As I look at my Girl Scouts crossing the ceremonial bridge to adults, my heart grows warm with nostalgia. In 2011, Troop 22222 was born to fill a need in our community by rescuing girls who were being dragged to meetings for their brothers. The decade seemed to have gone by in the blink of my eyes. Our multi-level troop was preparing for our first group of blossoming, strong, caring, and intelligent ambassadors bridging to adults. This moment was amazing, exciting, and scary.

As a troop leader, you hope that you are giving these girls the tools that are relevant to go out into the world and represent Girl Scouts. Reading their accolades aloud with such a filled heart, our girls have accomplished so much. They have learned how to be leaders, deal with change and adapt to new situations. Our girls have become thinkers and problem solvers. They have made memories while camping and singing around a campfire with each level, becoming closer and best of friends. They conquered community projects and even reached for the highest award in Girl Scouts while balancing a pandemic, school, and other extra activities.

One important theme always resonated with me – the ability to teach girls from early on to develop their confidence, be bold, and be unapologetic of who they are and who they want to be.

The moment has come to walk the bridge for the last time. Their girl scout sisters singing them off to adulthood starting with our Daisies all the way to their peers. Can you see it? The feeling of pride beams on their face. The joy on their parents’ faces as they are handed their weighted vest packed with sewn-on badges and patches. Their symbolic way of saying thank you for all the experience they were able to create.

Throughout Girl Scouts, one important theme always resonated with me – the ability to teach girls from early on to develop their confidence, be bold, and be unapologetic about who they are and who they want to be. Girl Scouts allows girls to use their voice when in the outside world they might feel stifled. It’s a skill, as a mom with 4 girls, I wish would have been taught to me growing up. Girl Scouts brings that to the forefront, giving each girl the room to break out of their shell little by little.

We look forward to our girls using the skills they have learned, the confidence they will display, the voice they will speak, and the impact they will make on girls just like them. I look at a girl receiving her daisy flower at age 5, then blink and they walk across that bridge at each level to this moment of finishing the Girl Scout program. They are able to look behind them and see how far they have come and will always look forward and see how far they can go.

This blog was written by Barbara Borges, Girl Scout Troop Leader of Troop 22222 and Assistant Service Unit Volunteer Manager for the Phoenix Service Unit.