FORT SMITH — Girl Scouting has always been about making new friends and keeping the old. Mount Magazine Council’s Hispanic Girl Scout Group takes that concept one step further, combining the new experiences they have in America with the traditions of their native culture.
Leader Malis Dahlem, a native of Mexico who teaches Spanish at Immaculate Conception School in Fort Smith, switches back and forth easily from Spanish to English when she works with the Scouts and their families.
“Most of the girls know English from school and prefer that I speak English, but their families often speak Spanish at home. One of my biggest jobs is translating English council materials into Spanish for parents.”
“We keep our cultural traditions in the group and share them with others,” she said. “We have held a big Mexican dinner for the other troops at Kelley Cabin and performed Mexican dances while everyone ate. But we have also introduced the girls and their families to parts of American culture they’d never experienced before. As families, we saw ’The Nutcracker’ ballet together and vacationed in Branson, Mo.”
Group 104, which is actually composed of five different troops, Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadet and Senior, started two years ago with the help of veteran Girl Scout leader Diane Aldrich, a kindergarten teacher at Immaculate Conception School.
“I had heard about Girl Scouts when I was growing up in Mexico, but had never had the chance to become one,” Dahlem said. “My 8-year-old daughter Donna was in Diane Aldrich’s troop at Immaculate Conception School, and I decided to form a Hispanic Girl Scout troop to encourage other Hispanic girls to participate.”
Dahlem started recruiting girls and families following the 2 p.m. Sunday Spanish Mass at Immaculate Conception Church. The group held its first initiation ceremony at the church in 2004, and currently all of the 30 members belong to the parish.
They meet every other Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at the Mount Magazine Council’s headquarters, Kelley Cabin. Recruiting takes place primarily through word of mouth.
It is the first all-Hispanic group in the Mount Magazine Council. Other councils are based in North Little Rock, Jonesboro, Texarkana and Fayetteville.
Meetings begin with Dahlem, 30 Girl Scouts of all ages and their mothers gathering in a circle to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law. Then Dahlem leads them in an icebreaker activity.
At a recent meeting, Dahlem passed around big, medium and small pumpkins, stencils and different safe carving utensils, and the girls gathered in small groups to scoop out the seeds and carve pumpkins. Because the girls range in age from Daisy (kindergarten) through Senior (high school,) most troop activities are conducted in small groups with help from several assistant leaders.
Assisting Dahlem with the Girl Scout group are her husband, Donnie Dahlem, Lupe Mart’nez, Rosy Trejo, Esmeralda Espinos, Lucky Soto and Margarito Zamudio.
When the girls talk about scouting, they almost always mention a favorite activity. Cadet Alandra Romero, 13, a student at Chaffin Junior High School, said, “We do lots of camping at Kelley Cabin and Camp Cahinnio. I love to camp and help the younger troops.”
Brownie Erica Cervantes, 8, a student at Euper Lane School, said, “I like camping in tents, hiking and cooking s’mores over the fire.”
The troop also participates in council-wide events, such as Juliette Low’s Birthday Party, which honors the Girl Scouts’ founder, and day trips where they do fun activities such as roller-skating.
“Malis’ group has been a big asset to the council,” Marian Conrad, director of community development for Mount Magazine Council, said. “When Group 104 participates in Thinking Day (a friendship day for Girl Scouts worldwide), which involves studying different cultures, the other troops know that they have firsthand experience of their Hispanic culture and are sharing authentic food, crafts, dance and folklore with them.
Although the group is open to girls from other parishes, faiths and ethnicities, currently all its members attend Immaculate Conception Church, and, following the meeting, everyone usually attends Mass.
“We would like to work on our Catholic Badge (or ’Divisa’) this year,” Dahlem said.
The Girl Scout motto is “Preparate” or “Be Prepared.” Mount Magazine Council’s Group 104 is helping girls from kindergarten through high school prepare to become young American women who value faith and tradition and strive to maintain the best of both cultures in which they were raised.
