By Tanya Steele
The Girl Guides in Upwey had a special ceremony just before Christmas of 2024 awarding and celebrating three of its members for some of their incredible work and dedication in the community.
Three young preteens in Upwey celebrated a year of hard work as Girl Guides and by December they were all awarded a high-level achievement from the Guiding organisation for their efforts.
Elke, Rosalie and Lily received the Junior Baden-Powell (JBP) and Baden-Powell (BP) Awards which are the second highest accolades for Girl Guides.
Upwey Girl Guide Leader Rebecca Broecker said these prestigious awards require an extraordinary level of dedication, resilience, and leadership.
“It was with immense pride that we celebrated Elke for earning the JBP Award and Rosalie and Lily Hinrichsen for earning the BP Award at Upwey Girl Guides,” she said.
Some of the activities the trio did to earn their awards included running fundraising and community events.
A highlight included raising around $400 for the charity Dolly’s Dream from putting on a fundraising disco night in the Upwey township.
The Dolly’s Dream organisation is committed to changing the culture of bullying by addressing the impact of bullying, anxiety, depression and youth suicide.
“Lily and Rosalie did all the research for it and found out about Dolly’s Dream and then together, the three of them ran the night and charged an entry,” said Ms Broecker.
“It was a huge thing to do,” she said.
Ms Broecker has been a leader with the Upwey Girl Guides for five years and said she enjoys providing a variety of activities for the girls, the Upwey group currently has 32 members and has gone through significant growth.
“I was a girl guide and it has been nice to come back into this space,” said Ms Broecker.
Ms Broecker said that these days there is a huge variety of extracurricular activities kids can do and while not everyone fits into those mainstream categories, people are also often surprised by what the guides get up to – in one activity last year, the girl guides met women from the Hills community that are qualified and work in fields that are usually male-dominated roles.
“We had a volcanologist, a builder and a CEO come in,” said Ms Broecker.
“It doesn’t need to be just the gender norms,” she said.
“We go on camps, we do roping and lots of outdoor stuff as well.”
“I’m really big on pushing the girl empowerment – this term, we’re doing advocacy, and talking about why it’s so important to have equality between men and women,” she said.
The awards themselves take a lot of time and effort, and Ms Broecker said the JBP takes about six months to complete and the BP award takes about 12 months.
“The JBP Award sets a high standard for guides wanting to push themselves, requiring them to demonstrate leadership, complete personal challenges, and actively contribute to their community,” she said.
“Elke excelled in all these areas, growing in confidence and stepping out of her comfort zone to reach this incredible milestone.”
The BP Award required guides to demonstrate exceptional leadership, community involvement, and the ability to plan and execute complex projects.
“For Rosalie and Lily, earning the BP Award represents the culmination of a year of hard work, resilience, volunteering, selflessness, and dedication,” she said.
“Both have grown remarkably through this process, becoming confident and capable young women who embody the values of Girl Guides,” Ms Broecker said.
Ms Broecker said having the three girls receive the awards has in turn inspired the younger members of the unit and Elke, Lily and Rosalie will continue in Girl Guides and start working on the next level up.
2025 will see the Upwey Girl Guides take on more community access and advocacy activities both worldwide and on a local level.
“For those ten and over, they will have the opportunity to push themselves and go to statewide activity events,” said Ms Broecker.
It has been 17 years since anyone at Upwey Girl Guides has earned the BP award and Ms Broecker said for all three girls, accomplishing this in the same year is a historic moment for the unit.
“At such a young age, Elke, Rosalie, and Lily have shown remarkable strength, perseverance, and leadership,” said Ms Broecker.
“Their success is an inspiration to all guides and a reminder of the profound growth and achievement that can come through guiding,” she said.
