For most Girl Scouts, attending a troop meeting might mean driving to their local school, library or place of worship. For members of Troop 40348 it means diving to the bottom of Lake Travis.
“We like to say they do everything that normal Girl Scouts do but underwater,” said Karina Flanagan, one of the troop’s 3 leaders. “And that includes selling Girl Scout cookies.”
Photo Courtesy of Troop 40348
Created by dive professionals Karen Erickson – Flanagan’s mother – and Michelle Graf, who serve as the other two leaders, Austin’s Troop 40348 is currently in its 11th year of operation and remains the only scuba-focused Girl Scout troop in the United States.
“We are considered to be a high adventure troop…Special interest troops, in general, are one of the ways that Girl Scouts has decided to try to keep kids in scouting longer,” Flanagan said.
Troop 40348 participates in a diverse range of pursuits within the world of scuba diving. These include conservation efforts such as trash cleanups, invasive species removal and coral restoration. The troop’s agenda also encompasses training activities such as underwater pumpkin carving and their own “Scubalympics”, where girls compete in events like underwater tricycle racing, tightrope walking and obstacle courses.
“All of those things are fun and enjoyment for the kids. But really, what they're doing at the end of the day is building their skills,” Flanagan said.
The troop accepts girls from ages 12 to 18 and maintains about 15 members for safety reasons, drawn from its ever-growing waitlist. At this past monthly meeting, with it being the beginning of the school year, four prospective members were introduced. The troop is foremost a training organization, guiding scouts through certification programs that will set them up for success if they choose to pursue a career in the dive industry.
“I get a lot of experience that I wouldn't get if I wasn't in the troop,” said Abigail, a Girl Scout who is entering her 4th year of membership in Troop 40348.
Abigail has earned her Junior Divemaster certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), which is the highest qualification someone of her age can advance to. “Without the troop,” she said “I probably wouldn't have been able to do that.”
Photo Courtesy of Troop 40348
While based in Austin, Troop 40348 is by no means confined to the area. Scouts frequently embark on “drive and dives”, where they spend a day or two visiting a lake and exploring its depths. The troop also takes an annual trip out of the country, usually to somewhere in the Caribbean, allowing the girls to utilize their skills in new and exciting marine environments.
“I've been to Dominica. I've also been to Athens, Texas,” said Abigail. “And one year we actually took a trip down to NASA to drop off cookies and we got to see how they train the astronauts there through scuba diving, which was really cool.”
During their time spent with the troop, girls gain beneficial skills they can carry with them throughout their personal and professional lives.
“What we see with the kids is it really builds and grows a lot of responsibility because they are responsible for themselves and their dive gear and their buddy underwater,” said Flanagan.
Additionally, for Abigail and the rest of the scouts, high school graduation is just a number of years down the line and their involvement might give their resume a serious boost. “Scuba diving has really helped me with my leadership skills…I do want to become a marine biologist, so scuba diving is really helpful with that and even getting into college,” said Abigail. “The skills I have are unique.”
The troop was also founded partially as a response to the dominance of males within the scuba diving community. “From our leaders' perspective, we have a huge push of bringing more young women into the dive industry, on top of making them ambassadors for the underwater worlds,” Flanagan said.
This effort is inspired by PADI’s Women in Diving initiative, a global movement that has seen the gender gap in recreational diving reduced by nearly five percent since its establishment in 2015, representing over 250,000 more women entering the sport. As a PADI Master Instructor herself, Flanagan describes the sport of diving to be “the great equalizer.”
Photo Courtesy of Troop 40348
“You can have people doing various things and they get in the water and all of a sudden everyone's equal,” she said. “There's so many paths that are available to you once you learn to explore the underwater world and we just want to make sure that the next generation is able to see that.”
The troop posts regular updates on its Facebook and Instagram accounts, detailing their monthly meetings and diving expeditions. As the only Girl Scout troop geared exclusively towards scuba diving, Troop 40348 has garnered an international presence within the diving community, as professionals frequently reach out to share their expertise.
“I think that's a really exciting thing to show people and show young women, especially, that hey, like, you can do this too,” Flanagan said. “And it may seem high adventure and going and diving to the bottom of the lake where you have murky water and seeing a sunken boat down there might be scary at first, but then you get down there and you realize how absolutely incredible that is and that really has no gender to it.”