How to Start a Troop
Join one of 30 troops and more than 300 Girl Scouts on Mercer Island. Find out why Girl Scouts promotes social connection, friendship, leadership, outdoor adventure, STEM, and self-reliance. Troops open for girls kindergarten and up.
Please email [email protected] if you are interested in starting a troop.
Download How to Plan a Troop Year
Starting a troop is easy, and you'll get lots of help from other Mercer Island leaders whenever you ask. If your girl is in K - 5th grade, all you need are 5 girls and 2 adult volunteers (non-related to each other) to get started. If your girl is in 6th grade and up, you only need 3 girls and 2 adults. Want more girls in your troop? No problem. Let us know and we can put the word out that your troop is open to new members.
Step 1 - Register!
Step 3 - Establish a Meeting Time, Frequency, and Place
Coordinate with troop parents to figure out how often and which day and time are best for your troop to meet. You decide how often your troop will need to meet to fulfill troop objectives, but typically:
Next, find a space where your troop can meet. Our troops meet at schools, churches, the library, senior and community centers. Have your troop parents connect with their resources to find a space that works for you.
Step 3 - Plan your Year! Take out your calendar and start planning your year.
Troop Leadership Model
Some troops are run in a traditional way with two co-leaders running the show and parent volunteers doing supporting jobs. Other troops run co-op style with each parent planning and running a meeting following a master plan created by co-leaders and troop at the beginning of each year. Some troops are run by a leader and co-leader for a year, and the following year the co-leader steps up to leader and another parent volunteer steps into the role of co-leader. And some troops use a combination of these methods.
What will your troop do?
One of the unique things about Girl Scouts is that there is no required curriculum to follow. Girl Scouts is Girl-Led, so the girls decide if they want to earn badges, complete a leadership Journey, volunteer in their community, camp, start and compete in a robotics league - or anything they want. Sound overwhelming? There is PLENTY of guidance online, from GSWW, and from Mercer Island leaders if you're looking for help and ideas, but what you actually do is up to you and your troop. At your parent meeting, decide what the girls (and parents) want to focus on, then create your final plan for the year and get a schedule out to parents and girls.
Parent Volunteers
Girl Scouts is a volunteer organization and every Girl Scout person you encounter on Mercer Island is an unpaid volunteer. That means we need help from everyone. We understand that most people have restrictions on their time, so there's a job for everyone - volunteers can do a one time job like organize a troop event, a behind-the-scenes job on your own time like troop treasurer, or participate year-round as a troop helper or co-leader. A troop cannot be successful without everyone's help.
Typical Volunteer Roles in a Troop:
Co-Leaders - These are the people ultimately responsible for managing the troop
Troop Treasurer - This person opens troop bank account, tracks expenses, and complete an annual finance report
Troop Cookie Manager - This person coordinates the troop's cookie selling (cookie selling is not required by troops)
Communications - Coordinates communications within the troop and forwards communications from MI Girl Scouts
Outdoor Specialist - Gets Outdoor Overnight training from GSWW and accompanies troop on campouts (can be more than one per troop)
General Helper - These are 'Volunteers on Call' that are willing to step in and provide snacks, drive, coordinate an outing, or do whatever else is needed by the troop.
Step 5 - Attend Monthly Leader/Volunteer Collaboration Meetings! These monthly meetings are a great way to meet other leaders at your level (Daisy, Brownie, Junior, etc) and pick their brains for solutions and ideas. There is usually some casual networking time, some business, and an educational topic like cookie sales, camping, bridging, troop banking, forms, how to stop cliques, volunteering ideas, or anything else the group wants to know about. A troop leader or other troop volunteer is required to attend so they can bring information back to the troop.
If you ever need help - ASK! We have leaders and other volunteers who have been in your shoes and have lots of advice and experience to share. If you ever have questions or would like a mentor, please ask us. Girl Scouts is all about working together to solve problems and make the world a better place - inside and outside our Girl Scout community too!
Please email [email protected] if you are interested in starting a troop.
Download How to Plan a Troop Year
Starting a troop is easy, and you'll get lots of help from other Mercer Island leaders whenever you ask. If your girl is in K - 5th grade, all you need are 5 girls and 2 adult volunteers (non-related to each other) to get started. If your girl is in 6th grade and up, you only need 3 girls and 2 adults. Want more girls in your troop? No problem. Let us know and we can put the word out that your troop is open to new members.
Step 1 - Register!
- Once you have 5 girls and 2 adults, we can connect you with GSWW to get started. They'll issue you a troop number that you can give to parents when they register.
- Then, ask parents to go to go online and register their daughters and themselves. Registration costs $25 for each girl and $25 for each adult. (If parents can't find your new troop number when they're registering, ask them to select UNSURE, then enter your new troop number when asked "Why are you unsure?")
- Next, you and every parent who will be working with girls (the Leader, Co-leader, Troop Cookie Manager, and any other volunteer who plans to camp or spend a substantial amount of time with the troop) need to complete a Volunteer Application.
Step 3 - Establish a Meeting Time, Frequency, and Place
Coordinate with troop parents to figure out how often and which day and time are best for your troop to meet. You decide how often your troop will need to meet to fulfill troop objectives, but typically:
- Daisies (grades K and 1) meet once a month for an hour
- Brownies (grades 2 and 3) meet twice a month for an hour
- Juniors (grades 4 and 5) meet twice a month for 2 hours
- Cadettes (grades 6, 7, and 8) meet twice a month for 1 to 2 hours
- Seniors and Ambassadors (grades 9 - 12) meet once a month or as their schedules permit
Next, find a space where your troop can meet. Our troops meet at schools, churches, the library, senior and community centers. Have your troop parents connect with their resources to find a space that works for you.
Step 3 - Plan your Year! Take out your calendar and start planning your year.
- First, enter in your agreed upon regular meeting dates and times.
- Next, pencil in Mercer Island traditional events like Fall Camp, the Juliette Gordon Low Birthday celebration, Gals & Pals, Cookie Sales, and our annual Spring Weekend Camp.
- Finally, look for events on the GSWW calendar that your troop may like to do for outings.
Troop Leadership Model
Some troops are run in a traditional way with two co-leaders running the show and parent volunteers doing supporting jobs. Other troops run co-op style with each parent planning and running a meeting following a master plan created by co-leaders and troop at the beginning of each year. Some troops are run by a leader and co-leader for a year, and the following year the co-leader steps up to leader and another parent volunteer steps into the role of co-leader. And some troops use a combination of these methods.
What will your troop do?
One of the unique things about Girl Scouts is that there is no required curriculum to follow. Girl Scouts is Girl-Led, so the girls decide if they want to earn badges, complete a leadership Journey, volunteer in their community, camp, start and compete in a robotics league - or anything they want. Sound overwhelming? There is PLENTY of guidance online, from GSWW, and from Mercer Island leaders if you're looking for help and ideas, but what you actually do is up to you and your troop. At your parent meeting, decide what the girls (and parents) want to focus on, then create your final plan for the year and get a schedule out to parents and girls.
Parent Volunteers
Girl Scouts is a volunteer organization and every Girl Scout person you encounter on Mercer Island is an unpaid volunteer. That means we need help from everyone. We understand that most people have restrictions on their time, so there's a job for everyone - volunteers can do a one time job like organize a troop event, a behind-the-scenes job on your own time like troop treasurer, or participate year-round as a troop helper or co-leader. A troop cannot be successful without everyone's help.
Typical Volunteer Roles in a Troop:
Co-Leaders - These are the people ultimately responsible for managing the troop
Troop Treasurer - This person opens troop bank account, tracks expenses, and complete an annual finance report
Troop Cookie Manager - This person coordinates the troop's cookie selling (cookie selling is not required by troops)
Communications - Coordinates communications within the troop and forwards communications from MI Girl Scouts
Outdoor Specialist - Gets Outdoor Overnight training from GSWW and accompanies troop on campouts (can be more than one per troop)
General Helper - These are 'Volunteers on Call' that are willing to step in and provide snacks, drive, coordinate an outing, or do whatever else is needed by the troop.
Step 5 - Attend Monthly Leader/Volunteer Collaboration Meetings! These monthly meetings are a great way to meet other leaders at your level (Daisy, Brownie, Junior, etc) and pick their brains for solutions and ideas. There is usually some casual networking time, some business, and an educational topic like cookie sales, camping, bridging, troop banking, forms, how to stop cliques, volunteering ideas, or anything else the group wants to know about. A troop leader or other troop volunteer is required to attend so they can bring information back to the troop.
If you ever need help - ASK! We have leaders and other volunteers who have been in your shoes and have lots of advice and experience to share. If you ever have questions or would like a mentor, please ask us. Girl Scouts is all about working together to solve problems and make the world a better place - inside and outside our Girl Scout community too!