As a Girl Scout leader, Laura Wulff understands the power of girl-led activities.

“When you give girls a space where they can just be, magic happens,” said Wulff, a Volunteer Support Coordinator for Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania. “To see the cool things the girls want to try and what they want to do and to see them grow, it’s just awesome.”

Although Wulff was a Girl Scout as a child, she didn’t participate past Brownies. As an adult, she assisted with a troop when she was in her 20s, but she didn’t fully get involved as a leader until her own daughter was starting kindergarten.

“The Girl Scout leader who was running the troop was getting ready to step down, and they needed a troop leader. At first, I was like, ‘hard pass,’” Wulff recalled with a laugh, worried that volunteering was going to be difficult and time consuming. She soon changed her mind, and it’s a decision she never regretted during her 10 years as a volunteer.

“It was so much fun,” she said. “The relationships I made with the girls that were in my troop were life changing for me, and I still see those girls consistently now. They’re my daughter’s friends and her classmates, who are all now in high school, and I’ve known them since they were kindergartners.”

When Wulff started working for Girl Scouts in 2021, she relinquished her role as a leader, but her daughter is still involved as a Juliette Girl Scout.

Although she has many happy memories of her time as a leader, Wulff said her experiences at Camp Archbald stand out the most.

“We started taking our girls when they were Daisies,” she said. “We went camping with 18 Daisies for a weekend, and then we took 24 Brownies for a weekend, and then we went with Juniors and Cadettes.” At the camp, Wulff and her troop tried archery, tackled the ropes courses, went fishing and hiking, cooked in the kitchen and over a campfire, and took advantage of the on-site lake to try kayaking, canoeing, boating, and swimming.

Wulff lives just a few minutes from Camp Archbald in Susquehanna County, and she emphasized how important the camp is to the community.

“I hear stories all the time from people who have attended the camp and whose kids have attended the camp,” she said. “As soon as someone hears where I work, they say, ‘Oh, you’re a Girl Scout. Oh, my daughter went to Camp Archbald,’ and then they tell stories that span generations in their family. It’s so steeped in tradition.”

While Wulff grew up familiar with Camp Archbald, she realized that mere proximity to the camp did not mean the girls in her troop were experienced campers. She quickly learned that going to camp could provide more than just a fun time for her Girl Scouts.

“A lot of our girls, even though they were raised in Susquehanna County, they didn’t necessarily come from a camping family,” she said. “So, for them to just be outside is a lot. For them to spend the night for the first time at camp was a big deal. And then for all of this to be happening in a way that’s girl-led, where the girls get to make the decisions on what they’re doing, that’s huge.”

Written by Cathy Molitoris, Marketing Coordinator for Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania.