Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois Air Rifle

[RememberSchiff 3671]

Feb 28, 2023:

A very interesting letter to the Civilian Marksmanship Program from a archery and firearms instructor regarding building a firearms program with local GSUSA Council.

"...I have six girls that have stuck with it, and I have many more wanting to join. We have tryouts in April where we will try to grow the team to 12 girls. We have funded this by each girl paying $5.00 (now $10.00) each practice to cover the cost of ammo and targets. Council did invest to purchase 12 Daisy 599 rifles, and the girls parents purchase them directly from us, at cost, to be on the team.

We’ve also built an indoor range at one of our camps and hold practice there (it was an old dining hall), and we did receive four air rifles donated by the CMP to help us with a junior team.

I have lofty goals. In my time, I have taught archery for many years. Two of the girls that I introduced to archery have actually competed in the Olympics. I was not their coach, I just introduced them because they were friends of my daughters and fell in love with archery. One was an alternate and the other won a bronze medal, many years ago now.

I would love to see one of the girls from a Girl Scout team compete in the Olympics before I die, which I’m not planning on for a while yet...

...When I visited Camp Perry, I walked down what I would call a Hall of Honor. I saw the Boy Scouts of America awards cabinets. I also knew, at that time, there was no active team, and it was just an honor given to the Boy Scouts. I was saddened to know there were no Girl Scout awards cabinets. Someday, I hope there can be a Girl Scout display case."

More at source:

https://thecmp.org/girl-scouts-of-northern-illinois-air-rifle-team/