Three local girls to become Rangers in Guiding

Next Monday, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Pathfinders will celebrate our collective achievements and experiences over the past year, and in particular, those of our three members who will be advancing to Rangers (the oldest youth branch of Girl Guides) in September.  

Tannin Driedger-Bradshaw, Samantha Fretz, and Annika Janzen have been members of Guiding in NOTL for many years, joining in Sparks for Tannin, and in Brownies for Sam and Annika. They have journeyed together through the Guiding program in Niagara, attending camping trips, learning new skills such as woodworking, coding, canoeing and rock climbing, and have helped to mentor younger Guiding members.

A large part of the Pathfinder program includes the option to work toward the Canada Cord, the highest award a youth member may earn in Pathfinders. In order to achieve the award, Pathfinders must complete all eight program areas, learn and demonstrate leadership through camping and leadership events, earn a community service award (totalling 15 hours of service in three areas), and complete bridging activities with both older and younger branches of Guiding. In addition, they must complete first aid training, and earn their Citizenship Certificate.    

Not only have Annika, Sam and Tannin completed these mandatory parts of the Canada Cord, they have also fully completed the Pathfinder program, earning all 32 badges and three awards, as well as numerous optional challenges. Extraordinarily, they have accomplished this feat while living through 17 months of a pandemic, and balancing virtual schooling and Pathfinder meetings. We could not be prouder of their achievements, and it has been a true pleasure watching them grow into confident, capable and contributing members of our NOTL community.  We can’t wait to see what they achieve next!

As Sam, Annika and Tannin advance, we look forward to reopening our NOTL Ranger unit next year, where we will be offering our oldest youth members the opportunity to participate in fun activities or to challenge themselves by working on the Trailblazer and Duke of Edinburgh Awards. If you are interested in Guiding in Niagara-on-the-Lake,
please visit www.girlguides.ca/joinus for more information. We have units for youth aged five to 17, and we welcome women aged 18-plus as volunteers.  Congratulations to all of our current youth members, and we hope to see you in
September!