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.
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