The Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians (GSCSA) and Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) recently announced 24 new badges designed to help girls practice ambitious leadership in the crucial areas of automotive engineering, STEM career exploration, entrepreneurship, and civics, many fields which remain male-dominated.
In a year of unprecedented global change, our country’s need for strong, broad-minded, and decisive leadership has never been greater. Through new and existing programming, Girl Scouts equips the next generation of female change-makers with the breadth of knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to take charge and do good for the world, both now and in the future.
Steady leadership is essential during a crisis such as COVID-19, from fostering trust and showing compassion, to managing challenges with agility, to evaluating outcomes of decisions. The Girl Scout program is proven to develop strong and effective leaders—among many positive outcomes, Girl Scouts are much likelier than non-Girl Scouts to take an active role in decision making, which is a critical aspect of leadership.
“Now more than ever, it’s critical that we have strong leaders who can make informed decisions that make the world a better, safer place,” said Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians CEO Lynne Fugate. “During our current health crisis, the world leaders who have been among the most decisive and effective in addressing the pandemic have been women. With these new badge experiences in STEM, entrepreneurship, and the critically important subject of civics, Girl Scouts is continuing to build the transformational female leaders of today and the future and showing girls the power they have to truly change the world.”
Even through the lockdown due to COVID-19, Girl Scouting has not stopped. Since March, GSCSA has been providing virtual content that girls can enjoy at home. Many of the Virtual Girl Scout videos are up on GSCSA’s Facebook page, GirlScoutCSA (www.facebook.com/GirlScoutCSA). You can also find a list of them on the group’s website, www.girlscoutcsa.org/en/our-council.
For upcoming badge workshop registration, please visit the Activities page on GSCSA’s website, www.girlscoutcsa.org/en/activities.
