The Key West Citizen

Throughout the week Girl Scout Week has been observed throughout the country. Key West along with all the other American cities and towns has also done much to bring the real meaning of scouting before the public.

What Is Scouting?

Girl Scouts, Incorporated is an organization which provides for girls the United States of America leisure-time opportunities to gain wider interest and become better citizens. Membership is open to girls from seven to eighteen and the program is planned for girls of three age groups: Brownies from seven to ten; Girl Scouts from ten to fourteen; and Senior Girl Scouts from fourteen to eighteen. The Girl Scouts of the United States are part the world-wide Scout movement founded by Lord Baden-Powell Gilwell: the organization is a member of the World Association Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

Mrs. Juliette Low of Savannah, Georgia, friend of Lord Baden-Powell, formed the first Girl Scout troop in the United States after the pattern set up for Girl Guides, sister organization of the Boy Scouts of England.

The Girl Scout promises: "On my honor, I will try to do my duty God and my country, to help other people at all times and to obey the Girl Scout Law." The Law a simple code setting up standards of honesty, loyalty, kindliness, courtesy cleanliness, helpfulness. is substantially the same in all countries in which Scouting is organized and has been recognized as a standard of conduct and an expression of brotherhood which crosses barriers of race, nationality, and religion.

The things that Girl Scouts do are classified under ten headings: homemaking, arts and crafts, community life, sports and games, nature, the out-of-doors, music and dancing literature and dramatics, health and safety, international friendship and an eleventh. vocational exploration for Senior Girl Scouts. Girls who are interested in any field may learn more by completing the requirements for one or more proficiency badges which deal with the subject.

Girl Scout troop activities help girls to learn how to get along with other people and to handle the techniques of democratic procedure. The twenty-four girls of a troop elect their own officers, and with an older leader and her assistant. plan and carry out the things the girls themselves want to do. The leader's job is to guide and counsel the girls rather than command them. In each community where there are one or more Girl Scout troops there is either a Girl Scout local council or a troop committee made up of men and women who foster the movement.

In order to become a Girl Scout a girl must take part in four or more troop meetings, know the Girl Scout Promise and Laws and pay her annual membership dues She will have opportunities to share activities drawn from each of the ten program fields.

She may learn to sketch a map or use a compass. to alter and clean clothing. to cook a meal with two or three other girls, to find out more about her neighbors in foreign lands, make a drawing or model in clay, learn about the contributions which distinguished immigrants have made to American life, swim fifty yards, care for a pet, make a plan for safety in crossing streets, write a review or her favorite book. and learn an American folk dance. By doing such things she progresses through Scouting. becoming interested in special projects such as serving in a well baby clinic furnishing her Girl Scout meeting place, giving a play to raise money for troop expenses, making layettes for the children of needy mothers, finding out what jobs are open to women in her community, collecting and mending books for the community library. making a troop garden and many other constructive undertakings.

All year round Scout troops go on hikes and camp a few miles from town for a night or a week-end. In the summer. Girl Scouts who must stay in town go to day camps in city parks. As many girls as possible go for a week or more to camps outside of town where they can enjoy swimming, boating. folk dancing. singing. arts and crafts, and simple outdoor living away from the distractions of hurried modern living. In camps the girls are all citizens of a miniature democracy.

In discussion groups they plan what they want to do and how they shall do it. As in all Girl Scouting they learn self-reliance and responsibility in a world where problems are suited to their age and abilities.