By Stacy Nechyba, Durham Girl Scout Day Camp Program Director

If you are looking for the ultimate confidence-booster, look no further.  You can find it at a Girl Scouts – NC Coastal Pines’ Day Camp.  For the first time this summer, I co-directed the Girl Scout Day Camp in Durham County and want to report that it was enjoyable from beginning to end.

There were many highlights, not least of which were the advantages of working with another fantastic volunteer Camp Director, Chip Reinhardt, and an experienced, organized and helpful team of support at the council.  Without these strong working relationships, it would not have had the same experience.  Chip and I aimed for and achieved an ambitious program.

Rewarding milestones included finding a good location after an involved search of area facilities and parks; writing a final camp program after endless drafts; designing a logo – which I’d never done before – and seeing it made into shirts and patches; meeting and working with a team of adult and youth volunteers; and finally seeing the children learn, play and have fun.

Our particular Girl Scout program included swimming, archery, arts & crafts, outdoor games, making UV bracelets and survival bracelets, camp journals, time in the kitchen making Girl Scout milkshakes and ice cream sandwiches, STEM badge work for each age group, and off -site activities at the Museum of Life and Science and Duke University. To cap it off, we hosted a Friday night potluck dinner and graduation ceremony for the girls.

Taking Girl Scout Daisies, Juniors and Cadettes off-site proved to be a tremendous success. Our Girl Scout Daisies studied butterflies at day camp and had the reward of going to the Museum of Life and Science Butterfly House.  Our Girl Scout Juniors earned their Entertainment Technology Badge which included working on an MIT program in a technology lab at Duke University’s Social Sciences Research Institute. Our Girl Scout Cadettes earned their Entrepreneur Badge and finished it off by spending a day at Duke University, which included sharing their product and business plan with a group of Professors in the Economics Department Chairman’s Conference Room.

I truly enjoyed every minute of planning, including the challenges and hurdles I worked to overcome.  Most rewarding of all has been the notes and emails I have received from campers, parents and leaders brimming with thanks and praise.

It is my wish to encourage others to do the same and take advantage of an unparalleled personal growth opportunity while unlocking potential and strength in our girls by giving them an authentic Girl Scout experience.