Armed with a bow and arrow, the girls take position. Their target waits just a few yards away. This spin on art and archery teaches the girls a lesson that goes beyond the basics of the sport.
“You kind of have to learn from your mistakes,” said one of the girls. “The first time if you do it too low, you have to move your bow and arrow up higher.”
Another chimed in: “It teaches you life skills of like you have to cooperate with other people and not only go with your idea. You have to try new things.”
This, proponents say, is what's at the heart of the Girl Scouts. That's why some volunteers, troop leaders and former scouts worry about shutting down two of the five camps girls in the metro use.
“Every time you think about Girl Scout camps, it takes a lot of money to run those properties,” said Gina Garvin with the Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri.
On the chopping block are Camp Winding River in Dearborn, Missouri, and Camp Oakledge in Warsaw, Missouri. The closures could mean interaction with equines and aquatics become more limited, though the Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri said its goal is to still keep that type of programming intact.
“Everyone has limited resources,” explained Garvin. “You have to look at where you will invest in those. We look at our properties and we love all of our properties. It's hard when we have to say goodbye to one or two in the situation, but we also know we can take those dollars and reinvest them into the properties we do have.”
For now, that's Prairie Schooner, Camp Daisy Hindman and Camp Tongawood.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.