Melissa Rhone’s daughter Lily, a 1st-grader at Green Acres Elementary School, recently began talking about joining Girl Scouts, so Rhone began exploring options for her in North Haven. When Rhone couldn’t find a troop for her age group—a daisy troop—she decided to start her own.

“She was really interested and I decided I’d give it a try,” said Rhone, who asked her friend Meagan King to be a co-leader. “She and I have been friends for a long time. She is a pre-school teacher so it was a no-brainer to ask if she wanted to do the troop with me.”

In order to start a troop, Rhone and King had to do an orientation to learn about Girl Scouts and learn how to run the troop. They both completed and passed the orientation and then registered their troop and began planning.

Girl Scouts is divided into levels for different ages. Daisies is for girls in kindergarten and 1st grade. They then move on to brownies (grades 2 to 3), juniors (grades 4 to 5), cadettes (grades 6 to 8), seniors (grades 9 to 10), and ambassadors (grades 11 to 12). From daisies to juniors, girl scouts work to earn badges and participate in activities such as campouts and cookie sales. At the higher levels, there are opportunities to explore STEAM areas and participate in community projects.

“There are many members of the North Haven Girl Scout Council that we were able to reach out to and meet with to help us prepare to start our troop and hold our first meeting,” said Rhone. “Our first meeting [held in mid-January] went great.”

Growing up, Rhone participated in Girl Scouts as a daisy and a brownie, while King was also a girl scout for a few years growing up. Both are looking forward to sharing that experience with their troop.

“I remember enjoying being able to hang out with my friends and also do fun activities,” said Rhone. “We are looking forward to our meetings and hope to grow our troop.”

Currently there are five girls in the Daisy troop. Meetings are held on three Thursdays each month from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Corinthian Masonic Lodge. Those interested in joining can do so through the “Join” page on the Girl Scouts of Connecticut website www.gsofct.org.

During the meetings, the girls help the troop leaders decide what kind of activities and patches the troop will be working towards. As daisies, they are taught the different parts of being a girl scout and earning their petals of their daisy flower.

“If the girls decide to sign up for Daisies, they can expect a fun community of girls their same age working together to learn the Girl Scout way,” said Rhone. “Our goal is to get together and learn about Girl Scouts, make friendships, support our community, and have fun.”