What do you do?
I am Ellena, and I am the Leader at 31st A Dundee Brownies. The unit closed during the pandemic, and I helped start it back up in 2021.
This was my first time as a leader, and got stuck right in with the running of the unit from the get-go. This gave us the opportunity to create our own traditions and style of leading the pack so to speak. We started with 10 girls and two leaders. And now we have 2 full leaders, 3 new student volunteers and 20 girls!
Why do you do it?
I grew up in Girlguiding, from Rainbow right through to young leader. My mother was a Brownie leader, and helped establish a lot of units up north, and on the Isle of Skye. I reckon if you grew up with Guiding, it never really leaves you. I stopped during high school, and didn’t really give it much thought until I finished my Master’s degree at university and started working full time. I suddenly had all these free evenings and decided that this would be a great time to get back into the organisation that gave me so many opportunities and experiences as a young girl.
What is your day job?
Day to day, I am an Architect. I officially qualified as a registered Architect this year after six years of university and 3 years of professional placement and examinations. It’s a hefty journey in becoming an architect, but I absolutely love it.
What do you get out of it?
Even in my short time back as a leader, I have had so many amazing memories created and met a great deal of really inspiring women and girls in the local community. Dundee is such a special city, and Girlguiding Dundee is an amazing county to be involved with.