Girl Scout Troop 65753 went to Puerto Rico in August of 2023, after years of raising money and tons of hard work. While the girls in the troop were planning on going on a big trip for a few years, it was in March 2022 that they decided to take a trip to Puerto Rico after considering other options such as New York, the Grand Canyon, and the Florida Everglades.
Although New York was a close second choice, the girls learned that they could go to the beach and do other fun activities while also getting some free time at the beach, which sounded better to some than a non-stop tour of New York City.
Cadette and 7th grade student Braylie Hablewitz said, “I originally voted for Puerto Rico because I felt it would be more interesting than the other options. I do not regret my choice because even though the heat made it a little less enjoyable, we still all had the best time.”
After finding out they were going to Puerto Rico, the leaders helped the Girl Scouts plan ways to raise the money they needed – which was $52,000! They started with four years of proceeds from selling Girl Scout cookies from 2020-2023 and also ran various fundraisers, including a one-week day camp for younger Girl Scouts in June 2023.
“We have known for a couple of years that we wanted to run a day camp because so many of our Girl Scouts really enjoy going to day camps, and they wanted to give that opportunity to younger girls since now that they were older,” explains troop leader and camp director Ashlea Beers. The troop raised over $6,000 from just that one day camp! They also did a yard sale at Century Middle School and raised just over $1,000, and held multiple badge-earning workshops for younger Girl Scouts.
The trip to Puerto Rico began August 2nd with an early morning flight out of Denver International Airport. When they first arrived, the travelers were overwhelmed with the extreme heat and 90% humidity. The adults constantly reminded everyone to drink a lot of water so no one got sick.
“The hardest thing for me in Puerto Rico was the heat because no one was really prepared for how hot it was going to be,” says troop leader Ashley Hablewitz. “So we had to make sure everyone had enough water and sunscreen and that they were doing what they needed to do so that they didn’t get sick.”
While the troop did a variety of activities, some of the most memorable things they did were, tour EL Yunque (the only tropical rainforest on U.S. soil), going to the beach, and kayaking in a bioluminescent bay in the dark. The trip had activities packed in each day, so the troop had to wake up at around 6am almost every day. Despite the heat and the exhaustion from the many activities, many Girl Scouts were sad to go home, and hoped the fun would never end. At the same time they were happy to go home because they missed their families. As 7th grade Cadette Jovi Lara says, “I was very sad to leave, but I couldn’t wait to finally be cold again!”
Troop 65753 has over 20 seventh and eighth grade girls, and more than half are students at Century Middle School. The troop is led by Century core plus teacher Ms. Ashlea Beers along with 6th grade science teacher Eliza Namazi and paraprofessional Ashley Hablewitz.
