THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA NEFF, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
FOR 11 YEARS, I've kept a secret from all but my closest friends. Now, it's time to tell the rest of the world.
Recently, I spent an endless night arguing with myself over whether to subject myself to the humiliation of it all. It was the last thing I thought about that night and the first thing I thought about in the morning, especially when I saw my Girl Scout uniform hanging, neatly ironed, in my closet.
In the end, I didn't just wear a piece of it to school, I wore the whole thing - the button-up shirt with the tie, the sash and the knee-length, blue, pleated skirt.
``If nothing else, you'll at least know who your real friends are,'' said Shannon Rosenbaum, a 16-year-old Lake Taylor junior and one of my closest friends.
As soon as I emerged from the car in my blue-and-green glory, it started. People in the halls and stairwells pointed and stared. By first lunch, word had spread: Laura Neff wore a Girl Scout uniform to school.
For some reason I'd imagined that everyone would be rude. The reaction was the opposite. In my Algebra II class, people swarmed to get a better look at my badges, patches, pins and awards.
I guess I didn't give my peers enough credit. I learned that it is OK to be a little different. I'm not saying I'd wear my uniform to Friday night football games, but I am proud to be a Girl Scout and I'm no longer afraid to say so.
We're everywhere
Girl Scouts are all around - in your math class, in your student government, on your soccer team and your homecoming court. More than 2.4 million Girl Scouts are in the United States, and 694 are enrolled in area high schools.
Consider Nicole Raney, a Lake Taylor senior. She's co-captain of the volleyball and swim teams and a member of the soccer team. She's involved in Future Educators of America and forensics. She's first-chair violin in the orchestra and vice-president of the National Honor Society. She has been nominated as ``friendliest'' in the senior class.
But inside Nicole's closet hangs her secret - a Girl Scout uniform.
Nicole has been a Scout for 11 years. It's not something she talks much about even though in 1992, she received the Silver Award, Girl Scouting's second highest honor. She completed requirements for the Gold Award, the highest honor, on Oct. 10 when she presented a trophy cabinet that she made herself to the Lake Taylor swim team.
``Being a Girl Scout . . . has taught me that I am my own person and that I can do whatever I put my mind to,'' Nicole said. But she still doesn't talk much about it.
Most Girl Scouts, the older ones at least, don't talk about it either.
``While the stereotype that Girl Scouting is not cool still exists, older girls are discovering the opportunities for fun and for building skills for the future in Girl Scouting,'' said Ann Lester, media and marketing specialist for the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast.
Girl Scouts for older girls is on the rise here and everywhere. In the past year, the number of high school age girls in local troops increased by more than 10 percent. Nationally, the number of Girl Scouts ages 14 through 17 increased by 6.2 percent.
``The stereotype is not quite gone away,'' Lester said. ``We're starting in some ways to overcome that.''
Staying involved in Girls Scouts wasn't easy for Hazel Brown, a 15-year-old sophomore at Southampton Academy and a Senior Girl Scout. Hazel is in Model United Nations and a straight-A student. But when she got involved in a program called ``Wider Opportunities,'' she realized the fun and value of Scouting.
``Wider Op's'' offer Cadettes and Seniors opportunities to travel here and abroad to learn about different cultures.
Hazel's Wider Op was ``Pioneers, Peaks, and Presidents.'' She spent seven days in North Carolina doing Colonial crafts such as quilting and blacksmithing. Three days were spent touring the Blue Ridge Mountains. One day was spent in costume on an 18th century farm on the campus of Ferrum College.
The sizzling summer temperatures were unbearable for her and other girls who stood in front of a blazing fire in the farmhouse kitchen without air conditioning, dressed in long skirts and aprons, all to experience the life of an 18th century farm woman.
Though it was a great experience, Hazel doesn't share it with most of her friends. In fact, most people don't know she's a Scout.
Honors upon honors
Trips are fun, but earning badges is the backbone of the Scouting experience.
Cadette and Senior Scouts can choose from 177 badges and patches that cover everything from child care to auto maintenance to sports to managing stress. Girls can also earn religious medals through their place of worship.
There are also space exploration and computer badges. Though these are male-dominated fields, the Girl Scout organization believes that females are capable of anything and should be exposed to everything.
In order to earn ``Ms. Fix-it,'' Carrie Gilbert, 17, a senior at Great Bridge High School and a Senior Girl Scout, learned basic auto mechanics. Now she can change her car's oil, measure tire pressure and change fuses.
``I learned things that everyone who drives a car should know,'' Carrie said.
Imagine being locked up on a Friday night with 90 hyper Daisy and Brownie Scouts. When most of her friends were at the mall, Trisha Shealey, 15, a sophomore at Bayside High School, was running a Daisy/Brownie lock-in.
Trisha and Heather Toro, 15, a sophomore at Norfolk Collegiate, and Megan Decker, 15, a sophomore at Granby High, were there, too. The three spent 13 hours playing games, making crafts and swimming in the pool at a local boys and girls club all in pursuit of the Silver Award. About 60 local girls earn this honor each year.
Trisha received her Silver Award in 1993 after planning Daisy/Brownie lock-in. The ceremony at St. Pius X Church ``was so neat. I walked into the room and stared in amazement,'' Trisha said.
Amazed as she was, she didn't tell all of her friends.
Each year, about 2,500 Senior Scouts across the country earn the highest honor, the Gold Award, and about 20 local girls do so. The award is so prestigious that some colleges - the University of Notre Dame and Long Island University - offer scholarships based upon it. It's the Girl Scout equivalent of the Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts.
There are many requirements, but the biggest task in earning the gold (other than paperwork) is designing and carrying out a four-month long community service project.
Carrie's Gold Award service project was collecting school supplies for less fortunate students. For months Carrie called office supply companies and was so persuasive that all made donations.
``By earning my Gold Award I have proved that I can handle responsibility and leadership, and I am mature enough to be able to follow through with things,'' Carrie said.
But community service is not limited to girls pursuing top awards. Scouts conduct food and clothing drives, adopt grandmothers at nursing homes and clean up roadside. Some programs pair Scouts with women in the fields of engineering and medicine.
So being a Girl Scout isn't the cheesy calendar- and cookie-selling club that some people think it is.
Girl Scouting turns girls into well-rounded young women with well-developed life skills. It helps girls understand the diversity in our world and helps them to advance in an increasingly technical society.
So when you find out that your best friend or the most popular girl in school is a Girl Scout, don't be surprised. There are 2,429,188 Girl Scouts across the nation. How many of them do you know? ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Laura Neff is a sophomore at Lake Taylor High School
Color photo by Huy Nguyen/The Virginan Pilot
Laura Neff models her Girl Scout uniform, which adorned with
honors, as she fields questions at Lake Taylor.
KEYWORDS: GIRL SCOUTS by CNB