From Nashville To Nashville –– Washington County Girl Scouts Take A Trip And Make Memories

More than 60 people, including Girl Scouts from ages 5 to 13, ABOVE, at the Grand Ole Opry, and their leaders took a trip from Nashville, Ill., to Nashville, Tenn., from June 22 through 25.

By Alex Haglund

Several years back, a patron of the girl scouts, Mrs. Whyte, passed away and made a sizeable donation to the scouts – of Washington County only.

Now, there has been a reorganization and the Washington County Girl Scouts are being consolidated with Clinton County Girl Scouts, but that money was still earmarked for the use of this county’s Girl Scouts.

With this change, a dilemma arose on what to do with this money, and Washington County Girl Scout leaders decided to put the funds towards providing a memorable experience for those scouts.

From Thursday, June 22, through Sunday, June 25, “we had 60 people take a trip from Nashville, Ill., To Nashville, Tenn., and it was pretty much paid for 100-percent,” said adult Girl Scout leader Vanessa Downey.

Downey said that the four-day trip was “packed from morning to night,” with various activities.

All of the Washington County Girl Scouts could go on the trip and those who did ranged in age from five to 13 years old.

Activities included a plantation tour, a backstage tour at the famed Grand Opry House, a visit to the home of President Andrew Jackson, a treetop tour (ropes and ziplines), a line dancing class, a visit to the Ryman Recording Studio, and site-seeing in downtown Nashville.

In the evenings, if they weren’t exhausted, the girls could also spend time swimming in the hotel pool.

Along with, or as part of, all these activities, the girls earned or were eligible to earn a number of different badges, including:

• Out of State Travel

• Country Line Dancing

• Ziplining

• Visiting a historical President’s Site (for Andrew Jackson’s home), and

• Playing the Past (for visiting the Belle Meade Plantation

While the experiences that will be offered to the Girl Scouts of Washington County won’t end once they consolidate with the Girl Scouts of Clinton County, this trip was an excellent example of how one person’s generosity can have a huge effect on young people, even years after they are gone.