Two years ago I was in Savannah, GA, and decided to visit Juliette Gordon Low’s grave site. I mapped out how to get there and set out on my run. The distance wasn’t far for me, but the journey that brought me there was. While there I said to her tombstone “Did you have any idea what it was that you started, and could you have ever imagined how many lives you were going to touch?”

My Girl Scout journey started in first grade and proceeded through my senior year of high school. Girl Scouting opened the doors of possibility and exploration to things I might never have seen otherwise. It helped me to develop my planning and leadership skills, along with my social interaction skills. Those years as a girl member started to plant the seeds for me to find and develop my passions in life.

I say passions (plural), because I have come to realize that there are many things that help to make us whole. Being exposed to so many different ideas, activities, and scenarios through Girl Scouts has guided me to this current point in my life and will continue to guide me going forward.

I feel honored that I had wonderful leaders and camp councilors as a girl, and have continued to be able to interact with strong adult female volunteers to this day. All of these people have helped me to develop the confidence in myself to become a veterinarian, to tackle my first half marathon, and later decide that, even though open water scared me, I could complete a full Ironman triathlon.

Thank you, Juliette Gordon Low, for having the courage to start this organization that has impacted my life. It has given me the courage to take the leap; to chase the dream.

Megan Gardam is a veterinarian at Heatherdowns Veterinary Clinic in Toledo. She is a Girl Scout Lifetime Member, a member of the Toledo Girl Scout Gold Award Committee, and a member of the Juliette Gordon Low Society.