Girl Scouts celebrate Earth Day in Copperas Cove

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove Girl Scouts are doing their part to help make the Earth a better place.
Copperas Cove Girl Scouts are working on their bronze awards project and combined it with a free Earth Day event at the Copperas Cove Public Library from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
The bronze award is an extra project for Girl Scouts which requires the girls to put in about 20 hours of work on a project that has a sustainable, lasting impact.
“Their project was the beautification of the library because they do a lot of stuff for us here,” said Jessica Taylor, service unit events director. “They are going to clean out this planter and plant some new stuff in it.”
Taylor said that while they help guide the girls, the project is the girls’ project. 
“This teaches them responsibility, good citizenship, to give back to the community, how to come together, and this was all girl led,” said Taylor. “They came up with all the ideas.”
Many of the girls went back and forth between pulling weeds from the planter and venturing inside to guide participants through various fun Earth Day activities.
They had information about local plants, they painted kindness rocks, made seed balls, made craft butterflies, and made a pudding-based treat which represented the Earth. The girls learned from the master gardener about which types of plants might be best for the planter based on what their goals might be. The girls will get together in the meantime and plant the actual flowers at a later date. 
Bell County Master Gardener Barbara Ishikawa attended the event to help guide the young scouts. Ishikawa talked to the scouts about how best to clean up the planter and gave advice for which flowers might best suit their needs. She ended up recommending a lot of Texas native flowers including bottom sage, lantanas, mist flower, and wildflowers.
“They have a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about the project, and they’ve done a lot of research on their own,” said Ishikawa. “I just love it. I think gardening is so important for our physical health, our mental health, and our environment.”
Brooklyn Moss (10) said that she thought it was important to help pick up trash and keep our world clean because “The Earth can die from [too much trash].”
“I think it’s a good idea to do the plant thing here,” said Scarlett Taylor (11) who enthusiastically helped clear out the planter. “We only have one world. It’s better to keep it healthy.”
Taylor said that she hopes that they’ll be able to grow some bluebonnets in the planter.
The Earth Day event also served to help with building interest in the Girl Scouts and potentially recruiting new members.
“During Covid, Girl Scouts kinda fell off, so we are trying to rebuild the community aspect,” said Kaitlyn Moss, service unit lead for membership.
Moss said that they are trying to recruit more girls and plan on holding other events like Saturday’s Earth Day event. Moss said that Girl Scouts teaches girls how to take care of themselves and others. Different Scout groups have different goals and activities, but all of the groups are geared towards helping the girls to better themselves. They learn about finances and can finance their own projects and even earn money to travel.
“Girl scouting builds their confidence, and character, and independence. They do different things. They earn different badges,” said Moss. “Girl Scouts is great. They get a lot of everything. It’s very well-rounded.”
For more information about the Girl Scouts or becoming a member, email Kaitlyn M at gsdoublecregistrar@gmail.com or Shauna Seale at shaunas@gsctx.org