Local Girl Scouts Kick Off Year With Bowling Outing

Many girl scouts from West Nyack and Nanuet kicked off their fall seasons with a trip to New City Bowl Thursday evening.

Theresa Smith, leader of the seventh grade girls and troop coordinator for Troop 40020, set up a night of bowling, prizes and charity that 12 girls came out to enjoy.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Emily Israel, 11, of West Nyack. “I liked the wacky bowls.”

Every few frames, Smith would announce the highest score in each of the three games going on for that frame would win a prize, but they had to do something a bit different while bowling. One time it was turn around and bowl backwards through your legs, another time you had to have someone spin you around a few times before bowling. Two that the bowlers seemed to especially enjoy were bowling it through a parter’s legs, who would stand facing the bowler in front of the lane, and sitting down and kicking the ball toward the pins. Bumpers helped ensure that even the wackier of bowls still knocked down at least a pin or two.

The girls who attended were in various troops in West Nyack, and ranged from girls heading into first grade to ones about to begin seventh.

“It’s really cool to see them all get along with one another,” Smith said.

The prizes included toy cars, gift certificates to local businesses, a Nerf gun and more. The prizes were all either donated by the business or purchased by Smith, she said. Each girl who showed up to the event also got a goody bag filled with some little trinkets and a participation badge.

“It’s all about the patches,” Smith said.

The girls were asked to bring in school supplies that Smith was collecting to send to kids in the midwest that were affected by the recent devastating tornadoes.

“[Being a girl scout] is really fun, and it lets you do get involved with the community,” said Helen Smith, 12, of West Nyack, and Theresa Smith’s daughter.

Helen Smith has been in girl scouts since kindergarten, and said her troops have been involved with a variety of community events, like collecting food for People2People and cleaning up Smith Street in Nanuet.

Israel has also been involved with girl scouts since kindergarten and said her favorite part is when they get to go out and do fun things, like the bowling activity. Her favorite activity every year is the ice skating in January, which takes place at the Palisades Mall. That’s also Helen Smith’s favorite activity each year. Her mother is the one who organizes that, as well.

Theresa Smith said that outing usually gets about 100 girls and is the most popular event during the year. She said she was thinking she might get around 50 for the bowling event, but added that possibly because it’s summer and people are away combined with the recent hurricane might’ve lowered the number of participants by a few. Still, she said the event was a success.

“The girls had a fun time, and that’s all that counts,” Theresa Smith said. “The girls got to do something they might not usually do.”