Editor’s Note: This letter is part of the Girl Scout’s campaign focusing on girls sharing how their participation in Girl Scouting has helped them to pursue and accomplish goals despite fear of failure or other obstacles.

Girl Scouts teaches many principles that help girls develop courage, confidence and character.
In my twelve years as a scout I have discovered the courage to make a change in my community, learned how my confidence can calm my shaky nerves before a speech, and how I can use my character to set a positive example for younger girls. These principles that I have learned in Girl Scouts are the foundation of who I am today.
Perseverance is another thing I learned in Girl Scouts. Perseverance is to try when it seems like a road you are headed down is a dead end, or something is too difficult to accomplish.
For example, this past spring I had an opportunity to run for an officer position in the National Honor Society at my high school. National Honor Society is an academic and service group for upper-classmen.
Every year there are five new seniors elected to be officers of the group, and I knew that I wanted to run. I immediately put my name in and started to work on my presentation.
However, while I was putting together my presentation I found out that someone else was running for the same position. I had a gut feeling that if I had to run against that person, I would lose just because of who they were.
I had worked tirelessly on my presentation, and finding out who my competition was seemed to make all my hard work worthless.
For a moment I wanted to give up because I was unsure in my abilities. Then I realized I put in hours of work. I had confidence in my presentation, and the character to hope that this will go my way, so why should I not run for the position I’d wanted for so long?
I ran for my position, and won it!
Without the courage that I had learned in Girl Scouts I wouldn’t have been able persevere.
Without the skills I learned in Girl Scouts I wouldn’t have run for that position, and missed out on an opportunity due to fear.
Without Girl Scouts I would not have such strong perseverance and be the person I am today; a young adult that has confidence in her abilities, courage to try, and character to hope and persevere to accomplish anything I set my mind to.
Nora Teagan
Ambassador Girl Scout
Lake Orion, MI