By Kim French, Director of Resource Centers
Congratulations to Jennifer King who has been awarded GSNI’s Volunteer Spotlight for January 2022!
Jennifer came across Girl Scouts as a parent whose oldest daughter was joining Girl Scouts. She stepped into a troop leader role with Troop 674 over 13 years ago and started Troop 910 for her next oldest daughter just a few years later. She’s still going strong!
Jennifer is still a Troop 910 leader, Troop Volunteer, Troop 1692 Fall Product Chair, and Cheyenne Service Unit’s Cookie Coordinator. Prior to 2015, she was the recipient of GSUSA’s Volunteer of Excellence Award. She was also a co-recipient of GSNI’s President’s Award twice—in 2016, with Cheyenne Service Unit’s Day Camp Committee, and in 2021, with the Cheyenne Service Unit Team. Even so, Jennifer commented that her greatest accomplishment is “…being a leader for our troop.”
GSNI’s Girl Experience - Older Girl Manager Caron Prettyman nominated Jennifer for this honor. She says, “Jennifer’s level of involvement with Girl Scouts has no limits! Whether she is leading her own troop, chairing product program, providing volunteer support for her service unit or at a council event, Jennifer’s actions illustrate what living the Girl Scout Promise and Law is all about.”
Caron goes on to say, “I have witnessed the unique gift and manner Jennifer uses to cultivate an integral part of leadership by creating self-awareness. Using active listening, reflection, and introspection, Jennifer provides support and encouragement for girls to see and understand themselves. She helps girls identify a behavior, its triggers, alternative behaviors when triggered, and modify an approach to those triggers. This generates sustainable, life-empowering results! By gaining a better understanding of oneself, girls start to see themselves more clearly, become more confident, and take ownership of their decisions. These are building blocks that help foster and grow strong leaders who work to make the world a better place in their own unique way!”
When asked how volunteering has brought meaning to her, Jennifer replied, “My heart is full seeing girls grow at camp by challenging themselves and watching them mature into confident leaders. I live the Girl Scout Law with my three girls and our troop. I love being able to share new experiences with our girls. My favorite memory was the year we researched Mexico for World Thinking Day!”
Jennifer noted, “I love seeing our troop work together. Every year, we work with the girls to decide what they want to do for the year. My ‘job’ as a volunteer is to communicate with my co-leader and make their ideas come to life. The troop has grown so much over the years since kindergarten. As other troops have disbanded or girls have been interested in joining Girl Scouts, it’s been our girls’ choice to welcome new members. Our troop now has girls from three different high schools, and we just added a new girl this year. It is so rewarding to see them together making decisions.”
“I volunteer with Girl Scouts because this program brings opportunities to girls that they might not have otherwise,” Jennifer mentioned. “Seeing them light up when they realize they can do robotics, overcome their fear and climb higher, or learn a new skill. That makes it worthwhile—as well as the skills they learn by running their own cookie business, such as customer service, goal setting, budgeting, handling money, and more. These are skills that will stay with them forever.”
When asked if she had any helpful hints for other adult volunteers or parents, Jennifer responded, “Look for opportunities everywhere! One thing I wish I would have understood sooner as a parent was that my Girl Scout could attend events even if her troop was not participating. There are so many wonderful programs at GSNI. All three of my girls have benefitted from being a part of them. As a troop leader, look to those who have done this before. Use your mentors and know you are not alone. There are amazing leaders you can learn from.”
With much appreciation, thank you Jennifer for your continued dedication to Girl Scouts!
GSNI wishes to thank Patty Donahue and Image Awards Engraving and Creative Keepsakes in Geneva, Illinois, for graciously providing the beautiful tile trivet awards for our Volunteer Spotlight Program.
