Local troop leader awarded Honor Pin by Girl Scouts
April Elmore, of Mountain Pine, was recently recognized by the Girl Scouts — Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas for her exemplary service to the organization.
Elmore was awarded an Honor Pin recognizing her service in support of delivering the Girl Scout Leadership Experience during the organization’s annual conference and leadership meeting July 28 at the Robinson Center in Little Rock, according to a news release.
Elmore told The Sentinel-Record the Honor Pin requires a nomination and two endorsements that detail the reasons the nominee should be chosen.
“I am humbled and honored to know that the work I do on behalf of Girl Scouts is recognized,” she said in an email. “The Honor Pin is a tangible reminder that my efforts are appreciated. Each time I put on my Girl Scout uniform, I will wear it proudly.”
The troop leader said she was not expecting to receive the award.
“I have been surprised every time I have received an award because I don’t believe I’m doing anything more than the other wonderful volunteers in our service unit,” she said. “I did know in advance that I would be receiving an award at the Annual Leadership Conference,
because the Girl Scouts — Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas staff notifies award winners to allow them to make arrangements to attend and receive the award. They don’t tell you which award you will receive so it is a mystery until the awards ceremony.”
Elmore said her first involvement with the Girl Scouts was as a second grade Brownie, and she participated in the organization for two years.
In her adult life, Elmore’s niece joined a local troop as a Daisy which prompted Elmore’s daughter to want to join.
“We were able to join the same troop led by Mrs. Sarah Rivera. She encouraged both my sister and I to join Girl Scouts as adult volunteers,” she said. “The next year we were co-leaders in the troop. After a year of coleading, I was completely hooked. I spent most of my free time learning about Girl Scouts. At that point, I also joined the events team for our service unit. Our service unit had an amazing recruitment year in 2013, but we didn’t have room in the current troops for all of the girls who wanted to be Girl Scouts. In the fall of 2013, I started a troop at Fountain Lake School with some of the girls who didn’t have a troop home.”
This is Elmore’s eighth year as a troop leader, and she currently leads two troops — one troop for Daisy, Brownie and Junior Level Girl Scouts in kindergarten through fifth grades, and another for Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Level Girl Scouts in sixth through 12th grades. In addition, she also serves as the co-director, recruitment coordinator, Brownie level mentor and as an event planner for the Garland Service Unit, and is a member of the Friends of Radford and volunteers as a reserve ranger for the Radford House property.
“If my daughter’s leader hadn’t encouraged me to join Girl Scouts as an adult volunteer, I probably would not have done it on my own,” she said. “It was because she asked that I initially joined and I am so happy she did. It’s like I tell my girls during cookie season: What’s the number one reason people do not buy Girl Scout Cookies? It’s because nobody asked them. I always try to remember that parents may just be waiting for someone to ask them.”
Elmore said she plans to continue leading troops for as long as the girls in her troops want to participate, as well as in her other capacities. Looking forward, she said she is excited to be a part of the newest addition to the service unit — a competitive BB gun shooting team. The Garland Service Unit, she said, has received the Gold Level-President’s Service unit Award at the Annual Leadership Conference, recognizing them as one of the highest performing service units in the council.
“As our service unit director, Heather MacPherson, always says, ‘Girl Scouts is about so much more than crafts, cookies and camp. Girl Scouts is about building girls of courage, confidence and character,’” she said. “That’s exactly what we strive for every time we plan a troop meeting or a campout or a service unit event. We want girls to have a safe place to just be who they are and who they want to become. We want to give them experiences to show them that they are already strong and capable. We want them to know that it is OK to fail — but when you fail, you learn from that experience and you try again. We want to instill them with both a servant’s heart and a warrior’s heart.”
For anyone interested in joining Girl Scouts, Elmore said the Garland Service Unit will be visiting local schools Aug. 24, 27 and 29, as well as hosting informational nights Aug. 27, 28 and 30. The Girl Scouts will also have a booth at Spa-Con Sept. 22-23.