January 24, 2005

It's all about Scouting here in Sunol and what's a better time to get caught up on scouting news than now when those cute little Girls Scouts are out selling cookies to their friends, families and neighbors.

It makes me quite proud to see how many young ladies we have participating in scouting. It was just five years ago when Lori Nielson and myself wanted our daughters to have the same great scouting experience that we had when we were children. So, after trying to get our daughters into a Pleasanton Girl Scout Troop, we discovered that there were not enough adult Leaders to go around. It was then that we thought, "Gee, we could do this in Sunol". So with an "I'll do it, if you'll do it" agreement, we set off on learning how to be Girl Scout Leaders. We sure learned quite a bit that first year and we even managed to have quite a troop of about 12 girls. There are now three Girl Scout Troops representing Sunol!

Representing Brownie Troop #1026 is Paige Arcieri, Bessie Barnes, Brooke Bowling, Sara Brown, Hunter Beck, Kelsey Corcoran, Lizzy Hargiss, Erin Heckman, Kaitlyn Lipman, Kamie Lipman, and Eva Madden. Leader, Cathy Morris has informed me that these are Sunol's youngest scouts of mostly 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. Recently, these girls have been busy collecting cookie orders but have participated in other events as well such as; competing in the Alden Lane Fall Festival Scarecrow Contest last October and they helped provide gifts to needy children during the holidays. The girls are currently working on a acquiring a few well-earned badges and are looking forward to hopefully attending Camporee this coming May. Cathy would like to extend a special thank you to parents Carnie Bowling and Lisa Arcieri for helping at meeting and special events.

Representing Junior Troop #2921 is Danika Beard, Becca Brown, Mary Chambers, Madison Craig, Athena Eberle, Bola Gbadebo, Alexa Hylas, Emily Madden and Katelyn Miller. The adult Leaders are Helen Eberle and Diana Madden. Helen tells me that these girls have been very busy this past year. They attended the annual scarecrow building competition at Alden Lane; in October the girls participated in a day long Junior Jamboree in Castro Valley where they learned about Greek Mythology, participated in archery, cooking and sang campfire songs. And during the holidays they helped provide gifts to needy children and strolled through downtown Sunol singing Christmas Carols before having a sleepover at Danika Beard's house. The Junior Troop is currently pursuing three badges; Caring for Children, Pet Care and Business Wise.
Representing Cadette Troop #2957 is Nicola Barnes, Caitlin Carter, Jessica Christian, Stasia Hylas and Hayley Nielsen. The adult Leaders are Lori Nielsen and Victoria Barnes. After these girls officially "Bridged" into Cadettes when crossing the Golden Gate Bridge last June, they have been having quite a new experience in scouting; they are more social but yet learning about more serious subjects. It was fun to see them all dressed up as they attended the opera, "La Boheme", in San Francisco last summer. Then on January 8, they joined quite a few other Cadettes for a wild night of "Midnight Bowling", followed by a sleepover at Jessica Christian's home. The Cadettes are currently working on an Interest Project called, "The Plays the Thing". They will learn all aspects of the theater from acting and directing to production and on January 29 will be attending a play called "Into the Woods" with the Junior Troop. Future IP's will include From Stress to Success, Law and Order and American Justice.