Chelsea Girl Scout Troop Works Toward Bronze Award

Local Girl Scout Troop 40889 is taking on a community-based project to earn the Bronze Award, the highest honor a Junior troop can earn.

“They have to build a team, find a problem, create a plan to address it, set it into action, and spread the word,” troop leader Ashlie Pulford said. “My group of ladies decided they would take on the task of correcting the female disparity they saw and are seeing in one of our nation’s most prestigious honors: flag guarding and handling.”

After becoming interested during last year’s Memorial Day parade in Chelsea, the six girls in 40889, Autumn, Monte, Els, Abriella, Lily and Delanie decided to take a vote on their project for the Bronze Award, and learning the ins and outs of flag handling won.

“I wanted to work with my friends, and I like that the younger scouts can look up to us,” Monte said.

Wanting to inspire the girls with a woman in the field, Pulford spent a long time finding the right person to mentor the troop. Lora Hodges, a veteran, retired corrections officer and a current member of the National Honor Guard, was chosen to teach the group flag handling.

“Hodges met with me, loved everything these girls were pursuing, and decided she was in for whatever support they needed,” Pulford said. “She attended our meetings in uniform, bringing along one of her friends, Ms. Lindsey based in Cadillac, Michigan, to teach the Juniors all things flags.”

The team will also begin training younger scouts with the skills they’ve learned, reinforcing why many of them joined in the first place. Els said she joined Girl Scouts to “learn how to help the community,” a sentiment echoed by other members of the troop.

“And I want to help the community even more than Els,” Autumn said, sparking a discussion over which girl was the most excited to help the local community. “And I want to support other girls.”

Troop 40889 has the opportunity to inspire an even larger group of girls with an upcoming demonstration of skills at the April 27 Lansing Lugnuts baseball game, where they will be the Honor Guard for the game.

Photos by Matt Rosentreter