Girl Scouts Own
Girl Scout's Own is a special program in Girl Scouting. It is an important one, set apart from the many activities of troop and camp life as a time for quiet and reverence. A Girl Scout's Own is based on the ideals of Girl Scouting and makes these ideals more meaningful to the girls in their daily lives. It is also an opportunity for the girls to express their serious thoughts and deeper feelings.
The ceremony has meaning in the lives of the girls when it is truly what the founder called it - Girl Scout's Own. It is a program which belongs to them. It's value as a means to spiritual growth lies in their expression of their own convictions, aspirations and ideals.
Girl Scout's Own is not a religious ceremony or service. It is as universal as the meaning of the Promise and Law embodied in it's purpose; an occasion in which Girl Scouts of many faiths and creeds may participate together. A Girl Scouts Own may be held at any hour on any day of the week and take place at a troop meeting or inter-troop gathering, in camp, indoors or out.
It is a Girl Scout custom to assemble and walk quietly to the place where the Girl Scout's Own is to be held and to leave quietly after it is over. Choose a place you especially like -- one with a pretty view, by a stream or pond, under a tree, a spot where you can see the sky. Indoors, choose a symbol; a picture, or flag, or leaves; that represents the theme of your Girl Scout's Own.
How to plan a Girl Scout's Own
Choose a theme. Then make a list of different ways you can express the theme.
From your list decide on an opening and closing.
Tell the other girls in the troop some of your ideas for ways to express the theme. Let each girl or group of girls decide which way she would choose to express the theme. If someone has an idea of her own, let her use it.
Arrange the parts of the program in an order you like.
Decide who will lead the girls to the place for the ceremony and back again. Decide who will be in charge of the program. (The troop leader may want this job, or it could be handled by a mature Junior or Cadette)
Themes: A theme for your Girl Scout's Own might be part of the Law -- friendship, loyalty, service, honor, making and keeping a promise. Your theme might be country, it's different peoples, your part as a citizen. The theme might be forests and rivers and mountains of our country. Your theme might be the spirit of a special occasion such as Thanksgiving or the first day of Spring. Whatever your theme is, it should be one of intense, emotional involvement of the girls in your troop.