Badges Evolve to Meet Changing Interests of Girl Scouts

In honor of its centennial anniversary, Girl Scouts of the USA has proclaimed 2012 Year of the Girl. The goal is to shine the spotlight on girls, the issues they face and to further develop girls into tomorrow’s leaders, helping them achieve balanced leadership in the workplace.

“The Year of the Girl recognizes girls and their leadership potential,” explained Susan Barnes, APR director of communications, Girl Scouts of West Central Florida. “Hopefully today’s Daisies who are in kindergarten and first grade, by the time they enter the workforce, there will be balanced leadership- women and men on level playing fields in the workplace.”

Girl Scouts have always been synonymous for activities such as cookies, camping and crafts, but the reach has expanded to capture the interests of today’s tech-savvy, modern girls.

According to the Girl Scout website, “The Year of the Girl declaration serves as the foundation for Girl Scouts' broader, multiyear, multipronged effort to break down societal barriers that hinder girls from leading and achieving success in everything from technology and science to business and industry.”

Whether through a day camp or series of events, girls have opportunities never before available.

 “In keeping with changing to meet today’s girls, though we are still keeping the classing badges, we are adding more about what is happening today,” said Barnes. “We are really focused on STEM – science, technology, engineering and math and provide a lot of opportunity to be introduced to those fields.”

Though earning badges like Cook, Naturalist and Athlete are as relevant today as they were during the Girl Scouts inception in 1912, today’s young leaders can earn Product Designer, Digital Movie Maker, Customer Loyalty, Financial Literacy, Cookie Business, Skill-Building, and even the Science of Happiness. New “Make Your Own” badges at every level give girls the opportunity to explore any interest they choose.

New badges to the Junior Guide book even include such timely topics as bully prevention.

“The new guides to Girl Scouting across all levels came out in mid-September. It was in response to Girl Scouts understanding the way things were the last time they made an update – I think in early 80s– is not the way it is today,” explained Odessa Troop 801 junior scout leader Lisa Kiev-Chen. “The books were very good and comprehensive, but didn’t have much technology. The new books really address what’s current today.”

Three fourth grade Junior Girl Scouts, Kennedy Bellamy, 9, Lorelei Bade, 9 and Rebekkah Chen, 10 recited the Girl Scout oath together and then shared what they enjoyed most about being part of their 16-member troop.

 “I like earning all the badges and working my way up and doing all the activities to get a badge,” explained Lorelie. “There are 5 steps to get a badge.” Bade displayed her Guide book with her badge choices bookmarked with yellow sticky notes. “I like Drawing, Junior First Aid, Flowers and Simple Meals.”

Like Bade, Kennedy enjoyed camping because of the range of activities. “You get to learn all these things, like if you go horseback riding, you get to learn about all the horses and groom them.”

Rebekkah agreed that is was a "really fun experience."

Each of the three agreed that Simple Meals was a badge high on their to-do list.

“The badges progress as the girls grow older and move through the program,” explained Barnes.

A young Daisy interested in a Cooking badge wouldn’t start out behind a stove, but by the time she was a teenager, she could be planning the menu and a dinner party for her friends.

The overall concept of Girl Scouts has also evolved to meet the busy lives of today’s girls.

“As girls grow older, they start to become more involved with afterschool programs, sports, etc.,” said Barnes. “They still want to be involved in Girl Scouts but the traditional way isn’t working for them.”

Introduced in 2010, Pathways allow a girl to be part of the Girl Scouts without necessarily being in a troop. A girl can choose a more flexible Pathway option and participate on her own in Camp, Events, Series, Travel, Troop and Virtual Pathways.

Barnes explained, “We embrace our history – the three C’s: cookies, camping, and crafts, but at the same time, girls are doing way more than that. We understand we had to evolve to meet the needs of today’s girls.”

Junior Girl Scout Chen agreed.

“I love doing everything,” Rebekkah enthused. “It’s really interesting. You learn about having character, looking out for each other, being kind and caring, making the world the world a better place, teaching people to do things they never thought of doing, and just helping out. It’s just really fun.”