PORT ANGELES — Lenora Hofer is something of a super-Girl Scout.
Involved in a pages-long list of activities, Lenora, a freshman at Port Angeles High School, was selected to represent Girl Scouts throughout Western Washington at the National Council Session.
Only 15 girls from Western Washington are selected in the tedious process, said Diane Holth, her aunt and scout leader.
“She’s the only girl on this side of the water who gets to go,” Holth said.
The National Council Session will be Nov. 10-13 and will include the chance to make major policy changes. Lenora will be a voting delegate.
When she returns, she will give presentations to local Scout groups about the council session.
Lenora, who will turn 15 Saturday, joined Brownies in the first grade and has stuck with it ever since.
“My aunt is the leader, and she talked to me about it and told me how cool it could be,” she said.
“And I have done it ever since.”
She juggles the Girl Scout activities among a host of other extracurricular activities such as 4-H, choir, basketball and softball, along with keeping up her grades.
“She manages to fit it all in — and Girl Scouts is as important as all of the other activities,” said her mother, Mary Hofer.
Lenora said she likes keeping busy.
“It keeps me from sitting at home with nothing to do,” she said.
Among her favorite activities with the Scouts was a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., last year.
“Everywhere we go is a new experience for me,” she said. “We get to go places we’ve never been.”
It was a 36-hour train ride, with the Scouts packing along all their food.
But once they got there, it was worth it.
“Space Mountain was great,” Lenora said.
Unusual travel
Holth said that, as a Scout leader, she often uses unusual modes of transportation to expose the Scouts to more experiences.
A trip to Seaside, Ore., for example, was done all on public transit — changing buses something like nine times, she said.
Lenora said that though she was a little surprised she was chosen, she could tell during her interview early this year that it was going well.
“I told them I had no problem getting up and talking in front of people, and I could tell that surprised them and that they liked me,” she said.
“I was a little surprised, but not a lot.”
Holth said she applied to participate in the conference but was not eligible since she is related to Lenora, who was already a delegate.
Whether or not Holth volunteers at the conference, she will attend with her niece, she said.
It is, after all, the kickoff for the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts and the 50th anniversary of Holth’s joining Scouts.
“It has been such a good influence on me, and I’ve learned so much and had so much fun that I didn’t want to stop,” she said.
“So I’ve been doing things at different levels ever since I joined.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
