On Deborah Norville's honor, once a Scout, always a Scout

At a recent Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council Women of Distinction recognition luncheon, journalist Deborah Norville recalls the positive, lasting lessons of Scouting.

	[MSNBC]
	Deborah Norville has been a director of the Greater New York City Council of Girl Scouts since 1989.

TAMPA - It has been 28 years since Deborah Norville pledged "to give it my best shot" in every thing she did.

That's what the Girl Scout promise has meant to her since her days as a Brownie in Troop 1210 in Georgia. "On my honor, I will try . . ." Norville repeated that first line of the promise repeatedly in a speech in Tampa last week as she described facing challenges in her life.

Norville, anchor of the syndicated news magazine Inside Edition and MSNBC's new Deborah Norville Tonight, gave the keynote address at the Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council Women of Distinction recognition luncheon. The annual event honors local women who have made a difference in their communities and serve as positive role models to girls. This year's honorees are Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio; state Rep. Sandra Murman; St. Petersburg Times executive vice president Marty Petty; and Belinda Wilson, assistant vice president and trust officer for SunTrust Bank.

What Norville learned as a Girl Scout still carries her through, she said. "Girl Scouting has been such a huge part of my life. I truly cannot remember a time in which there was not one aspect of Scouting that was very, very much apart of my present reality." Norville has been a director of the Greater New York City Council of Girl Scouts since 1989. She donated proceeds from her first children's book to the Girl Scouts.

Norville shared colorful reminiscences not only about being a Girl Scout but also about being Georgia's winning Junior Miss (her talent was sewing) and later a journalist. She recounted her very public departure from the Today show after replacing popular Jane Pauley and being succeeded by Katie Couric, and the sometimes hurtful criticism she received.

"On my honor, I will try . . . I'll give it my best shot. Trust me, ladies and gentlemen; there have been plenty of times when "I will try' seemed like a pretty big challenge for me," she said with a laugh.

Her Girl Scout foundations helped her be strong during those tough times, she said. Scouting "forced me as a little kid, who really was pretty scattered and all over the place, to focus, set my goals, plan how I was going to reach those goals and ultimately, if I was successful, achieve a badge as a result."

Setting goals can result in more than badges, she said. "A study at UCLA found that people who plan their goals, who plan their life, plot their strategy, have their goal, map out what they're going to do to reach that goal . . . on average earn $4,000 more than the rest of us."

Teaching girls the importance of service is key, Norville said. She remembers a Scout project making glittery tabletop Christmas trees by folding the pages of a Reader's Digest to give to nursing home residents. In New York, she said, Scouting offers girls in all circumstances the chance to learn that lesson, even those in homeless shelters. "There are kids who don't have a permanent address, but they've got a permanent troop number that they can call their own."

In an interview after her speech, Norville talked about equipping teenagers to be strong. She urged girls to "read, read, read, everything you can get your hands on. And write, write, write." Keeping a journal is important, she said. "Writing is the essence of being an individual - it's all about communication."

Most important for building confidence, she said, is to "take stock of all the great things about you."

- Molly Hays, 15, is in the ninth grade at Countryside High in Clearwater.

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