Girl Scouts: Nine decades of learning

Kimberley McGee

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 2:56 a.m.

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WEEKEND EDITION

This isn't your mother's Girl Scouts.

The ability to adapt is what has kept the Girl Scouts a thriving organization for the past 90 years.

A birthday bash will be held today at Cashman Field for the organization's 90th anniversary. Girl Scouts will also pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the central and Southern Nevada Girl Scout organization, Frontier Council.

The national organization began in 1912 with 18 girls who earned badges in telegraphy, farming, camping, cooking and sewing. It has grown to more than 3.7 million members worldwide, and these days the girls earn badges in computer education, technology, money and health, among others.

"It's changed with the times, but it still teaches core values to be a strong woman," said Pat McNutt, a Las Vegas resident for 40 years and a former Girl Scout troop leader.

McNutt joined Girl Scouts 65 years ago at age 10. She took pride in wearing her crisp, clean uniform with the badges she diligently earned and sewed onto the green sash.

"Girl Scouts really gives you an appreciation for the outdoors and for people of all colors and races," McNutt said. "It opens you to the world."

She became a troop leader when her two daughters entered Girl Scouts in the '60s. The Frontier Council raised funds for local charities, learned to sew, cook and give first aid, as well as handle stressful situations.

During one of the many desert camping trips in the late '60s, McNutt's troop showed its ability to follow orders in the face of danger.

"A pack of wild dogs ran through the camp and all we could do was to tell the girls to stay in their tents," McNutt said. "They sure did. Not one came out."

The Girl Scouts continue to teach solid values, McNutt said, and has updated its programs to stay current. But McNutt does miss one tradition.

"The girls don't wear their uniforms when you see them out (selling cookies) anymore," McNutt said. "I always think the girls looked so good in their uniforms. But I accept that."

The Frontier Council's capital development chairwoman, Ann Lynch, began as a Brownie, a junior Girl Scout, in the '40s at age 6.

"As a young girl I got a sense of teamwork, self-acceptance and adventure from the Girl Scouts," Lynch said. "It's a terrible feeling for children to feel they don't fit in. Girl Scouts teaches you if you don't fit in one place, you'll fit in somewhere else."

That sense of acceptance from peers, and more importantly of herself, inspired Lynch to strive for her best life, she said. Lynch credits the Girl Scouts with where she is today -- vice president of marketing for Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children's Hospital.

"In Girl Scouts you learn everyone has value," Lynch said. "A Girl Scout gets a sense of all the things that are available to her as she matures and goes into society."

That is the main reason Las Vegan Helen Kraouse signed up her two grade-school-aged daughters for Girls Scouts. Kraouse is also a troop leader.

The Girl Scouts were not hip in the '70s while she was growing up, Kraouse said. But, as a single mother, she wanted her girls to be filled with self-esteem and knowledge. Kraouse turned to Girl Scouts because of the organization's reputation, she said, and for the fun.

"They learn not only about child and home care, they learn about car care, science and math," Kraouse said. "It's not like it was, it's not about making a home but making careers. These girls find out all that they can do."