My daughter has been showing a lot of interest in Girl Scouts. However, we have a crazy schedule and travel pretty frequently, and when the few troops in our area meet doesn’t really work for us. So I have been looking into Juliettes for her since it allows her to do so much that Girl Scouts do without joining a troop. Is anyone here familiar with Juliettes? I think it would be great for us, but I have several questions that I cannot find the answers for anywhere. Thanks for any insight!
Interesting! Never heard of that before. We did Girl Scouts last year for my DD, and it was an epic fail. The troop leaders at her school were terrible. The weekly meetings didn't fit well with our schedule, either, or how far our house is from the school. We are doing Camp Fire this year (not sure if that's nation-wide or not?!) which is like co-ed Girl Scouts but way more low-key. Maybe that could be an option for you & your DD, too? Our troop is for the whole county and has one monthly meeting for the kids and one monthly activity that everyone in the family can participate in.
I know some GS Juliettes. We considered doing it this year (her last year in high school) but ended up changing troops instead. It takes a lot of devotion & motivation to do it on your own, but it is doable. What age girl are you talking about?
She is 10 and finishing up 5th grade, so I would like to start her in Cadettes. I don’t know if we can start now or need to officially wait until she starts 6th grade. The work doesn’t deter me, and she is incredibly good at getting things done and self-motivation. I was a Girl Scout growing up, so I am familiar with a lot of things... but I was always in a troop.
Not sure if it is nation-wide, but in our council the GS year runs from Oct 1 through to Sept 30 the following year. That said, most troops start in August or Sept and use the new school year grade level. Certainly she could start Cadettes in the late summer. What I could not tell from my online searching is if Juliettes had to be associated with a troop for accountability? I do know they have to be associated with a troop to sell cookies (or at least they do here). It is also nice to be associated with a troop if she has interest in participating in special events the troop does, i.e. camping, service projects, etc. Have you asked your council? My experience has been pretty good with our local Help Desk for council.
I FINALLY found the right person in our local council to ask, thanks to Facebook! It doesn't SEEM she has to be associated with a troop to sell cookies or for accountability based on what I read on the local council page. I have looked at a lot of different council pages just trying to learn and that seems to vary drastically from council to council. But, I got an email in to the right person and I hope she can help. I was hoping to find someone who had done Juliettes just to hear what their personal experience is. I figure is it doesn't work for us for some reason, that's okay. I just like to know what I am getting into as much as possible before signing on to do it.
@GlazeFamily3 - My daughter was a Juliette for most of her second year as a Junior, and first two years as a Cadette (5th to 7th grade). I had been her troop leader since Kindergarten, and became our service unit's Juliette Advisor (the go-to liaison for local Juliettes) in order to stay involved as a leader. We were not as diligent as you and your daughter, so we started a new multi-level troop as a third year Cadette, though I have also remained our Juliette Advisor. Every council treats their Juliettes different, but if you want to hear about our experience, I'd be happy to chat with you and answer any questions. As a Juliette, my daughter was able to: attend Service Unit events and campouts attend Council events and summer camp complete her Bronze Award sell fall product and cookies earn cookie rewards and cookie credit to pay for events and camp earn badges and complete journeys complete her Junior Aide and Leader-in-Action awards and Program Aide Training (still working on the PA award) earn the Cadette Service To Girl Scouting Award by working with other Cadettes to plan and host our service unit Cookie Rally Basically, almost everything the Troop girls did. The main exceptions were Troop profits from sales, and some of the troop awards (PACE, cookie troop awards, etc), which our council did not allow Juliettes to earn, as we weren't technically a troop. If you register before your council starts enrollment for the fall (Girl Scout membership year is Oct 1 to Sept 30), you will have to re-register in the fall. I learned that the hard way when I registered her as a Kindergarten Daisy in April, and had to pay again in September.
