Published Sunday, September 29, 2002
and education
Herald Staff Writer
Tami Linamen plays the role of mother, leader and friend to 20 young girls every Tuesday night.
Mrs. Linamen is a volunteer leader for Girl Scouts of America. Her Troop 759 is for girls in Farrell and meets every Tuesday night in Stey-Nevant Public Library.
"It's great to watch the girls, especially when they are struggling with something and then to watch them when they finally get it," she said. "The most important thing they can learn is that they can do anything they want to do. If they set their sights and work hard, nothing can stand in their way. Not race, not environment, not financial background."
Mrs. Linamen is a stay-at-home mom with four children of her own: Hannah, age 11, Emma, age 9, and twins Molly and Isaac, who are 4. In addition to them, she also provides in-home care for other children. She started getting involved with Girl Scouting when her oldest, Hannah, wanted to join.
The next year, she began volunteering. She said prospective leaders must go through an extensive application process before they can lead a troop of young girls. She had to submit a written application and three references. The Girl Scouts of America organization interviewed her references extensively, she said.
In four years, she has volunteered as a leader, a troop organizer and a camp volunteer, according to Jean Sankey, a Girl Scouts service delivery specialist for Mercer County. Mrs. Linamen has led her girls in outdoor programming, such as a trip to the Shenango Dam, and in several other activities, including "Girl Scouts Love New York," a program that thanked firefighters for their public service.
This year, Troop 759 will take part in a special program that Mrs. Linamen organized. The girls, who are in fourth through sixth grades, will be reading to preschoolers.
But they will be doing much more. They recently graduated from the Brownies to the Juniors level of Girl Scouting, and like all scouts, they will work toward patches. Patches are symbols of acheivement in Girl Scouting. They are triangular shapes with designs specific to activities on them.
Brownies usually complete 10 to 12 patches a year, Mrs. Linamen said. Juniors' patches should be a little more involved, and she only plans for them to complete six or seven.
"This year, the girls voted on some of the patches they want to earn. They chose Star Search, Swimming, Girl Scouts in the U.S.A., Aerospace and Miss President. I would love for one of these girls to become the first woman president."
Different patches call for different activities. For example, to complete the Miss President badge, the girls will study important women in American history. For Star Search, the first patch they'll earn, the girls learned about the moon and stars and built their own model replicas of the moon.
Aside from Girl Scouting, Mrs. Linamen supervises the youth ministry at Payne's Corners Christian Church in Brookfield, where her husband is the pastor.
Nearly 4 million girls and adults are involved in Girl Scouting, Mrs. Sankey said. Girls can join at any time during the year. Local troops are part of the Penn Lakes Council, which serves girls in Crawford, Erie, Forest and Mercer counties and Warren and Brookfield, Ohio.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at ateutsch@sharonherald.com