"Girl Scouts is so much fun. I love going to camp and seeing all my friends...and eating spider dogs and s'mores!"
-Mehri
GSWNY Brownie Girl Scout
"It's so important to me to have my daughter in Girl Scouting. The values she learns and life-long friendships she makes are priceless. She is able to give back to her community and help make it a better place."
-Jennifer
GSWNY Cadette Troop Leader
"To me, Girl Scouting is that feeling in your heart when you know that you're right for something."
-Chiara
GSWNY Junior Girl Scout
"I joined Girl Scouts as a Daisy and remain a Girl Scout Volunteer to this day. Girl Scouting has enriched my life in ways I never imagined!"
- Susan, Buffalo NY
"I've been going to Girl Scout camp since I was 6 years old. It's a place I can go to where I don't have to worry about "fitting in" or peer-pressure. I can be me...and bring out my true self to all the great friends I meet when I'm there. I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world!"
-Emily
GSWNY Senior Girl Scout
"For me, Girl Scouting is more than just participation in activities. It's a process that gave me the skills, values and strength to be my best and move ahead to a bright and exciting future."
-Suzanne
GSWNY Senior Girl Scout
"As anyone in Girl Scouting knows, being a Girl Scout means opportunity. I have developed skills such as critical thinking, how to develop healthy relationships, how to take action, and most importantly - how to be a LEADER."
-Caitlin
GSWNY Senior Girl Scout
"Our troop sold over 7000 boxes of cookies last year! We had a troop goal to sell enough for our entire troop to go to camp...and we did it! It was so much fun - and all came from teamwork!"
-Molly
GSWNY Junior Girl Scout
"I have 4 brothers in my family. I love Girl Scouts because it gives me and my mom time to be together and do fun "girls only" stuff!"
-Julia
GSWNY Brownie Girl Scout
There is no one single memory that sticks out but rather a collection of fun times and activities that kept me involved in scouting through my senior year in high school! Today I am a brownie leader and mother of one and can't wait to see all the things that my daughter will explore and memories that she will be able to create through her years of scouting.
-Suzzanne
GSWNY Brownie Leader
"Camping at Oak Orchard, Deerwood and Pinewood. Horseback riding at Pinewood. Sledding at Oak Orchard. Swimming and canoeing at Pinewood. Lemmi Sticks. Singing songs at meetings and at campfires. Putting together a stage and writing a play for the puppetry badge. Cooking with the troop. For a community service project we sang at a local nursing home and I was too afraid to leave the kitchen, now I work in a nursing home. I frequently share this story when providing tours of my facility!"
-Susan
GSWNY Alumna
"Working at Girl Scout Camp taught me what was really important - friendship, faith, trust, and nature."
-Meredith
GSWNY camp counselor
"As a Senior Girl Scout, I took part in the celebration of the anniversary of Girl Scouting at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. I carried one of 500 flags onto the stage of the university. I will never forget the sound of all those in the auditorium reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise. We had American flags; International flags of all the member nations of WAGGGS; and the World flag. Girls' voices rang from the rafters. All I could see was 500 American flags. All I could hear was the future of America pledging their lives to the future."
-Barbara
GSWNY Alumna
"I could not wait to go to summer camp every year. I made new friends and made many great memories. I even became a counselor for a few years. I still tell my children stories from those days.
They are boys and roll their eyes at me."
-Theresa
GSWNY Alumna
"There is nothing like going to camp to make you feel connected: to nature, to yourself, to Girl Scouts, and most of all, each other!"
-Donna
GSWNY Alumna
"I think my early experiences in Girl Scouts really enhanced my appreciation for nature and my adventurous outlook."
-Deborah
GSWNY Senior Girl Scout
"Camp outs and craft nights are the best!! I always look forward to meeting nights, just to see my friends."
-Caitlyn
GSWNY Cadette Girl
"I have so many good memories of Girl Scouting, I'm not sure that I could identify and describe just one. However, I am very certain that my conscience and character were influenced greatly by my participation in Girl Scouts. I am also very fortunate to have met girls through Scouting whose friendship has endured for well over 2 decades. It is not an exaggeration to say that my life would be much changed, and not for the better, if I had not been a Girl Scout!"
Sara
GSWNY Alumna
"I think back and realize that without Girl Scouting I wouldn't be the person I am or have had the opportunities I did."
-Dawn
GSWNY Alumna
"I think the most enduring lesson I was taught through my experiences of being a Girl Scout was that I was a member of a larger community. I out-grew my uniforms and badges years ago, but the memories of visiting nursing homes or organizing Earth Day tree plantings or my summers camping with girls from all different backgrounds will stay with me always."
-Natalie Merchant
Musician & Girl Scout Alumna
"In Girl Scouting, it doesn't matter who you are or how you look. You are respected for YOU."
-Cassandra
GSWNY Cadette Girl Scout
"My co-leader and I have encouraged "our girls" to help others and the environment around them. They all have volunteered in their community and one has even saved a life by using the Heimlich maneuver she learned in brownie girl scouts! So, I encourage you to volunteer and make a difference in a girl's life – who knows, it may even make a difference in yours."
-Elizabeth
GSWNY Leader
"As a young girl, I enjoyed Girl Scouts because I was able to do things that I normally wouldn't have done and although I was only involved a few years, they were the years that helped form my character. I learned the power of doing things for others, how my actions affected others and especially that I COULD make a difference."
-Rachelle
Volunteer
"Girl Scouts helps girls become great women with curious minds and a feeling of being able to make things happen."
-Amy
GSWNY Leader
"A girl can move to a new town and have "instant friendships" with girls she might never have met."
-Judy
GSWNY Mom and Volunteer
" It's amazing how a young girl will feel the pride of being someone special as she carefully puts on her uniform for the very first time."
-Alma
GSWNY Alumna
Who can resist a group of giggling Girl Scouts?"
-Andra
GSWNY Brownie Leader
"I was a Girl Scout from Daisies to Seniors and went to summer camp every year. My experiences in scouting helped me learn to be independent, share life with others, and do things for myself. I am currently a Vincentian Volunteer in San Francisco working in a Domestic Violence Shelter. Girl Scouts laid the foundation for this experience through my life."
-Amanda
GSWNY Alumna
"As a father with two young daughters I looked forward to my wife's choice to become involved and to involve the girls in the Girl Scouts. I was impressed with the opportunity for them to learn values in a fun environment even at their young ages. What most impressed me was attending my first bridging ceremony. To see girls from our Daisy's and Brownies up to senior members going off to college told me that Girl Scouts would be a strong and positive thread in their lives that will lead them from girls to women."
-Tony
GSWNY dad