Elisa Colberg

Who was Elisa Colberg?

Elisa Colberg was the founder of the Puerto Rican Girl Scouts, the first troop of which formed in 1926 in Cabo Rojo, aptly named Hijas de Betances. She continued as head of the Girl Scout organisation in Puerto Rico for 27 years. Camp Elisa Colberg, in El Verde in the El Yunque Hills, is named in her memory.

Baptised as Elisa Esther Colberg Ramirez, Colberg was the fifth child of Rodolfo Colberg Pabón and Castora Ramirez Colberg, born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. She attended a series of schools, including Carbonell, Curry and Salvador Brau, graduating from university in 1925. A year later, after founded a leadership course with twenty enrollees which went on to become the Girl Scout organisation of Puerto Rico. Becoming a qualified teacher in 1928, Colberg retired in 1971, at which time the Scouting organisation had grown to 14,000 children in 654 troops.