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WOMEN of Achievement CO-CHAIRS
Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey is pleased to have Bonnie and Steve Holmes and Janet and George Sous as our co-chairs for the 30th anniversary of Women of Achievement. Their support of the Girl Scout organization and its mission is founded wholeheartedly in their experiences and the experiences of their daughters as Girl Scouts.
Bonnie Holmes remarked:
"Our involvement with girl scouting goes back 20 years, when our oldest daughter entered kindergarten and wanted to be a Daisy. Her troop had no leader, and I wanted to be involved in my daughter's activities, so it seemed like a good match.
In the early years, there were lots of arts and crafts, playing games and singing, working on badges and selling cookies. We started camping in 2nd grade and attended community and council-run events. My co-leader and I planned all these activities.
Then, sometime during the middle school years, sixteen of my Girl Scouts made a conscious decision to stick with it and they became the planners of our troop's activities. They began leading Girl Scout events in our community. Our camping progressed from heated cabins to pitching tents, with our trips becoming exciting adventures - whitewater rafting, rock climbing, horseback riding and skiing, to name a few. All 16 girls earned their Silver Award, and eight went on to earn their Gold Award.
With any group of girls, you find some who are born leaders, others are followers, and some are painfully shy and withdrawn. I had all of those girls in my troop. And through Girl Scouting, all of those girls became leaders in their high school class.
Those girls are now 25, and two weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of one of them. There were about 10 former troop members in attendance as well. The bride insisted on having a troop photo taken for her album. I am proud to say that these girls are well on their way to becoming women of achievement - with chosen professions in nursing, teaching, physical therapy, ministry, law, and business. I can assure you, that if asked, they would attribute much of their success to Girl Scouting.
These are some of the reasons that Steve and I are excited to support Girl Scouting and be honorary co-chairs of the Women of Achievement event. We hope that you will support us as well."
Janet Sous remarked:
"I have two daughters, both of whom were Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts gave my daughters the opportunity to build upon their innate characteristics, a chance and the courage to test themselves and use their talents and, most of all, to know and understand the kind of woman they would strive to become.
We have all heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. In today's world there are so many negative pressures and influences on young people. They are bombarded with them. A girl is very fortunate if Girl Scouts is part of her village for there are so many wonderful attributes that Girl Scouting instills. As a parent, I watched and also was a part of the wonderful gifts that Girl Scouts gave to my daughters. There is a real basic goodness to Girl Scouts.
Girl Scouts gave my daughters many fun times and hours of giggles; it gave them trusted lifelong friends, taught them how to work together for a common goal, taught them how to plan, how to be leaders; how to respect and learn about the world around them, and think beyond themselves. It brought them to places and taught them things that I never would have the opportunity to teach or show them. It gave them the confidence to be their own person and live, as they believe. Girl Scouts is a morally sound and safe place to be, grow up in and thrive. It is also lots and lots of fun.
In the spring of Janelle's junior year of high school she began working on the details of her Gold Award. Janelle wanted to run a summer camp for learning disabled children. She planned and implemented every detail from securing permission slips and designing lesson plans, to cleaning and decorating a facility to accommodate the camp, ultimately seeing her dream of "Summer Smiles Day Camp" become a reality! It truly was one of the proudest weeks of my life watching my daughter run her camp. That week I truly saw the woman that my daughter had become.
Yes, it does take a village to raise a child, and I would love to see Girl Scouts be a part of every girl's life. As one of the co-Chairs of this event it is my hope to help bring Girl Scouts to many more young women throughout the northern New Jersey village."
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