occasion by making gifts for birds and remembering what being a girl scout has meant for them.

Township Girl Scouts spent the afternoon of Monday, March 12 at Springfield’s crafting 100 pinecone bird feeders and memorializing their favorite scouting memories. Local Service Unit Manager Heather Hecking said that the aviary-themed crafts were fitting on multiple levels.

“It’s 100 years of girl scouting and the theme is ‘green forever,’” Hecking said.

About 100 Springfield girls, ranging in ages from 5-13, take part in the scouts. 

The girls take part in activities that are educational, civic minded or simply fun. Sometimes those categories overlap. Troop leader Simone Miller recounted recent service project undertaken by her scouts, including a clean up of the fields at in September.

“As they raked the weeds out, they found pumpkins that someone had planted,” Miller said. “It became a treasure hunt.”

On  Monday, the girls wrote their favorite memories from their scout experience for a memory board and a scrapbook. Spirits ran high at the meeting as the girls drew, crafted and talked. Hecking said the mood illustrated much of the importance of the organization.

“The girl scouts help build connections and courage to try new things,” Hecking said.  

And while the organization is over the century mark, leaders say it remains as relevant to girls today as ever. Miller pointed to the continuity that the scouts can provide in an increasingly fluid world.

“As people have gotten more and more mobile, the girl scouts have stayed important,” troop leader Simone Miller said. “If you’re a Girl Scout in New Jersey and you move to Pittsburgh, you can still be a Girl Scout. 

Hecking said she is always on the look-out for volunteers and that prospective leaders should email her using the word “volunteer” in the headline.