Scouting Organization

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)

This is a global organization that includes the Girl Scouts of the USA. When you get older, there are opportunities for you to represent the GSUSA in other nations! Your membership in this organization is signified by the blue pin you wear on your pin tab.

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA)

This is the national organization of Girl Scouts. A portion of your membership dues, and a portion of the money earned through Fall Product and Cookie sales goes to support this organization. Your membership in this organization is signified by your Girl Scout pin, your GSUSA patch and your American Flag patch.

Girl Scouts of Western Ohio (GSWO)

This is our local council. Geographically, it stretches from Cincinnati to Toledo and from the OH-IN border to Columbus. The council receives funding from the national organization and from Fall Product and Cookie sales. They sponsor and manage several camps and a few different local offices. The closest local office to us is on Cornell Road in Blue Ash. Your membership in this organization is signified by your Council Patch.

Service Unit 424 Eastside HC

Our service unit is a group of troops that are all based in the Mt. Washington and Anderson Township area. This group has monthly meetings at the Anderson Branch Library that are open to all interested people (we try to make sure at least one adult attends each month). The Service unit sponsors activities most months, runs an evening-time "day camp" each summer, and is the local organizing unit for the big fundraiser events. There isn't an insignia for this level of organization on your uniform.

Troop 41683

This is our troop - a multi-age, multi-school, multi-AWESOME collection of girl scouts. We're a little bit unusual in our makeup since we have a mixture of ages and home-bases. Our meetings take place one Saturday morning each month at the Yeatman Lodge on Campus Street, across from the 45230 Post Office. Your membership in this group is signified through your troop number and your yellow kerchief, which the troop adopted as an add-on to the uniform in 2017-18

Patrols

Because we're a multi-age troop, we sometimes split up by scout levels into smaller groups called "patrols". The older levels may choose to elect patrol leaders. The GSUSA generally divides activities between Daisy-Brownie-Junior levels (DSJ) and Cadette-Senior-Ambassador levels (CSA). In our troop, we usually split into two groups - one with Daisies and Brownies, the other with Juniors and Cadettes. Sometimes only one group will go on a particular activity - it will be balanced out by a similar event for the other group.

Scouts

When a girl joins the troop, that membership lasts from October 1 - August 31. Regardless of age, each scout is a full member of the troop with full voting rights in decision-making. Older girls will take on some leadership roles.

Adults

The troop is required to have at minimum 2 adult members to serve as leaders but can (and should) have more registered adult members.

Adults can be members of the troop regardless of their scouting history and regardless of their gender. Every scouting event must have a certain number of adults per scout that varies by the ages involved and the activities - this is the "ratio" you'll hear about.