Submitted by Lily Roughneen and Samantha Lorr
On Sunday, February 10, 2019, the Girl Scouts hosted a Valentine’s Day Event at the Coronado Public Library. Organized by Girl Scout Troop 5548, this event was designed to teach younger Girl Scouts about the importance of building strong friendships and strong self-esteem.
The two-hour event included various activities and crafts whose primary focus was to promote self-love. “In the ‘Super-hero Station,’ the girls worked on creating superheroes with powers that they can use for evils in their daily lives, promoting sisterhood and positivity. My favorite was one girl’s drawing of a superhero in a Girl Scout uniform with a cape!” described Samantha, member of Troop 5548. Paloma explained another activity, “The ‘Compliment Station’ went very well. At the end, all the girls were recognizing that it felt a lot better to get a compliment on your personality such as ‘you make me laugh and are super funny!’ rather than your appearance. This was our main goal – to focus on uplifting each other. This taught girls to realize they have a lot more to offer than what you see at first glance.”
The members of Troop 5548 are Madeline, Amelia, Jenevieve, Camryn, Samantha, Paloma, Lily, Carly and Anna. All troop members are sophomores at Coronado High School and are currently working to achieve their Gold Award with the Girl Scouts. Troop leaders are Sherry Thompson-Taylor and Gretchen von Helms. Mrs. Thompson-Taylor concluded at the end of the event, “I thought the girls of Troop 5548 did an awesome job putting the event together. They worked hard to motivate and encourage the younger girls to interact. It is such a great thing, as a parent and troop leader, to see our girls be responsible, energetic, and directed. It shows that their leadership capacity is growing each and every day.”
