I have been a member of Girl Scouts for the last 15 years. Let's just pause and think about what that means. From kindergarten to senior year I was a scout, and the last two years when I have returned home from school I have done what I could to help with our troop.

These 15 years have given me many memories as well as learning experiences that shaped me into the person I am today.

So I guess I should start at the beginning. For the first two years as a scout, my mom was my scout leader. We had so many trips to the craft store; we did lots of crafts and had fun.

I had a lot of badges, but then we moved. It made sense at the time for Mom to take a step back: we didn't know anyone, as we had just moved, and she had just had my little sister. But wow -- at the age of eight, I discovered what it was like to be the one who was supposed to be in control of absolute chaos.

When Mom was my leader at the old place we met at the church we attended. We sat in a big open room with one big long table. There were I think 12 girls and we had a couple moms wandering around supervising us. At the new troop, we have five tables lined up back to back and each seat was filled, there had to be at least 30 of us all in one room. My age group was age's eight to ten. Looking back, I would not have wanted to deal with all of our sass.

Snack time was absolutely terrifying. Talk about a stampede.

It was more of an after school containment room than anything else. I mean how could they possibly expect two people to teach all of us to sew? I remember getting frustrated, bored and then sticking the needle under the first layer of my skin (you know you did it too.) That was the first sight I had of being well, not in control in a leadership position.

Because of this experience I had I have always strived to be very organized. If I am running an event I try to explain it to the best of my ability and have a plan of other ways to go about with my plan if the first doesn't work.

One of the events that I took part of in scouts that I feel really taught me a lot was Women of Distinction. This event is where women in the western New York area are nominated in their expertise be it: Sports, health, or several other categories. Girls then apply to be the presenters of the awards. In order to apply you need to create a scout resume.

While it isn't as extensive as a business resume but you have the general format. You put all the badges you had earned (I had a lot) and any awards or programs you had done. With that, you also had to send several essay questions. From there you get a phone call saying where or not you make it to the next round which is an interview. So for that, it was so intimidating to think of.

The group of women that interviewed me included the current CEO of Girl Scouts of Western New York and several other higher-ups. But the CEO was the main one that scared me, not many fourteen-year-old can say they were interviewed by a CEO. Since then I obviously still get nervous for an interview but I just think "Hey you were interviewed by Cindy so this is not a big deal."

As I mentioned before we presented the awards that the women were nominated for. So out of 40 or so girls, it was narrowed down to nine. These nine girls were assigned one of the women based on their personality and interests. The first year I was nominated I was paired with Julia Hall who was nominated for her public service.

Julia is a human rights activist with Amnesty International. She helped with terrorism in Ireland and with giving rights to men in Guantanamo Bay. The second year, was my senior year of high school and my thirteenth year as a scout, so as I had been in scouts the longest I was paired with Dr. Evelyn L. Kerney, Western New York Business Program Administrator at Bryant & Stratton College who was in the Girl Scout Volunteer Category. Dr. Kerney has done a lot over the years to help the growth of the Girl Scouts of Western New York.

Before we present the award we interview the women we are paired with and based on the interview we each wrote a three-minute speech that we presented to an audience of 300 people. So to prepare we had several rehearsals where we learned public speaking tips.

I find that it is actually easier for me to speak to a loud crowd than in a small setting like a class presentation.

One of the experiences that has affected me the most and I hope will continue to help me grow and change, is summer camp. I feel like if you ever went to a summer camp you know what I mean. You get so many memories at a camp and make lasting memories. Some of my best friends I have met at camp. (Shout out to my CITS :*)

At camp, we give children and ourselves the chance to get away from the rest of the world. You are unplugged and ready to have fun. Camp is a place where you can be whoever you want.

Now not all the memories at camp are fun. The campers trust you a lot. That means they share their secrets. Some of these secrets hurt to know.

It teaches you how life isn't fair, but it also teaches you that as much as you want to be you can't be a superhero. You can't fix a child's week but you can give them the best week that they can have.

Scouting has taught me so much and I will continue to learn from it. At camp, I learn so much from the campers and love teaching them the things that I have learned over the years.

Girl Scout not only has taught me how to be a mature adult that people can trust to get things done. But it has also taught me how to let go, and hold on to the child in me. I will forever hold to the memories that I have gained over the years.