Scout Clout

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 30, 2004 by DEB ACORD THE GAZETTE

For a long time, Jennifer Westbrook has focused on a dream: to study black holes for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

She'll be an astrophysicist by then, after attending the University of Colorado, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and summer camp.

Westbrook is a self-assured 2004 graduate of Rampart High School.

She's also a Girl Scout.

Since kindergarten, Westbrook has been a Girl Scout, working toward badges and learning skills at troop meetings and summer camp. This year, she was a counselor at the Girl Scouts' Sky High Ranch near Woodland Park and is on her way to her first year of college at CU-Boulder.

Westbrook is blunt about Girl Scouts and what it meant to her as she grew up in a family that moved around the country regularly for her father's job.

"I learned early that no matter where we lived, I could always join Girl Scouts," she said. "For as far back as I can remember, my most important social group was Girl Scouts. When I was 12, I told my mom I wanted to be a Girl Scout forever."

Westbrook might achieve that goal, along with her ambition to become a scientist. Her drive and her love of Girl Scouts isn't unusual among older girls who reach the ranks of senior scouts.

But many girls don't remain scouts that long.

The organization appeals most to younger girls. Girl Scouts is an easy sell to girls who are attracted to its craft and outdoor projects, its uniforms and its regular meetings.

But by middle school, being a Girl Scout loses its cool, girls and leaders say. Still, those who continue in Girl Scouts through high school often say it was one of the best decisions in their young lives.

According to a recent study commis- sioned by the Girl Scouts, there are 14 million girls ages 11-17 in the United States. Of those, 300,000 are Girl Scouts.

Twenty-three percent of all girls of Brownie age in the United States (ages 6-8) are Girl Scouts. That percentage drops as girls age -- only 1.5 percent of girls ages 11-17 are scouts. The local Wagon Wheel Council has 7,000 scouts. Just 250 of them are ages 14-17.

The national numbers are from a study of more than 3,000 girls conducted by a research firm for the Girl Scout Research Institute. The study, called "New Directions For Girls," was commissioned to better understand and enhance scouting.

Say "Girl Scout" to almost anyone, and you will conjure up one of two images -- cookies or camping. Girl Scouts sell those hard-to- resist boxes of Thin Mints and Shortbread, right? And camp is where girls sing songs, make plastic lanyards and hike in giggling groups.

But since its beginning, Girl Scouts has had loftier goals.

Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in 1912 in Savannah, Ga., with 18 girls. Low wanted to get girls out of their houses and into the world and the open air. According to the national organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Low believed girls should be allowed to develop physically, mentally and spiritually.

So scouts played basketball, hiked, camped and studied topics as varied as first aid and astronomy.

Those founding concepts haven't changed much, even though the organization always has worked to stay contemporary, says Sherry Goldston, spokeswoman for the local Wagon Wheel Council, one of the oldest councils west of the Mississippi River.

"It's become harder to keep the girls. There's so many more options for them now," Goldston says.

"But Girl Scouts has always offered choices for girls that fit their lives and gives them what they need."

Melanie Lamb needed the friendships she found in Girl Scouts. One of two directors of Sky High Ranch, the 26-year-old Denver resident has been a scout since first grade.

"It was the first place I felt I could be myself, and where people liked me," she says.

Through scouting, Lamb learned outdoor skills that helped her fulfill a dream -- she hiked the 500-mile Colorado Trail in 2000.

Westbrook and Lamb achieved the rank of senior scouts, girls ages 14-17. And Westbrook received her Gold Award, the highest award given in Girl Scouting.

Requirements include at least 30 hours of leadership activities; career exploration; getting a paying job or internship or starting a business; and working in scouting or volunteer work.

The award is difficult to achieve, often requiring nearly 200 hours of work, but it has farreaching benefits. The girls who earn it attract college scholarship money, they're eligible for Elks Foundation awards and other scholarships, and they can enter the Armed Forces at a higher rank and higher pay than others.

These benefits and the experience gained from working on the award are invaluable, says senior scout Emily Gustafson, 19, a graduate of Palmer High School who attends the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and also was a counselor at Sky High this summer.

"I have learned so much. Last year, I was asked to speak at a conference before 2,000 people," she says. "I could do that because of what I learned in Girl Scouts."

Gustafson and Michelle Almeida know their continued commitment to Girl Scouts makes them unusual. Almeida says most of her friends who were scouts dropped out during middle school.