By MIKE BARTOSZEK
The Belton Journal
“Suddenly a little girl stepped forth,
Holding her blue-clad doll.
She placed it in the roaring fire
and raindrops began to fall. The rain brought forth the grass,
Among its blades, flowers of blue.
To be a sign for all the time
Of a love so pure and true.”
The unattributed story, said to be an old Native American tale, speaks of the lands of soon-to-be Texas stricken by a terrible drought, broken only by the sacrifice of a young girl throwing her beloved doll into a fire which instantly brought rains that sprouted the well-known Texas bluebonnet.
It’s this story that inspired the naming of the Girl Scouts of Central Texas, Camp Kachina and now its renaming to Bluebonnet Shores.
The rain forced a crowd that gathered for the renaming ceremony into a polygon shaped hall in the center of the camp.
Kursten Mitchell, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Girl Scouts of Central Texas, said that the renaming was a way for the Girl Scouts in their councils to show respect to native tribes.
“Girls in our council told us that they were concerned about the name from a cultural appropriation standpoint,” Mitchell said. “We did a bunch of research over the last two years working with the different nations that were represented by the name and iconography of the camp and today we are celebrating the change of our name from Camp Kachina to Bluebonnet Shores.”
Founded in the 1950s, the camp has been the summer and weekend home for thousands of Girl Scouts over the decades sharpening their outdoors skills, independence and friendship.
Trish Ferguson, Girls Scouts of Central Texas Board Member, reflected on her time spent at camp in the late 70’s.
“One of my favorite things about spending time here was our singing. We sang, all the time. We sang under the trees here, we sang on our way to meals, we sang while waiting for meals, we sang during meals, we sang under the stars.”
Ferguson said that the name change was done as part of an internal study, which examined the operations of the camp, its programing, and name.
“We looked at where we were and decided that it was time for a name change that was more reflective and better suited for our current girls.” Ferguson continued, “The Kachina name didn’t reflect any of the programming that we offer to scouts now or where we currently are as a society. So we thought it was good timing and a good way to transition our facility and make the camp serve the girls and be more reflective of them.”
During the event a small group of scouts created and handed out little do-dads called Swaps which are given as a token of friendship to any who will take them. One was a green leaf and fuzzy green pipe cleaner tied to a safety pin.
A historical display was set atop of a long table with decades old camp relics, maps of planned renovations stood on display and several board members, who also attended camp as children, spoke about the impact the camp had on their lives, each reflecting on moments of joy and happiness brought to them by the friendships gained through Girl Scouts.
“Our mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who will make the world a better place,” said Mitchell. “Our goal is to encourage girls to try a lot of different things to find their passion and to gain confidence in things that maybe they’ve never done before.”
The rain lifted just long enough to cut a forest green ribbon with oversized scissors marking the official transition to the new name and to dedicate a tree to William “Bill” Gurasich, a dedicated and supportive scout leader who helped raise funds for the new camp renovations.
