In September they broke away from parents leading the troop and hedged their way through the year, said Cathy Rees, troop facilitator. The junior scouts increased their responsibility since they were Brownies to prepare for this year, she added.
The troop meets at each other’s home, or wherever there’s food available for planning meetings, Rees joked.
Members include Jessica, Jessica DeLoriea, Sarah Hunter, Megan Hunter, Maya Koepke, Hannah Rees and Emma Taylor. All of the girls attend Sykesville Middle School, except Phyllis Blessing, who attends Oklahoma Road Middle School.
At the meetings, the girls take charge and plan ideas, community activities and place phone calls and e-mails to organize events, Rees said. Each girl is in charge of a project for each month, she said.
On Monday, the girls trekked to Sykesville’s Linear Trail off of Brandenburg Circle to clean up near a stream, which was Emma’s project.
‘‘Every year me and my dad and my brother, we pick blackberries along the fence down there,” she said. As much as Emma said she enjoyed it, she considers the area around the trail disgusting. Plastic bags, cans, glass and other items litter the woods, she added.
Emma contacted the Town of Sykesville to get trash bags donated and organized a day when the girls could get together as well as get parent involvement.
Richard Buczek walked out onto the rear deck of his Brandenburg Circle home Monday afternoon and took notice of the troop’s effort.
‘‘The whole town should be proud of you,” he bellowed out into the hollow.
The parents are just as proud of the girls for their leadership.
‘‘I just think their enthusiasm is infectious,” Rees said.
Amy Hunter said the girls might be nervous when they start out, but they overcome their fears and she is proud of what they can accomplish.
‘‘They had grown so much and been together for so many years, it lent itself for them taking on that leadership role and expanding their roles in the community,” she said.
As facilitators, Rees and Hunter, both of Sykesville, step in to ask questions to help guide the girls along or pull in the reigns to make their projects are realistic and safe.
‘‘If anything, they come up with too many ideas and have to narrow down what they’re going to do,” Rees said.
The most challenging part about the year is sorting all the details, said Megan, 13.
‘‘You have to get all the supplies, what you need to do, coordinate all the different stuff that you’re going to do,” she said.
The worst for Emma was calling Continuum Care nursing home in Sykesville for a Christmas project because the group was not sure yet what it was going to make.
Everything turned out OK, she said and the girls made more than 150 napkin rings for the nursing home residents and sung to them.
Other projects included making blankets for the Linus Project, which provides blankets to seriously ill children, putting together bags of necessities for parents of children in a neonatal intensive care unit, organizing a clothing drive for Afghanistan children and shopping for and making casseroles for Our Daily Bread food kitchen, Rees said.
The next project will be led by Phyllis, 12, where the troop will bag lunches for people in need through Escape Ministries in Sykesville.
Phyllis is working out the details, but the girls plan to shop for the food themselves, she said.
The girls would like to lead themselves next year, but are not sure how. So far, they earned their Bronze Award and would like to achieve the Silver Award – the second highest achievement in Girl Scouts.
Rees said the girls could also form their own community service group if they decide not to continue with scouts.
