Local Assistant Principal Shares Girl Scout Experience with Her Students
August 29, 2022
As Amanda Thompson listened to her fifth-grade teacher describe all the fun and exciting activities of Girl Scouting, she knew she wanted to be a Girl Scout. Amanda had never met a Black Girl Scout in her Conroe community, but that didn’t stop the 11-year-old girl from joining the largest girl-led organization in the world.
Today, the 33-year-old assistant principal says she has no regrets. She learned so many essential life skills during her Girl Scout experience. Plus, she developed character, courage, and confidence - the three Cs of Gril Scouting.
Amanda enjoys sharing her Girl Scout journey with her elementary school students in northwest Harris County. Her message to them: Don’t be afraid to be different. Be the change agent.
“Girl Scouts truly didn’t see color,” Amanda says. “You’re a girl, and you're powerful. That’s what meant the most to me."
Amanda says Girl Scouts opened many opportunities to explore things outside her norm. She hiked 10-miles for the first time carrying a heavy backpack through the hills of Bastrop, an experience she describes as exciting and rigorous. She also mastered the 5 skills – goal setting, decision-making, people skills, business ethics, and money management - becoming a top cookie seller.
The pinnacle of her Girl Scout experience was earning the Gold Award - the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Girls who earn the award plan and complete a project to address a community issue. Amanda focused on improving the adoption rates of older children in foster care. She made people aware that adoption rates of older children are much lower than rates of younger children by setting up an information booth at a community event.
Amanda says the leadership skills she learned in Girl Scouts helped her in college and her career. She became a fifth-grade teacher in 2012 and an assistant principal in 2019. The perseverance and courage she gained from Girl Scouts also helped her survive cancer, says Amanda, who worked while receiving chemotherapy treatments.
Her students are often surprised when she tells them she used to be a Girl Scout. She likes to show them a 2007 issue of the Golden Link magazine. A picture of Amanda and her troop - Troop 8914 – is on the cover. Amanda hopes to inspire her students to be true to themselves and follow their dreams. She also wants the girls to know she will support them on their Girl Scout journey.
“I want them to know that no matter what life throws at you, always know you have the endurance and a sister for life. You can do more than what you see and think," Amanda says.
Amanda earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Prairie View University and a master’s degree in differentiated instruction from Concordia University. She is married with two young children.
