Tucked away in an Alpine neighborhood is the headquarters of Girl Scout troop 6798. The middle school troop is a tidy size, but the young ladies who gather to work on the badges for their tan and blues vests are doing something very important — they are growing up.
Aubrey Torrick, who is in her first year with the troop, said she enjoys time in the vest because she gets to spend it with her best friend.
Tucked away in an Alpine neighborhood is the headquarters of Girl Scout troop 6798. The middle school troop is a tidy size, but the young ladies who gather to work on the badges for their tan and blues vests are doing something very important — they are growing up.
Aubrey Torrick, who is in her first year with the troop, said she enjoys time in the vest because she gets to spend it with her best friend.
“I really like it so far because I get to be with my best friend,” she said. “We get to talk and we work on our book. Our book is mostly about our feelings and how we feel about each other and about the troop and how we feel about our lives and if anything’s hard, we just write it down in our book.”
Together, the girls are each learning to express themselves in different ways.
“I’ve become more confident in myself with the troop,” said seventh grader Christina Briney. “I was kind of shy, but once I got to know them I’ve been more outgoing. Just the past year it’s been nice.”
The modest troop of just more than a half dozen girls from sixth through eighth grade has seen a lot, from membership ebbs and flows to perspective-changing community projects.
One of the things Christina and the troop have been able to do together is create ‘buddy benches.’
“They were benches that we colored for the elementary schools,” she said. “If there is a boy or a girl who is alone, they can go to the bench and find a friend.”
Christina said for a while the troop was large and it was difficult getting to know people. The numbers have since diminished.
Troop leader April Geelan, who started the troop in 2010, said the smaller numbers create a beneficial social dynamic.
“It’s a more intimate group,” she said. “It keeps it a more tight-knight environment, especially as girls are going through junior high school. We do a lot of anti-bullying talks, like the buddy benches, how to keep kids from feeling left out, and they take that to their different schools.”
Aside from community projects, the troop is also working hard to develop their own skill sets.
Two of the youngest members, Aubrey and her friend Dakota Geelan, whose mother is troop leader April Geelan talked about earning badges.
“So, how the badges work in girl scouts, there are five steps and they have to do one thing from each step,” said Dakota. “Once we get one step from all of these, they will earn the badge.”