While many Forsyth County Girl Scouts gathered at Cumming Elementary on March 10 for a 100-year celebration, a few others ventured to the birthplace of the organization.
Founder Juliette Gordon Low began the Girl Scouts from her Savannah home in 1912.
Melissa Loggins was one of several adult leaders who took members from four local troops to the coastal Georgia city for celebrations focusing on the milestone anniversary of the organization.
“I have been in Girl Scouts for 24 years, so it was important for me and many of the girls in those troops to spend the anniversary weekend where it all started,” Loggins said.
She said thousands of Girl Scouts from all over the world took part in anniversary events March 10-12.
“We met girls from as far away as California in the United States, and some from England and other countries,” Loggins said.
Girls ages 12 and older were invited to take part in a 7 a.m. walk across the Talmadge Bridge, spanning the Savannah River, on March 10.
Loggins said she and fellow leader Robin Nelson and scouts Allie and Caitlyn Nelson took part in the bridge walk.
“That was really, really cool,” she said. “It symbolized the bridging of the first century of Girl Scouts to the second.”
She said one lane of the Interstate 16 bridge was shut down for four hours while thousands of women and girls walked across.
Scouts too young to take part in the walk were invited to cross a smaller bridge, which had been temporarily set up in the city’s Forsyth Park.
Loggins said she most enjoyed a sunrise service held March 12, which she attended with high school scout Persephany Peterson.
“For me the neatest part of the whole weekend was the Monday morning sunrise service,” Loggins said. “It was broadcast all over the world, so it was just amazing to be a part of it.”
Loggins said the service included a bugle call to Taps, symbolizing the end of the first century of Girl Scouting, and an address by Ana Maria Chavez, the United States CEO of Girl Scouts.
“She encouraged all in attendance to carry the vision of founder Juliet Gordon Low forward into the future,” Loggins said.