A Waterloo Girl Scout recently took the reins of this year’s summer day camp, capping off her Gold Award and paving the way for other local scouts to step up as leaders.

Now 16 years old, Norah Kettler started with Girl Scouts when she was just 5. She spoke about both her time in scouts and the recent day camp alongside her mother Cara.

Speaking on her overall scouting experience, Norah noted how Waterloo’s Troop 576 has grown and shrank over the years, but she’s been able to get to know plenty of people in that time.

When it comes to her fondest memories in Girl Scouts, Norah didn’t offer any particularly major activities but instead focused on the simple pleasure of spending time with her friends.

“We’ve gone on a lot of camping trips out at Camp Ondessonk, Camp Butterfly,” Norah said. “It’s really nice all sitting together, getting to talk to each other. Our lives all get really busy, and it’s really fun to just sit down, sit with each other and just talk.”

It was largely Cara who highlighted the action that can come with being in Girl Scouts, emphasizing how nice it can be to experience canoeing and other activities with Norah and her younger sister, who’s also a scout.

“They’ve done so many outdoor things, learning things that I think a lot of girls don’t get the opportunity to do,” Cara said. “As far as being a mom, a lot of things that I would have never thought to do with my kids, just getting out and experiencing different opportunities.”

Naturally, summer camp has been a major part of Norah’s Girl Scout experience over the years – though the Kettlers explained that camp has changed considerably in recent years.

Cara credited Mary Anne Hopper, April Zilafro and Troop 576 Leader Teresa Bushong with running the Service Unit 211 Day Camp for several years at Camp Vandeventer.

When that camp came under new ownership and was thus unavailable for the scout camps it had previously hosted, Kendra Kennedy, Tiffany Davis, Ivy Davis and Cara stepped up to begin planning the day camp.

Konarcik Park has served as the camp’s venue for the past three years now, and Cara had plenty of kind things to say about the Waterloo Park District and the district’s superintendent Don Prater.

“The park was wonderful to us,” Cara said. “Our park district is pretty amazing. Don Prater is just, I can’t speak highly enough about him and all of the help that he gave us and the camp, how much he looks out for us. He and his crew have taken really good care of us out there.”

As the Kettlers described, the camp – which is open to all Girl Scouts in the council – tries to focus on a different badge each year, with girls also generally pushed toward unplugging and getting outside.

“We just really try to get girls in the outdoors,” Norah said. “They do a craft every day, and we try to encourage them to go hiking and creek walking. Just trying to get the younger kids to realize that there’s the outdoors.”

This year’s camp was unique given its theme. The past two years were centered around Disney and space, respectively, and this year had a general theme of animals, with a different focus each day.

Camp this year was especially unique as the aforementioned camp planning team took a step back in order to allow Norah to take on a leadership position, planning a substantial majority of the week albeit with some help here and there.

Through the week of this year’s camp, a different kind of animal was recognized each day, with Mammal Monday featuring a visit from Rainbow Ranch Mobile Petting Zoo based in Nashville and Fishy Tuesday involving Girl Scout Dad Steve Bushong and friend Mike Proffitt teaching girls how to cast a line – though older girls also got to meet Jujube, an emotional support dog from the O’Fallon Police Department.

Bird Wednesday involved a presentation from the Treehouse Wildlife Center. 

Reptile Thursday had a variety of reptiles brought in from Tye Dyed Iguana in O’Fallon – older girls also met Waterloo Police K9 Tobi. 

Bug Out Friday saw Pamela Laidley of The Picky Bee from Red Bud teaching about beekeeping. A volunteer from Helping Strays also paid a visit on Friday, joined by a collection of puppies.

Both Norah and Cara were quite pleased as they recounted the week – they also noted a visit from Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois CEO Loretta Graham – with Norah expressing particular satisfaction in being able to lead the planning and give the usual organizers a break this year.

“I feel like the main thing that I got back from it was the four adults that have been working on this for so long now, the amount of work and dedication they have for this, it was nice to give them a break from the amount of work that it is and put it on a girl that’s going to be there anyway,” Norah said. “It was nice to see them have a year off.”

While she was pleased to help with the camp, a major reason for Norah to step up as she did was so she could complete the service project aspect of her Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouts.

The award requires over 80 hours of service on top of many other badge and additional requirements. 

Norah said she’s largely finished working toward the achievement, with mainly paperwork and an interview with folks from the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Council remaining.

Cara had great things to say about Girl Scouts as an organization as well as the amount of growth she’s seen her daughter undergo thanks to her involvement over the years.

“When she joined Girl Scouts, my goal for her was to meet new friends and try new things, step outside of her comfort zone,” Cara said. “And, oh my goodness, has she ever done all of that.”

She further spoke about the amount of effort that goes into organizing the camp, praising Norah for managing all the planning while also balancing her school work and many extracurriculars.

“It’s one of the most exhausting, most rewarding weeks of my year,” Cara said. “It’s so great to see everything that the kids learn and the friendships that they make, all the fun stuff that can only happen at camp.”

Norah also spoke positively about her experience organizing the camp, noting she’s keen to help out as a number of other girls in her troop have expressed an interest in planning future day camp weeks.

“There’s another girl who’s in my troop who is wanting to also help next year, and it is my full intention to help her through every single step,” Norah said. “It was hard to have the motivation to do everything, and I want to be there to help one of my great friends do something so awesome as well.”