The green uniforms and badge-covered sashes have been packed away along with grade-school drawings and the dried flowers from the senior prom. After 13 years, the members of the former Girl Scout Troop 1746 are parting company and moving on to college.
“Out of Girl Scouts, we became life-long friends,” says Jill Holder, 18, a freshman at Southwest Texas State University. She and others from the troop graduated from Lake Highlands High School in May.
The troop was created 13 years ago at Northlake Elementary School, when the girls were just starting kindergarten. Their mothers, many of whom had been scouts as children, wanted their daughters to share the same experiences and traditional values, says Pat Minter, one of two troop leaders.
The girls learned Girl Scout traditions and songs, took field trips and went camping. In the sixth grade, they stopped being Girl Scouts but continued to be close friends.
“By sixth grade, kids think they are so cool, and you don’t want to be in an organized group that your parents are leading,” says Molly Minter, 18, a freshman at the University of Texas.
The girls may have been willing to give up the formal structure of a troop, but the mothers realized something special had been started and decided to continue nurturing it.
Together, the moms and daughters developed the idea of annual reunions and gatherings in which the two generations would plan fun things to do as a group.
During their last full gathering before college they reminisced about experiences that helped them grow from timid 5-year-olds to confident young women.
Holder says the troop’s many field trips to various businesses and cultural events helped the girls develop their educational and career goals.
Several troop members moved away over the years, but others who remained together through high school graduation include Katie Kirkpatrick, Shellie Killen, Sara Yungblut, Tricia Riddle, Blair Dooley, Ashley Boeder, Jenny Cutrer and Amy Morale.
For more information about Girl Scouts, call the Tejas Girl Scouts Council at 214-823-1342.
