Berkley Center

From November 17th-20th, 2011, I had the pleasure of serving as a Delegate from the state of CT at the National Girl Scouts Convention on the hundredth anniversary of Girl Scouts’ founding. 15,000 girls, adult volunteers, celebrity guests, and friends all converged on Houston, Texas with the aim of commemorating 100 years of progress and a promise to propel girls and women’s leadership into its next century. Girl Scouts of the USA is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls, with 3.3 million girl and adult members. Through international and domestic chapters, Girl Scouts promises its members access to life changing experiences that inspire them to do great things. Forbes recently reported that Girl Scouts now counts 10 million members in 144 countries and a growing alumnae network of 50 million women.

Girl Scouts aims to build girls of courage, confidence, and character. The Girl Scouts Research Institute publishes national studies on girls and young women, including Kathy Cloninger, the CEO up until this weekend’s leadership change, who calls the annual cookie sale which exceeds over $700 million, the “biggest financial literacy and entrepreneurial, business and sales training program for girls in America.” A 2009 report entitled “Good Intentions: The Beliefs and Values of Teens and Tweens Today”, found that young people strongly value diversity, acceptance, and civic involvement, and almost across the board they're more committed to these values than were their predecessors 20 years ago.

Evoked several times through the weekend, the Girl Scouts Law and Promise evoke some connections to democratic citizenship and even global citizenship, with the promotion of sisterhood to every Girl Scout. Through activities that build self-confidence, creative decision-making skills, and teamwork, girls develop real-world leadership abilities, according to former Girl Scouts and celebrities at the Convention, including Katie Couric, Robin Roberts, Monique Coleman, and Sara Bareilles. By working towards earned grade-level awards, girls interview female leaders, “set goals, build team spirit and communication skills, develop successful problem-solving techniques, and learn to trust themselves in any situation.” Indeed, Couric credits Girl Scouts with helping her gain confidence and a thick skin to survive in the industry she partakes in. Couric also believes that spirited women are needed in top leadership roles in every sector. She brought up that only 3 percent of women in the United States are CEOs, but 65 percent have some form of eating disorder. “Never before have we been so ready to hear and answer America’s call for leadership” in this time of economic turmoil, Couric said. Robin Roberts echoed Couric’s sentiments about Girls Scouts inspiring her to constantly improve herself. Emotionally, Roberts reminisced about how her time in Girl Scouts helped her in her career and saved her life by building her character and helping her understand “the importance of dreaming big and focusing small”.

Launching 2012’s Year of the Girl campaign at the conference marks a stepping up of the Girl Scouts commitment to every girl in this generation having the skills and the opportunity to reach her fullest potential. As Roberts, said, one year won’t change the leadership makeup in this country into a female dominated one, but it can “change the expectations for how we think about women and girls”. One panel of young women asked the question: what if girls ran the world? What if everyone lived by the values of courage, confidence, and character? What would the world look like? The Girls Scouts have the determination and tenacity to see this vision to fruition.