Volunteer Spotlight-April24
2024 April Volunteer Spotlight: Pamela Whitfield
20 April 2024
Congratulations to Pamela Whitfield who has been awarded GSNI’s Volunteer Spotlight for April 2024!
Girl Scouts has been a part of Pamela’s life for quite some time. Growing up, Pamela was in Girl Scouts for 13 years having earned her Girl Scout Silver Award and her Girl Scout Gold Award, both tremendous achievements! She became a Lifetime Member upon graduating from high school.
Later, she began volunteering as a Troop Cookie Chair with her daughter’s kindergarten troop. This led to her becoming Troop 526’s Leader when they started their own first grade troop. Pamela also volunteers with her local Geneva Service Unit Team filling two positions, as both their Service Unit Treasurer and Service Unit Co-Registrar.
GSNI Member Support Specialist Lauri Doyle nominated Pamela for this award stating, “Gold Award Girl Scout Pamela has stepped into her roles in the Geneva Service Unit with dedication and enthusiasm! She joined Girl Scouts as a troop leader and pretty quickly after that volunteered for the Service Unit Team. She has been leading the service unit with their implementation of Rallyhood and is helping her service unit stay connected this year. Girl Scouts has been an important part of her life since her own youth, and she is committed to ensuring that future generations have the opportunity for great experiences like she did.”
“My favorite memory as a Girl Scout was going to Savannah, Georgia, with my Cadette troop. This was our first major trip as a troop, and it really gave us a chance to become closer as a troop.” Pamela added. “As a volunteer, my favorite memory was seeing my Daisy troop bridge to Brownies. We really tried to make the ceremony special for the girls and used the traditional ceremony with the bridge and mirror. It brought back memories of my own bridging ceremony as a kid that I had forgotten.”
Regarding the Three Processes (girl-led, learn by doing, cooperative learning), Pamela explained, “Our troop has really tried to make our meetings girl-led as much as possible by letting the girls have a say on which badges they work on and any field trips we might take. Our girls also love being active, so we take every chance we can get to get them doing hands-on activities. This year we made sure to get outdoors while the weather was nice, and we had some amazing hikes to learn some basic outdoor skills. One of the most popular activities we’ve done this year was to make cars out of clay for the Automotive Design badge. Each girl got to put her own spin on her car, and we built them with real wheels so they could be driven.”
When asked how volunteering has brought meaning to her, Pamela responded, “Volunteering has been a great experience! I have really enjoyed being able to share these adventures with my daughter and have loved getting to know all the girls in the troop and watching them all grow. I don’t work with kids in my career, so it has been fun getting to watch this younger generation experience the world.”
Pamela noted, “My advice to other Girl Scout volunteers and parents would be to not give up, especially your first year as a volunteer. It can be overwhelming when you are first starting out, but you just find what works for you and your Girl Scouts, and it will be worth it. Finding those really helpful parents and getting them to help out makes a huge difference as well.”
Why does she volunteer for Girl Scouts? Pamela says, “Girl Scouts was always an important part of my life, and I really wanted my daughter to get to experience this as well. I had wonderful troop leaders that helped to shape my life, and I want to make sure that other girls have similar role models.”
Pamela continued, “I’m a female engineer in my career, so it’s important to me for girls to see that they can do anything they want to in life. Volunteering gives me that opportunity. As a bonus, volunteering has also allowed me to make new friendships as an adult, and I am having so much fun!”
Thank you, Pamela, for your commitment to Girl Scouts and for your wonderful contributions!
GSNI wants to thank Patty Donahue and Image Awards Engraving and Creative Keepsakes in Geneva, IL for providing the beautiful tile trivet awards for our Volunteer Spotlight Program.
