By default, your troop can only meet at your designated meeting space on your designated meeting date and time. Everything else is considered Traveling. And for your troop to have its best adventures, you need to be able to get out into the world.
Progression
Girl Scouts as an organization is all about promoting Girl-Led experiences to build the leaders of tomorrow. To do that, the girls will steadily increase their involvement and control over the direction of the troop and its activities as they get older.
Travel Progression
Traveling follows a similar progression. We can't just jump right into taking a Daisy troop out for a week-long backpacking trip through Europe. As the girls get older, they'll work their way from simple field trips away from their meeting space to longer and more complex activities that are further away. While the girls are building up their experience, the adults need to build up their training. The following chart shows what types of activities are a good fit at specific levels and under each column it shows which leader trainings are required for the troop to participate in those activities.
Use the Activities/Events Search tool to find the training you need!
Note: Inside & Out Part 1 was formerly known as "Day Trips" and Inside & Out Part 2 was formerly known as "Indoor Overnights" and the adults who took those trainings in the past are automatically granted credit for the applicable Inside & Out classes.
Are we ready to go?
To actually leave your meeting space and head out for adventure, you'll need to do the following:
- GEM Interview - One or more leaders need to meet with the Girl Experience Mentor (GEM) on the Service Team to complete the travel pre-qualification discussion. This expires annually and will need to be redone as the next Girl Scout year starts. Do this at least a few weeks before your trip/activity.
- First Aid/CPR/AED - One or more adults participating in the activity need to have a current First Aid/CPR/AED card. If your first aid person cannot attend, then your troop cannot attend. Best to have more than one of these in your troop. This is required AT your meetings, too.
- Notify Council - For any high risk activities and/or overnight travel up to 2 nights long and within 200 miles of our council's borders, you just need to tell council that you're going by filling out the Regional Troop Travel Notification (Form #119) at least 2 weeks prior to your trip.
- Trained Participants - The adults who have the required training for the activity have to actually GO ON THE ACTIVITY. Doesn't do you any good to go camping and leave your Outdoor Skills qualified adult at home. It is a very good idea to have more than one adult trained so that sudden illness or emergencies don't cause a trip cancellation.
- Safety Ratios - Do you have the right number of trained adults for the number of girls at the activity? Use the chart below if you need a quick reference. Keep in mind that if you have a multi-level group of girls, the entire group is counted as matching the lowest grade from the group.
What's next?
- Take pictures! - It's always good to make memories, but if you capture them in photos, you can send them in to council for their #TroopTuesday shout outs and inspire other troops to plan similar adventures. More details about #TroopTuesday can be found over on the GSOSW Goodies page here.
- Plan your next adventure! - GSOSW has several beautiful properties that meet a variety of needs. Check out the guide here.