On Jan. 12, the Rutgers University women’s gymnastics team hosted more than 180 Girl Scouts from troops across New Jersey.
”The response to this event was bigger than we ever expected,” said Karen Briegs, one of the leaders of Hillsborough Cadette Troop 60261, which organized the event.
”We wanted to help draw attention to the amazing athletics of the Rutgers gymnasts. When the team reached out to us to work together, we were thrilled to participate. It was a great way for our girls to show their skills in organization and leadership, and a fun day for the troops that participated.”
The troops helped run a raffle of a fully loaded basket of Rutgers gear, dropped their questions for a Q&A with the gymnasts, got to jump and cheer when their troop was announced over the loudspeakers, received a poster personalized and signed by all of the athletes, and earned a participation patch for vestsand sashes.
Troops traveled to the campus in Piscataway from Jersey City, Lambertville, Freehold and Frenchtown.
”Gymnastics is a great sport to teach young women that they can be strong, fit, and powerful in a sport where women excel. We are so happy to share that with Girl Scouts and to extend our passion for athletics with the community. The fact that we were able to engage so many young women from so many towns across New Jersey was great and we won the meet! The Girl Scouts cheering us on was surely a motivator for the gymnasts,” said Assistant Coach Umme Salim-Beasley.”It was inspiring to see the gymnasts who were once girl scouts,” said Brynne, one of the scouts in Troop 60261. “They’ve turned their lives into something really exciting and we look up to them because we know we can do it too!”
Cadette Girl Scouts are between the ages of 11-14 and in grades 6-8.
”We want these girls to gain confidence and skills through experiences like this, where they had to work with the public, create a promotional campaign through flyers and emails, deal with the logistics of a large event, and function as a team to make it run smoothly all while having as much fun as possible,” said troop leader Dianne Suraci.
”“”Troop leader Barbara Ferriere said it was “a true team effort.
”Brynne and Paige handled reservations,” she said. “Ashley, Iman, Lynnsey and Ava designed and made posters. Kara put together the information sheet and did photography. Ali interviewed the gymnasts. Danish and Jessica worked with the announcers and led the Q&A, Sarah and Amy worked the check in tables, and all of the girls worked together for advertising and promotion.
”The girls came together this year from four different troops that had disbanded and they very quickly teamed up to make this event possible,” she said. “We all need to recognize the power that a group of young women have when they work together and it’s great when they can demonstrate what they are gaining from being a part of Girl Scouts to younger troops and to the community.”

