What is a Legacy Troop*?
Around here the term "legacy troop" defines a unit that continues at the same level indefinitely with no expected disbanding in sight. Most legacy troops serve older girls (S/A or C/S/A). They bridge in new girls regularly and graduate their oldest to adult scouting annually. I had the honor of working with such a troop for 13 years, including eight as the primary advisor. This troop has been operating continuously since 1953.
Why Start a Legacy Troop?
While the legacy troop model may not work in every community, it has real benefits.
Strong Program
Legacy troops are often larger than other troops in this age range. A larger troop provides more program opportunities. Whereas a small troop may need almost every girl to sign up for an activity to make it viable, a large troop can have only partial participation and still meet the minimum threshold to make the activity worthwhile. This means the troop can schedule things that might appeal to some girls, but not all. The troop's program becomes more rich and varied.
Retention
Girls leave scouting for a variety of reasons. Legacy troops still compete with a variety of other activities, but the strong program reduces the likelihood that girls will leave for lack of interest. In addition, the constantly changing troop makeup provides many opportunities for new friendships. Girls are less likely to leave because their connections have gotten stale. Lastly, the visibility of a large, active troop of older girls in the community helps younger girls to see an exciting path ahead, encouraging them to stay with the program.
Leadership Experience
In a legacy troop, girls aren't just making decisions with the same group they've known since kindergarten. Each year the troop dynamics change with the influx of new girls. The oldest girls take responsibility for running the troop and keeping it cohesive. They learn not only how to plan and coordinate activities, but how to handle team-building. Younger troop members get a chance to learn leadership by watching the older girls in action. The social skills that are developed in working together as a group over multiple ages are very different than what you get in a very singular age-level troop.
Strong Adult Team
Legacy troops generally attract the highest quality adult leadership. This consists of a combination of long-term leaders, parents, and young adults who are graduates of the program. Leaders who have been with the troop the longest mentor those bridging in with new girls. Constant internal training of leaders and parents results in a strong adult support team who become experts with girls at this age.
How to Start a Legacy Troop:
Creating a new legacy troop can be quite difficult. For a number of decades now, the primary troop formation method has been to form a troop at a very young age and then have that group progress together through the levels. This generally results in a troop that suffers serious attrition by the time the girls are in high school, when they can most benefit from the activities a larger troop can provide.
Making things more difficult is that the age at which legacy troops are most beneficial is also the age at which girls are the most cliquey. If left to their own devices, girls in the C/S age range are unlikely to vote to merge with others. Unfortunately, the result is often girls at the Ambassador age who realize they have missed some great opportunities and are now too close to leaving the program to change that.
For these reasons, starting a new legacy troop is often easiest with girls bridging into Cadettes. They are still young enough to be open to the idea of merging some troops to provide greater program opportunities.
Once a troop is established, recruitment becomes important. A well established legacy troop creates a clear pipeline for girls in their area. Most of the legacy troops in our area sponsor an annual camping weekend for younger girls and have very visible presence at Service Unit activities. This creates an expectation among the younger girls that they will someday join that troop. It also gives the adult leadership a chance to network with upcoming younger leaders and explain the benefits of bridging their girls to the legacy troop once they are old enough.
Many of the legacy troops in my council have a history that extends back to the period when GSUSA supported specialty units for Seniors - Mariners, pathfinders, etc. Especially in Mariner troops, it is tradition for the troop to take a "ship" name (our troop was MSS Morning Star). This tradition continues today and most legacy troops have a name and not just a troop number. The result is that younger girls get a sense of identity from the troop. They grow up thinking not just that someday they will be a senior scout but that some day they will be in Walawi. Knowing they have a specific troop to join as a future dream helps with retention.
While GSUSA has continued to fracture the program levels into ever smaller components, the strength of the old Senior program lives on in our legacy troops. Give it a try. It can be a lot of work, but the experiences the girls will get make it extremely rewarding.
*This terminology is fairly new and grew from the reorganization in the late 2000s. At that time a number of councils in our area merged to form new larger council. The old council affiliations were referred to as Legacy Councils and some people extended this term to older troops.
