In 1912, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low gathered together the first group of Girl Scouts in her native Savannah, Georgia. From that humble beginning, Girl Scouting spread to become the largest organization for girls in the world. Low’s goal was to give all girls the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. More than 100 years after that first meeting, the Girl Scouts organization continues to meet the needs of girls and young women worldwide through education and community involvement. So as a tribute to Girl Scouts everywhere, past, present and future, here are 15 ways that Girl Scouts will always be awesome.
1. Girl Scout Camp: What is more fun than summer camp filled with campfires and canoeing and building lifelong friendships? More than ghost stories around the campfire, Scout camping emphasizes leadership building skills and appreciation for nature. Scouting camps lead the way in teaching environmental skills and stewardship of the great outdoors.
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2. They’re all girls!
No annoying little brothers, no boys! Girl Scout camps are all girls and adult leaders. There’s the opportunity to learn together in a single sex environment and develop useful life skills.
3. Girls Scouts teach confidence
No doubt about it, Girl Scouts do it all. From robotics design to developing anti-bullying programs for their schools, Scouts learn there is no limit to what they can accomplish. Scouting provides the support to girls to take on any task. Girl Scouts helps confident girls become confident women.
4. Girl Scouts gets girls involved in their communities
Scouting supports community involvement. From volunteering at community events to collecting food for the homeless, Scouting teaches the responsibility we all have to helping our communities.
5. Girl Scouts make diverse, lifelong friends
Scouting brings together girls from all walks of life and turns them into a troop of friends. With a common goal, each troop of Scouts work together, camp together and more importantly have fun together.
6. Girl Scout Cookies!
Everyone’s favorite time of the year is Girl Scout Cookie time. Cookie sales do more than provide funding for the troops. The sale of cookies teaches goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics, all things needed to be successful in leadership, success, and life. And they taste great!
7. Girl Scouts teach leadership
Teaching leadership skills is key to the Girl Scout mission of developing girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Each year ten Scouts are honored as National Young Women of Distinction for their outstanding work and leadership efforts to improve the world around them. .
8. Girl Scouts have mad skills!
As they complete a goal, Scouts of all ages are awarded “Merit” badges. The 117 badges (and the number is constantly growing) are awarded in 9 categories and cover a wide variety of hobbies, experiences and skills. As the world changes,Scouting changes too, with badges that honor skills in everything from camping to computer programing.
9. Girl Scouts aim to change the world
Through Scouting, girls discover the fun, friendship, and power of girls together. Through extraordinary field trips, sports skill-building clinics, community service projects, cultural exchanges, and environmental stewardships, girls grow courageous and strong.
10. Girl Scouts empower young girls
One of the goals set down by Juliette Low was to teach girls (in a time when women were not empowered) that there were no limits to what they could achieve. Following that guideline, Scouting allows young girls to learn their own strengths and to overcome obstacles that stand in the way of achieving their goals.
11. Girl Scouts inspire girls to take action
Leadership skills, commitment to community and the desire to improve the world around them keeps the Girl Scouts involved in everything from stream clean-ups to stocking food banks. Scouting teaches that to make the world better for all, you need to take action.
12. Girl Scouts is fun!
What other organization lets you go camping, teaches computer skills or environmental science while always surrounded by your friends? Through troop events, Scouts learn together, play together and more importantly, develop skills that will serve them a lifetime.
13. Girl Scouts teach healthy living
“Be Healthy, Be Fit” merit badges focus on sports and ways to build fitness into everyday life. Scouts can earn badges for Adventure Sports, Food Power, Stress Less and Walking for Fitness. Scouting understands that healthy women started as healthy girls.
14. Girl Scouts helps girls develop positive values
At every gathering of Scouts, the Girl Scout Promise is recited:
“On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”
The Girl Scout Law compels the girls to be honest and fair, considerate, courageous and responsible for their actions. They agree to respect authority, respect themselves and others, to use resources wisely and to make the world a better place. What better values could any organization teach.
15. Girl Scouts become fabulous women
Good Scouts become strong adults. The values taught to girls are no different from the values we admire in adults. Those women who grew up as Scouts, who learned to build self esteem through accomplished goals and learning experiences, become confident, fabulous women. Girls may become women, but they always remain Scouts and stand for the values they learned in that organization.
