Hello, my name is Bailey Meeves and I would love to be considered for this scholarship. I have an older brother and two dogs, but I spend most of my time at school, or at the dance studio. I have been a competitive dancer at Fairfield Dance Center for twelve years now and am also the highest ranked officer on the varsity drill team at my high school. In the past, I have also participated in my school sports teams, including volleyball, basketball, track, and softball, as well as being a member in student council, Mu Alpha Theta, and National Honor Society. As you can see, I like to stay pretty active and involved with my community. In my free time, I volunteer at food drives, babysit, and go to girl scout events. Yes, I am also a Girl Scout in the San Jacinto council.
As a member of troop 109004, I have learned so many great leadership skills and teaching techniques that have helped me throughout my high school journey and will continue to help me as I get older. Working with others can be difficult sometimes, but I have learned how to work with people and how to be efficient. I have earned my Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards as well as held multiple leadership roles in my troop and have participated in National Girl Scout meetings. Aside from learning social skills, I have worked with others to build basketball courts for my community, picnic benches and tables for our local pet shelter, organized a book drive, food drive, and toiletry drive for those in need, and have always been there to volunteer whenever anyone needs help. Throughout these service projects, I have been a volunteer that just does what I'm told, but have also been the organizer and main leader of some events. I had over one hundred volunteer hours just this past year, and hope to continue serving my community to make that number even higher.
Even as a leader on my dance team and other organizations I am in, I have found that knowing how to work with others efficiently is the biggest challenge. Everybody brings their own ideas to the table and you have to be open-minded and grateful for their help. Sometimes you do have to take charge to get things done, but being that person people can go to to ask for help is very important. I work with a lot of kids my age and adults, which can make it a little more challenging, but I have learned how to handle myself and how to respect others while still making my voice heard in order to help the community in the best way possible.
I do live an extremely busy life, but I do what I love. I plan on going to Texas Tech to get a bachelors degree in nursing, so I can continue to help those around me. I love working with others, especially kids, which is why I'm striving to be a pediatric nurse. Helping my community and the people I love has always been a big part of my life and having a profession in the medical field will allow me to do that. I have always been the friend people consider the "mom" of the group because I am always prepared, and they all feel comfortable coming up to me and talking about whatever is on their mind. I have close relationships with the people I love and would do anything to help those around me.
I became a Girl Scout when I was five years old, not only for the experience but as an additional source of social interactions, I am now currently one year away from obtaining adult status. I will admit, in the beginning it was so overwhelming. I look back now at those tiny five year old's, so scared and nervous, and just want to tell them that it does get easier! Our first meeting was so quiet, only the moms and the troop leaders were talking. Five little girls in blue smocks just looking at one another, not knowing what to say or where to even start.
Throughout my 13 years as a Troop #10879 Girl Scout in the San Jacinto Council, I have earned my bronze and silver awards and have been a Cookie CEO on many occasions I have helped my troop to coordinate badge workshops for younger girls as well as mentoring to new girls that may struggle to find a place to fit in. We did our bronze award as a troop, by hosting an all-day workshop for our younger sister troops. “Girl Scouts have S’more fun” was our first large scale workshop, we had several weekend camp planning sessions and prepared all the stations ourselves. It was a completely girl lead workshop with parents only helping where adult certifications were required. We were able to highlight basic first aid, archery, campfire cooking and safety, craft stations and canoeing.
My Silver Award was challenging in a different way than the bronze award, generating the idea and how to execute it all alone was a real growing experience for me. My grandparents live in very small coastal community near the Lake Jackson Campus. I have spent many summers on the San Bernard River, fishing in local tournaments and been part of the family cook off team. When it came time to focus on the community impact of my silver award project, I knew exactly who I wanted to highlight. River’s End Volunteer Fire Department has two stations and are the hosts of the annual fishing tournaments and BBQ cookoff. My goal was to build a recycling station to keep at the fire department not just for neighborhood use but also during community events. I was able to source of the materials through recycling used pallets and with the help of my parents and grandparents we were able to build a sustainable recycling bin to display at the fire station, we added wheels so the Chief Al can roll it inside the station during storms.
I enjoy being a Girl Scout because it allows me to work with younger girls and to help empower them to be their very best. As my time as Girl Scout comes to an end in the next few months, I have been looking back at all our adventures together. We have camped, traveled, mentored, trained, sold cookies, and fall products and made lifelong connections. We are all eighteen now and are the same girls in some ways that we were at five, we are just looking at the next steps in life and our education. I do not think I can fully articulate or express what this journey has meant to me but I will leave you with this; I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.
