UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- “On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”
The Girl Scout Promise has inspired thousands of young girls to join and “make the world a better place.”
However, Girl Scouts is not just for little girls in sashes selling cookies.
Madeline Iffert is co-president of On My Honor, a reinvented branch of Campus Girl Scouts, and has found a way to stay involved in this organization even as a college student.
Iffert, a junior double majoring in industrial engineering and Spanish, was a Girl Scout for most of her life. She was an active member from grades one to 12 in her hometown of Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Now she is giving back to girls in the area as a Girl Scout volunteer.
“We’re not Girl Scouts,” Iffert said. “We are volunteers who help Girl Scouts.”
As co-president, her responsibilities include solving problems that arise, delegating tasks and choosing badges.
On My Honor’s mission is to “encourage and promote the values and ideals of Girl Scouting while serving the college campus and surrounding community,” according to their website.
A group with as few as 10 members, On My Honor still manages to organize outreach to younger girls in the area to help them earn badges. They offer two or three small events per year, as well as one longer weekend event.
In October, On My Honor held their biggest event yet at the local Girl Scout camp, Camp Golden Pond.
“We spent a whole weekend helping junior Girl Scouts (fourth- and fifth-graders) earn a journey badge,” Iffert said. “There are three components of that badge and it usually takes a lot of time. We were able to help them earn two thirds of it in one weekend.”
Iffert said although On My Honor does a variety of different badges, she prefers to do badges that are “STEM-related” (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
“I was really excited for that one because I could tie it into engineering,” she recalled. “It was all about sustainability and saving energy. In fact, one of the parts of the (journey) badge said ‘talk to an engineer,’ so I ran that station.”
Although the name “Girl Scout” may deter some who might want to join, members don’t have to be former Girl Scouts – they don’t even have to be girls.
Iffert said it’s just a great way to do community service and volunteer.
“My favorite part is getting to interact with community members,” she said. “When you’re at Penn State, it’s really easy to get caught up in the college bubble. With On My Honor, you get to interact with parents and younger kids and help them in some way.”
Iffert said Girl Scout programs are spreading at other colleges, too. On My Honor has even talked to other schools about how start their own chapter.
“This is a way to continue one of my passions,” Iffert said. “I’m still really involved in it and I really like doing it. This is just another way to keep that going into college.”
To learn more about On My Honor, visit: http://onmyhonor.wix.com/psucampusgirlscouts