Name: Katelyn
Role/Position in Scouts: Venturer; NSW Scout of the Year 2020
How did you get involved in Scouting?
My sister first joined the Scouting movement, as a cub, and when she would come home after her weekly meeting, she would always come home happy and excited. I decided to give it a go, and almost instantly fell in love with the idea of Scouts. To this day, I still love going every week and participating in as many activities as possible.
What is your favourite thing about Scouting?
Other than the amazing opportunities that scouting provides us youth with, the Scouting community is incredible, and one of my favourite things about Scouting. I have met so many people whom I have gained deep connections to, and formed life-lasting friendships with. Scouts are some of my top favourite people to spend time with, and it is a bonus that I get to spend time with these people doing exciting and adventurous things.
What do kids learn from Scouts that is hard to learn elsewhere?
Kids learn to try new things and embrace new and different opportunities in Scouts, that extend past the happenings in a basic school classroom. Scouts also help kids develop leadership skills from an early age, which prepares them for their future. There are also many practical life skills that kids in Scouts learn before others, including navigation and first-aid practices.
How does Scouting uplift and empower women and girls?
Scouting in Australia isn’t specific to a particular gender. Being a female scout has never meant that I was incapable of a particular activity, or restricted from doing anything. I also know that I am accepted in my unit, and no one thinks less of me because of my gender. It makes me happy to see an increasing number of girls getting involved in Scouts, and going out of their comfort zone to try new opportunities that are offered to them.
What does the International Day of Women and girls mean to you?
International Women’s Day is a reminder to celebrate everything that makes a woman, or girl, and celebrate every individual woman’s aspirations and achievements. It celebrates every girl’s uniqueness, and encourages them to be the best person that can be. It means that we should embrace our femininity and womanhood, and not let us feel like we are restricted because of traditional stereotypes.
When deciding on her Leadership project to complete her ASM, Katelyn took into account how COVID-19 was starting to intensify globally and become a major concern. Katelyn decided to focus her project on bringing some joy to our frontline workers, the heroes of this pandemic at her local hospital. Aware of how well received scout badges are, Katelyn decided to design a badge with a COVID-19 theme to sell and raise money. The support from Scouts around the world for Katelyn’s project has been phenomenal. To date Katelyn has sold almost 800 badges and raised over $2,500 for her project.
Today is International Women’s Day, and it is only fitting that our final profile for our #IWD series is our 2020 Scout of the Year, Katelyn.
