Respect, honesty, and consideration—it’s the Girl Scout way for Gail Barrett!

Gail Barret has been a Girl Scout member for more than 50 years, starting as a Girl Scout in first grade. She has served as a day camp director, service unit director, troop leader, delegate, and council member for 14 years. She is the second member in a three-generation family of volunteers. Her mother served in Girl Scouts, Gail serves now, and Gail’s daughter is the third-generation Girl Scout volunteer also serving now as a cookie manager.

Gail has many stories to tell after her more than 50 years with Girl Scouts. “I’ve got so many of them,” she says. “We went on a hike one time, and it was Nelson Ledges, where they have lots of the rock foundations. We got one of our leaders stuck up on a rock trying to get her down. That was pretty funny.”

Being a part of a generational Girl Scout family, Gail enjoys seeing other generations of Girl Scouts in her troops. She says her favorite part about Girl Scouts is “to see how Girl Scouts that have come up through the Girl Scout program now have their kids and their grandkids coming up through the program. I think that’s good for Girl Scouts, to see how it’s going on through the generations.”

Gail is honest with new volunteers who need her guidance. She says, “I don’t lie to new volunteers. It’s not a one-hour-a-week job. It takes some commitment because you know you’ve got to get the program right. I try not to sugar coat it because it is a commitment to do it if you want to do it right. The main thing is to have fun and don’t stress yourself out. I have fun. I tell people if I don’t have fun, I don’t usually get involved in it.”

She lives by the motto of her three values: “I always tell everybody—family, church, Girl Scouts. You live by those three things, you’re going down the right path.”

Gail is passionate about teaching the Girl Scout Promise and Law to her Girl Scouts. She believes Girl Scout values can teach and shape the future of every Girl Scout who joins the program. She says, “Live as a Girl Scout would live. Respect, honesty, consideration—those are all right there in the Girl Scout Law.”

Gail Barrett continues to teach each Girl Scout to uphold the honor of the Girl Scout Law, and she believes that the Girl Scout values will have lasting effects on each Girl Scout’s life.

Tammy LaCross has volunteered with Girl Scouts since 2013, following in the footsteps of her mom, who was a troop leader before her. Acting in the many roles of co-leader, leader, service unit product co-manager, and cookie cupboard volunteer, Tammy has seen how being a part of Girl Scouts changes lives, especially for her family. 

Just like her mom, Tammy has a heart for Girl Scouts and the strong community that each troop creates. Her favorite memories are of co-leading her mom’s Girl Scout troop. She remembers one heartwarming troop meeting: “We had a meeting at another co-leader’s house, surrounded by sewing machines. My mother was an amazing seamstress, and she taught all those girls how to sew during that meeting, where we made sit-upons out of old jeans.” 

Tammy’s sit-upon was sentimental. “I chose my Grandad’s jeans,” she says. “He had just passed a couple years before, and it was a treasured memory. I still have that sit-upon hanging in my garage today, and I took it to my last camping trip with my troop.”

After her mom passed away, Tammy was surprised by an unexpected act of love and kindness. “When my mom passed, a family member called me and asked, ‘Did you put flowers on your mom’s grave?’ I said, ‘No,’ and I didn’t know who did it. I came to find out that it was her troop who had come together to put flowers on her grave.”

Tammy believes that every Girl Scout has a special strength and inner talent, and she reminds her Girl Scouts that they can be Girl Scout strong in their own unique ways. She loves encouraging them to use and grow their inner strengths, whatever they might be.

“I hope that they learn that strength is not just about physical strength,” Tammy says. “It’s not just about being able to lift a car. For some of our Girl Scouts, they learn the strength to be able to go on stage for the recital that they’re afraid they can’t do. For our Girl Scouts who are shy, they learn the strength to speak up at our meetings, and that takes a lot of courage for them. I want them to know that they can be strong in more than physical strength.”

One of the challenges for Tammy’s troop is managing meeting times that work for every Girl Scout’s busy schedule. “The challenge is really in scheduling meetings around all of the girls and their other activities so that they stay engaged,” she says.

But never stop persevering! Tammy reminds new volunteers who might be struggling, “It’s hard work, but if you persist, use your resources, and learn how to manage your time, you can do it. Reach out to other volunteers, use [the] Volunteer Toolkit, [and] join Facebook groups. Anything you can do to get connected in your community to learn from them, do it.”

Confidence, independence, and hands-on skills—Curtis Stratman loves outdoor adventures for what they can teach Girl Scouts!

Since beginning as a Girl Scout volunteer in 2016, Curtis Stratman has had a passion for outdoor adventures with his Girl Scouts in Allegheny County. After beginning as his troop’s treasurer in 2016, Curtis eventually took on more administrative duties for his troop and for coordinating their troop events. In 2017, he became the co-leader for a Brownie troop, and he assumed the leader role the following year. Now, he coordinates the service unit’s camps and outdoor events, and he holds positions as a service unit delegate, certified camp trainer, and a council trainer.

Curtis first volunteered with his local troop after participating in a Girl Scout camping adventure with his daughter. “When it got to my daughter being in the Girl Scout group, the first event was a father-daughter camp. I really saw the traditions, the experience, and the excitement that the camp environment around Girl Scouts brought to it.”

Curtis has been comfortable outdoors since his childhood. “When I was younger, I grew up doing outdoor stuff. My mother grew up on a farm, and so on the weekends, we were visiting my grandparents out there. I felt naturally comfortable doing outdoor stuff, like fishing, and so forth,” he says.

Since he began coordinating their camping and adventure trips, he and his Girl Scout troop have had a lot of adventures together! They’ve tackled challenges like backpacking, caving, archery, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing! He has witnessed the Girl Scouts grow in their confidence, team building, and skills through their high-intensity adventures. 

Curtis says, “Just being able to spend a weekend out together is a bonding experience for the troop and the kids together to get away from the world and technology, regardless of what we actually do. The outdoor activities, particularly if the Girl Scouts can continue to try new things they haven’t done before, can work up through the ranks and keep them engaged, overcoming fears, and building confidence.”

To volunteers who are considering taking their troops on a camping adventure, Curtis wants to encourage them to enjoy the experience and not stress about the details. 

“Have some grit and go with the flow,” he recommends. “There are so many factors that can go this way or that way . . . Nothing ever, ever goes to plan. It’s more about how do you create a framework or a structure of what we’re trying to get accomplished, but being able to go with the flow. As long as the girls spend time together, you learn some life skills, and everybody comes out safe and having a good time—those are the important things.”

If there is one thing that Curtis hopes his Girl Scouts learn from him, it’s that they will be “able to take care of themselves. I’ve noticed this with my Senior girls, but even when they were in late middle school, they were in this transition. When you go to camps, you start to realize that you, as a leader, don’t have to do much anymore. They know the drill of how to prepare the food, they know how to do the dishes, they know how to pack up, they know how to clean,” he proudly says.

One of Curtis’s favorite memories with Girl Scouts occurred when his troop met families on a search for Bigfoot at Laurel Park! 

He remembers, “After it got dark, the families were all crawling out through the woods, making calls they had all recorded for Bigfoot. Our girls found that to be a rather amusing form of entertainment. The families said they spotted some glowing eyes out in the woods.”

Their Girl Scout troop’s next adventure will be to find Bigfoot for themselves. 

He says, “So now when we go out for our Spring Camp Out, that is on our to-do list, bring our own supplies, and do our own Bigfoot hunting.”

As a volunteer with Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania since 1997, Cammie Stralko has been a troop leader committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming Girl Scout troop in Oil City. For twenty-eight years, she has been a troop leader. She has since served as a service unit manager for the Oil City service unit, a challenge course facilitator, an outdoor skills trainer for Let’s Go Camping 2, and a convention delegate in Houston, Texas. She started her volunteer journey because her daughter wanted to become a Girl Scout. Cammie recalls the day, “We went to the first meeting to turn in her registration papers. There was a troop leader there and she said, ‘We need troop leaders, and if we don’t have troop leaders, we won’t have a troop.’ I said ‘I’ll do it.’ And I’ve done it since. And I’m still at it.” 

When she was a young Girl Scout, Cammie dropped out of her troop early, and she hopes that other Girl Scouts never feel the same pressure. Cammie’s experiences as a young Girl Scout have made her committed to fostering a welcoming community in the troop that she leads now. About volunteering, she says her favorite thing is “the sisterhood, keeping the Girl Scouts together as Girl Scout sisters and knowing that we’re sisters to every Girl Scout, no matter if it’s a stranger or a new girl coming to our troop or one that’s been in our group for ten years. And they are very welcoming.” 

She hopes that Girl Scouts remember that they are part of the Girl Scout sisterhood and movement around the globe. “I like the fact that we’re part of that government, and that we have a voice. I always try to stress that with my girls. You are part of a membership of thousands and thousands of girls and women and men across the world, and not just in the United States, but around the world, in all of these other countries. And your voice has a say. You have a voice. And you’re able to be a part of that.” Cammie has taken her troop to learn more about not only their Girl Scout history and global movement but also the local government and how it works.  

Cammie loves taking her Girl Scouts on trips, and her favorite Girl Scout memories are of going to New York City and Washington D.C. She says, “I’ve been to New York City three times. I took my daughter twice with Girl Scouts. We went to see Mary Poppins. Last time, we saw Matilda. The girls just talked about it and talked about it. The M&M store, the things that we saw in Times Square—it was just unbelievable.” 

But she knows that volunteering can be a challenge, especially at first. “The first year that my daughter and I went to Girl Scout camp, we both came home crying. But it was exhaustion, something new,” she remembers. 

For new volunteers, Cammie wants them to know that they can always be learning and training to become better leaders “Take it one step at a time and learn from your training. There is always more training available. If you want to be involved, all the other leaders are there for you.” 

Ultimately, Cammie encourages new volunteers to mainly “have fun. Let the girls make choices for themselves. We have fun while learning . . . don’t stress over it.”  

After Cammie retires from her full-time professional job in 2027, she still hopes to be involved in Girl Scouts. She is already planning to take a weeklong trip to attend the next Girl Scout conference that will be held in Washington D.C. in 2026.