Girls Scouts? Sounds familiar? But, how much do we all know about this great program available for our girls? Since school is starting and so their new year of activities, I have talked with Julie Somogyi, the vice president of member and mission engagement for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (Girl Scouts of GCNWI) to share more about it and, hopefully making you chose Girl Scouts as a great after school activity.
For your information the Girl Scout council serves a local membership of 50,000 girls and 20,000 adults in 245 communities in 10 counties in two states (Illinois and Indiana).
What is Girl Scouts Program, except the obvious of selling cookies?
J.S. Being a girl in today’s world is complicated. Girls hear “you can do and be anything,” yet these messages clash with the harsh realities of a world that has still not fully embraced what girls and women add to the leadership equation.
Sometimes girls love making things with glitter and glue. Other times they want to portage a canoe through the Boundary Waters, build robots, or enact positive solutions for complex social issues. Every girl needs a place where she can shine, have fun, make friends, explore, take risks, and be surrounded by adults who listen and encourage them to lead with their voices and actions. Girl Scouts is uniquely positioned to provide all girls with stereotype-shattering, myth-busting experiences that help them become leaders, as well as the best version of themselves.
Girl Scouts takes the potential of girls, combines it with robust skill-building programming, and adds caring adult mentors and strong female role models to build a unique experience tailored just for girls. A Girl Scout experience generally centers around STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), the outdoors, development of life skills, and entrepreneurship, and is designed to meet her where she is now and grow along with her.
Whether she’s building a robotic arm, coding her first app, helping to take action on a community or social issue, or packing for her first hike, a Girl Scout has an exciting array of choices to suit her interests at every age. In fact, Girl Scouts just introduced 42 new badges that focus on coding, space science, cybersecurity, and outdoor adventure.
At Girl Scouts, “Can I?” quickly turns into “I will!” as girls transform their ideas into action, turn their questions into adventure, and grow their confidence through practice. And with more than 50 million other G.I.R.L.s to cheer them on every step of the way, there’s no limit to what she can accomplish. Girl Scouts works. It’s the best leadership experience for girls in the world for one very good reason: because it’s girl-led!
G.I.R.L.s stands for Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker and Leader.
Since I mentioned cookies, can you please tell us more about this activity and what is its purpose?
J.S. The Girl Scout Cookie program originated as a creative way for girls to fund their Girl Scout experience more than 100 years ago. Today it is one of the most iconic ways for a girl to build skills in five key areas that she can utilize throughout her life: goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.She learns the very basic elements of what it’s like to own your business, including understanding your product, marketing, sales, making change, and building a business plan.
In addition, 100 percent of the proceeds from the Girl Scout Cookie program stays local. A portion of the proceeds funds each troop activities, and the other portion helps fund greater area experiences by supporting and training local volunteers, offsetting the costs of maintenance and facilitation of programs held at council camps and properties, and providing financial assistance for girls and adults who would otherwise not be able to participate.
What kind of activities are the Girl Scouts doing? What is the age range?
J.S. Any girl in grades kindergarten through 12th grade can participate in progressive Girl Scout experiences that cover a wide spectrum of opportunities ranging from group activities to individual activities. Girls can earn badges that introduce them to new interests, register for week-long high adventure camp programs in the summer, travel internationally, earn the Gold Award for leadership projects that identify a community problem and create sustainable solutions, attend Camp CEO leadership mentoring weekends with corporate women in fascinating careers, and make new friends with girls from all walks of life. Girl Scouts of GCNWI also partners with many local corporations and businesses to introduce girls to new ideas, careers and skills.
We know the Girl Scouts are wearing vests & patches, can you please provide more insight about them?
J.S. Girl Scout vests and sashes provide girls with an opportunity to display the awards (badges) they earn for becoming proficient in a skill or exploring an interest, or for participating in unique programs and events (patches). The vests/sashes help identify Girl Scouts in their communities as they learn about their communities and provide them with an instant connection to other girls sharing similar experiences.
What are the benefits on the long term for the girls to attend Girl Scouts program?
J.S.: One of the best ways that we have been able to measure the long-term impact of the Girl Scout program is by talking to a percentage of the more than 50 million Girl Scout alums who have been involved since Girl Scouting was founded in 1912. Through research, we have been able to understand that Girl Scout alums report positive life outcomes to a greater degree than other women on several indicators of success, including sense of self, volunteerism and community work, civic engagement, education, and income/socioeconomic status. More than half (53 percent) of female entrepreneurs and business owners are Girl Scout alums. Girl Scout alums are also more likely than other women to have a business degree. Fifty-five percent of women in the 115th Congress are Girl Scout alums.
When and how should the parents sign up their girls to the Girl Scout program?
J.S. The back-to-school season is the perfect time to sign girls up for Girl Scouts via our online site at: https://www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/en/about-girl-scouts/join.html. Families needing more assistance are welcome to call 855-ILOVEGS (456-8347) ext. 6720 or email us at reghelp@girlscoutsgcnwi.org. And don't forget their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsGCNWI.
Families have the option to select dates, times, and meeting locations that are most convenient for them using their zip code as a search tool in our registration process. We can also help them locate existing or forming troops in their community.
And what about the parents, how much involvement is it expected from their end?
J.S. Family members who volunteer as troop leaders or in other roles help ensure that girls have great experiences in Girl Scouting. Family members may offer to serve as trip chaperones, drivers, cookie program helpers, treasurer, or even share their professional or personal expertise as girls earn badges on specific topics. Since most Girl Scout troops are led by adult volunteers, any time that family members can give some amount of support, in whatever flexible ways they can, it makes volunteering that much easier and enriches girls' experiences overall.
Thank you Julie for your help and support! And I hope our readers have enjoyed reading and finding more about Girl Scouts!
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