Girl Scout troop for 5th grader next year?
Hi - my daughter is a rising 5th grader (currently in 4th grade) and we're interested in a troop for her in Berkeley. I tried the troop finder from the council, but almost all the troops I found seemed to be associated with a school. Does anyone know of a troop with an opening? She is interested in arts and crafts and STEM/STEAM mostly, likes working on badges. Let me know if you know of one! We live in North Berkeley. Open to Berkely, Albany, El Cerrito, North Oakland.
She's been involved with a San Francisco based troop that is disbanding this year. I'm an active parent, happy to lead meetings and support the troop in other ways.
Thanks!
May 22, 2025
Parent Replies
Welcome to Girl Scouts in the east bay! My daughter is in a Cadette troop based in El Cerrito/Kensington. My understanding with the online troop finder is that it will generally not display troops that are full, and as we are near end of the membership year, many troops will not have spots. I would recommend joining the GSNorcal Parents + Volunteers facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/gsnorcal/) and asking there. A lot of local troop leaders are in that group and can let you know if there will be openings in their troops for the upcoming membership year - around 5th/6th grade it seems a fair number of girls leave for other activities so you may find a spot that way.
If you are not already aware of it, there is also a wonderful volunteer run girl scout summer day camp in the Berkeley/El Cerrito area, Camp Alvarado. I don't know if there are still spots for this summer session, but that would also be a great way to connect with local girl scouts and leaders who might be able to point you towards a group, the website at https://sites.google.com/prod/view/alvaradodaycamp is not yet updated for this year, but you can get more info by emailing alvaradodaycamp [at] gmail.com (alvaradodaycamp[at]gmail[dot]com) or signing up at https://my.cheddarup.com/c/alvarado-day-camp-2026l5.