SLIDESHOW: Girl Scouts teach ‘Flag 101’

As voices came together to sing “America the Beautiful” and “This Land is Your Land,” Girl Scout Troop 1784 began its flag ceremonies and etiquette workshop for the gathered scouts of Service Unit 442.

Mount Si Senior Girl Scout sophomores led the workshop Friday evening, Nov. 13, at Snoqualmie Middle School. Fifty-seven girls in troops spanning Snoqualmie, North Bend, Fall City, parts of Redmond and east to Snoqualmie Pass were in attendance.

This was Troop 1784’s second presentation of the workshop. Troop members had noticed many people, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts included, improperly presenting the flag, and were moved to teach fellow Scouts the right ways.

Splitting the troops into stations, each Senior Girl Scout led groups in learning the color guard flag ceremony, folding and unfolding a flag and patriotic songs.

The Mount Si sophomores will only be Senior Girl Scouts until the end of this year. After that, they become Ambassadors.

“That’s a short amount of time to do the things you have to do to earn your gold award,” said Joanne Brooks, Troop 1784 leader.

A gold award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn as a Senior or Ambassador.

“It’s equivalent to a Boy Scout Eagle,” Brooks said.

To receive a gold award, Girl Scouts must complete 70 hours of time on an approved community service project.

However, the flag workshop does not go toward any requirements — it comes from the girls’ goodwill to educate the community.

That evening, Brooks was looking forward to lots of smiling faces, girls feeling confident and learning more about the flag.

She hopes that once her troop graduates from high school, they will take what they’ve learned and shown through their workshops and will become troop leaders themselves.

Contact Snoqualmie Valley Record Reporter Allison Espiritu at aespiritu@valleyrecord,com or 425-888-2311.

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