The Girl Scouts are not just for girls. Just ask Malik Hampton.
His wife, Jeneya, is the troop leader for their daughter Zoe’s Girl Scout troop, but that hasn’t stopped him from being deeply involved during her 10 years in scouting.
“A lot of times, I’m the muscle. Or maybe security. Or the runner. Just filling in those voids where needed,” said Malik, 53, a project manager for AT&T.
“You have to be present,” he said.
A former Boy Scout, Malik knows it’s important for parental involvement, be it taking Zoe to troop activities, setting up virtual troop meetings and helping incorporate technology for the selling of Girls Scout cookies.
His wife being troop leader is “probably the immediate reason why I got involved,” he said.
“Unfortunately, parent involvement is not always there,” he added. “I just try to help where I can.”
This fall, Jeneya will begin her seventh year leading Troop 65708. Girls from Richton Park and Matteson are in the troop. The family lives in Matteson.
“We meet out of my home, and do activities, service projects,” Jeneya said.
Being a Girl Scout is “definitely more than just cookies,” she said.
So much more.
“I feel we shape young girls to have bright futures,” she said.
“We focus a lot on entrepreneurial skills, building their resumes,” Jeneya said.
“Zoe is currently a girl rep to the Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Girl Scout Board. She’s completed one year of that,” Jeneya said.
Another girl from the troop serves on a national advisory board.
“Anything we can do as parents, as leaders to influence positive decisions, dreams and aspirations,” she said. “I definitely expect all of them to be in the National Honor Society at their respective high schools.”
Having Malik involved in the troop has been very helpful, she said.
“Cookie season is a big undertaking for my troop. One of the things I don’t think people realize is the leader is the person responsible for cookies for the entire troop. If there are 3,000 boxes, I’m responsible for getting those cookies and housing them at my home,” she said.
In other words, the garage becomes a cookie storage facility.
“Malik helps a lot with loading and unloading and with providing security, especially when we do Chicago Loop sales downtown.
“When we do that, that’s a lot of money that we have on hand. … Sometimes when people see a male representative, they won’t try any funny business,” she said.
Asked if he was the imposing size of perhaps a Chicago Bears lineman, Malik laughed and said: “I look more like a kicker.”
Zoe said she likes having her father involved with her troops “because it’s a way we can all bond together.”
“He helps a lot getting me downtown a lot to meetings. He has my best interest (in mind). I really like having him around,” Zoe said.
Zoe, who turned 15 on June 11, will be a sophomore at Southland College Prep next school year.
She’s been involved in scouting since she was a Daisy at age 4.
“I like the connections and bonds I have with my friends. I also like meeting people,” she said.
One of the people she met was former First Lady Michelle Obama, whom Zoe interviewed for the scouts’ Becoming Me project.
“Very cool. I was in sixth grade. It was nerve-wracking. I’d never spoken with anybody that big before. It was really fun. It opened my eyes to how I have a passion for journalism and interviewing people,” Zoe said.
Right now, however, the reporter idea has been put on hold. Zoe is leaning toward a career in health care.
Asked if he’s been asked to come to the rescue to solve a late-breaking crisis or two, Malik said he has not yet.
“My wife is such a good planner, we usually don’t have that, other than it’s running to the store to get something or maybe get change for a cookie booth,” he said.
Jeneya’s 9-to-5 job finds her working as a talent acquisition specialist for United Health Care.
She and Malik both are PTO board members at Huth Middle School in Matteson, she said.
“I think it’s important for parents to show up and be involved. You can’t just expect teachers and coaches to do the work,” Jeneya added.
Yes, the Girls Scouts are primarily about daughters working together with moms.
“But dads can definitely be involved and are definitely needed,” Jeneya said. “My husband has been very much involved since I became a leader.”
All these years later, Jeneya still finds it “rewarding to watch these girls blossom.”
“It’s amazing to see the leaders they’ve become,” she said. “I attribute a lot of that to Girl Scouting, and the confidence the girls end up gaining through their participation.”
Asked if the girls enjoy setting up tents in the woods, Jeneya said her troop prefers “doing other types of travel more interesting than roughing it, so to speak.”
“We’ve gone to Mall of America. We did more local things up in Lake Geneva. We’ve gone to Camp Juniper Knolls and to Butternut Springs, a Girl Scout property which is in Indiana,” she said.
Last July, the troop did a staycation in downtown Chicago, but soon filed that under “lesson learned.”
“It was during the NASCAR race,” Jeneya said, “so it was pretty crowded and pretty expensive.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
