By LAURA BROOKHART / Community Columnist

Kylie Woodman entered Girl Scouts as a Daisy in kindergarten with Troop 61, which was formed and led by her mother, Kyra Woodman. Before beginning this year as a senior at HHS, Woodman began to consider options to work toward her Gold Award.
“I was inspired to assemble and form the Helena Teen Council after I wrote an essay on the issue of teen involvement for school,” Woodman shared.
Girl Scout Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, says online information. This prestigious award challenges you to change the world—or at least your corner of it.
Woodman received unanimous encouragement from the Helena City Council in late summer when she presented her idea and teamed with Council President Cris Nelson to serve as mentor to the group.
Made up of ninth and 10th graders, the focus of the Helena Teen Council is to promote volunteerism, leadership and knowledge of how the city is run. Interested HHS students made application and thirteen were chosen.
At the first formal meeting on Sept. 28, each gathered with a parent to listen to Woodman’s presentation and overview of this new entity. Each teen introduced themself and shared their interests with the group. Among the group were members of the HHS band, athletes, and several new Helena Belle members.
Woodman went over the rules and expectations of the organization and spoke of the student’s new roles as leaders within the community.
Members were encouraged to brainstorm together to identify a project, event or service project that can ultimately encourage other teens to get involved.
They were welcomed officially at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting, be introduced to each councilperson and learn about the job of each. They sat in to hear discussions of the upcoming city budget.
“This is an important agenda item and it will be an educational experience to observe how the passing of the budget evolves,” Cris Nelson told the students.
“Next,” Woodman said, “we will hopefully be assisting these teens in organizing a city event.”