Episode 20 - What's in a name?

This week, We talk about a guider favourite, where the leaders can show a little of their personality, Guiding Names!

Historically, Guiding names started with Brownies. The adult leader in charge was called Brown Owl, while the remaining leaders were named after other owls. As Guiding grew, the names evolved and when new branches emerged so did the different themes. For instance, the Sparks are themed around the Rainbow and the story of Crystal's new friend, thus Spark leaders have jewel names.

For SWAGGYK, we cover a famous name in News, Katie Couric.  A woman who wasn’t letting anything from stopping her from shining light on many important things in the world.

Kathleen Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia on January 7, 1957. Her Mom, Elinor, was a homemaker and part-time writer, while her dad, John, was a PR executive and editor.

While she attended the University of Virginia for American Studies, Katie worked at the school's paper, The Cavalier Daily. She started in news right out of school, working with the ABC News Bureau in D.C. and then at CNN. Katie earned her 1st Emmy and AP award working fo WRC-TV, the NBC station in DC.

She went on to have a very successful career, becoming the first solo female to anchor of the 'big three' weekday nightly news broadcasts (ABC, CBS, NBC). With NBC, she hosted the iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the olympics, and interviewed many people, including Presidents Gerld Ford, Jimmy Carter, H.W.Bush, Bill Clinton and W. Bush. While at CBS, she made $15 million/year, making her the highest paid journalist in the world. At the network, she interviewed several more big names including Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Micheal J. Fox, Sarah Palin, and Sully Sulenberger after the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’.

To wrap up an episode all about names, we sing about a great camel that we all love - Alice and her humps... or not? Guider Nicki from Girl Guiding UK says that technically, if Alice the camel had no humps she would NOT be a horse.

This is because camels are part of the camelidae family, which also includes llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos. They’re in the order Artiodactyla, or even-toed ungulates, whose weight is borne by the third and fourth toes. Horses, however, are part of the equidae family in the order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates. Their weight is borne by the third toe alone.

Basically, if Alice had no humps she wouldn’t be a horse because horses are in a different family. However, we think it's more fun and easier to sing if Alice is a horse when she has no humps!

You can listen to Episode 20 now, and catch up on previous episodes, either right here on our website or on your favourite podcast app (Spotify, Apple, Google, Anchor, etc.).

We would love to know what your opening and closings you use in your units. Leave a comment below, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you'd like to contribute to an episode of Guides' Own, send us your ideas for topics, program, campfire songs, etc. send a message to guidesown@gmail.com.

Do you have a Guiding name? Share it with us below!

Marissa & Taryn