While more than 50 million American women have been Girl Scouts at some point in their life, worldwide fewer than one million adult women are involved with the organization.

Freshman Jeanne Knauf is one of those women.

Knauf’s involvement with the organization began when she was in first grade, when her mother decided to help lead her school’s brownie troop.

From that time on, Knauf has been able to explore a number of opportunities and possibilities through the organization ranging from science research to downhill skiing. As president of UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Girl Scouts, Knauf is continuing her involvement as a volunteer for local Girl Scout troops.

Science through Scouts
As part of one Girl Scout activity, Knauf visited a research laboratory at UW-Madison, where she was able to stain fruit flies, examine the insects under a microscope and ultimately dissect them.

“We got to turn them inside out and look at all the organs,” she said. “It was really cool.”

On another trip to UW-Madison, Knauf’s troop visited a computer lab, where she was able to get an introduction to binary code, a computer language consisting of ones and zeros.

Science outside of a lab setting also was explored. Knauf also helped to replant grassland with Girl Scouts.

“We each got a little bag of seed and we got to throw it around, and run around in the really tall grass,” she said.

Knauf continues her love of science today as a pre-med biology major.

Discovering career opportunities
Part of the badge process for older scouts, Knauf’s mother, Francie said, is learning about different career opportunities.

During her time as a Girl Scout troop leader, Francie helped find mentors in different fields that girls could job shadow.

While some girls found mentors in fields like journalism or politics, Knauf had the opportunity to shadow a family practitioner and learn more about medicine.

“I got to go and do rounds with her,” she said.

As part of her scouting experience, Knauf was also involved with a co-ed troop of Boy Scout Explorers, which is a group that focuses on learning about different career options, she said.

With Explorers, Knauf worked with a group that learned about outdoor medicine. The group met at a Madison hospital, and was able to learn from a number of doctors.

“We met with one doctor who (had gone to) a different country and was telling us about this disease with a parasite that’s a worm that gets in your eye, and you can watch it swimming around,” she said with a giggle.

The group also toured hospital labs, and got to see various human body parts in a way many people never do. For example, Knauf was able to look through a large container of human kidney stones and touch a human brain.

Knauf said also learned how she could combine her love of medicine with her love of the outdoors by working as a National Ski Patroller.

Ski for free
Knauf said she has been hitting the slopes since she was 4 years old, and continues to enjoy the sport today – she has even found a place in her tiny dorm room to store her equipment.

When Knauf learned she could both ski and learn more about medicine, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I found out that as long as you’re 16 by the time ski season comes, you can take outdoor emergency care classes and become a patroller,” she said.

Knauf went through a series of classes and learned hands on techniques such as the ski patroller style of skiing and how to move a patient safely down a ski hill in a toboggan, which is much harder than one might think, Knauf said.

Knauf continues to work as a ski patroller at small ski club in Madison, where she gets to ski for free while heling other skiers.

Sticking with Scouts
As an incoming freshman, Knauf spent a long time looking over all of the extra-curricular activities Eau Claire had to offer. As she filled out a form indicating which organizations she’d like to learn more about, she placed the appropriate mark next to Campus Girl Scouts.

Scheduling conflicts occurred with other extracurriculars, but Campus Girl Scouts was the activity that stuck for Knauf.

At the first meeting of the group, Knauf was one of only four interested women; she was one of three freshmen in attendance.

At the first meeting the four students chose executive positions. One asked to be secretary. Another asked to be the treasurer. A third asked to be vice-president. Not having spoken up yet, Knauf found herself in the leadership role of president.

Campus Girl Scouts do not participate in many of the activities younger scouts do, such as wearing uniforms or working for badges.

Rather, Campus Girl Scouts work with local Girl Scout councils, such as the Girl Scouts of Indian Waters Council Inc. in Eau Claire, to help lead troops or help organize different activities.

Campus Girl Scouts help fill a role of being a mentor and role model to younger girls, Knauf said.

Finding time for Scouts is more difficult at the collegiate level, she said.

“With Girl Scouts here, it’s a lot harder to get people going because there are a lot of stresses and a lot of classes and other scheduling issues,” she said.

Knauf said she would like to see more people join the organization. Students do not need to be current Girl Scouts to apply. All they need is an interest in the group, she said.

Lessons learned
While Knauf now has the opportunity to be a role model to younger Girl Scouts, she looks back and sees many ways that being involved with the organization has helped her learn and grow throughout her life.

“(Involvement with Girl Scouts is) a chance to develop self confidence and learn new things,” Francie said. “It’s a chance to (take risks) in a positive way.”

Knauf stepped out of her comfort zone as a child by participating in Girl Scouts’ annual cookie sale.

“There’s always the (feeling of) not wanting to go out and go door to door,” she said.

But she got over it, and made the sales. However, she now gets to sit back and snack on the famous treats, especially Thin Mints, a personal favorite.

Knauf said her experience as a scout transcended many of the stereotypes that some people hold about Girl Scouts.

“Most people see it as you going and doing crafts and girly stuff,” she said. “But with our troop, we went out into the community. We went out and camped. We did a lot of activities outside of sitting in the basement of some school gluing things onto little boxes.”