GIRL SCOUTS UNVEILS 30 NEW BADGES AS MEMBERSHIP SEASON BEGINS WITH LOCAL BACK-TO-SCHOOL EVENTS
As the school year begins and parents consider extracurricular activities for their daughters, Girl Scouts is excited to introduce 30 new badges now available for girls ages 5–18 to address some of society’s most pressing needs, such as cybersecurity, environmental advocacy, mechanical engineering, robotics, computer science, and space exploration. In a safe all-girl space, Girl Scouts develop important soft skills, including confidence and perseverance, as well as hard skills, helping girls develop their best selves and preparing them to take action to advocate for a better world.
A recruitment event is scheduled for September 9th at 1:00 p.m. at the Girl Scouts House in Fairfield, Texas.
Today’s youth are more vocal than ever about the change they want to see, and Girl Scouts are the most equipped with the skills needed to make a real impact. It’s a fact: girls who partake in the all-girl programming Girl Scouts provides are more than twice as likely to exhibit community problem-solving skills than girls who don’t (57 percent versus 28 percent).
The unique Girl Scout environment provides fun, exciting, and essential experiences that carry into girls’ future careers and life success; the KPMG Women’s Leadership Study of more than 3,000 professional and college women shows that early exposure to leadership has a significant impact on a woman’s perceptions of her ability to lead. Additionally, 76 percent of women today wish they had learned more about leadership and had more leadership opportunities while growing up, demonstrating how imperative it is for girls and volunteers to join Girl Scouts.
The new programming for girls in grades 6–12 includes:
–Environmental Stewardship badges, GSUSA’s first-ever badge series focused on environmental advocacy. Girls in grades 6–12 prepare for outdoor experiences and take action on environmental issues. Although Girl Scouts have been advocating for the environment since the organization’s founding 106 years ago, these badges are the first to specifically prepare girls to be environmental advocates who address problems, find solutions, and protect the natural world (funded by the Elliott Wildlife Values Project).
–Badges that teach girls how to program, design, and showcase robots, completing the suite of Robotics badges GSUSA first introduced for grades K–5 last year.
–The College Knowledge badge for Girl Scouts in grades 11 and 12, the first badge completely dedicated to college exploration. By showing girls how to research the admissions process, financial aid, and other factors, the badge fills a specific need that girls asked for—and that many do not have support for outside Girl Scouts.
–Two Girl Scout Leadership Journeys: Think Like a Programmer (funded by Raytheon) provides a strong foundation in computational thinking and the framework for Girl Scouts’ first ever national Cyber Challenge, coming in 2019. The Think Like an Engineer Journey exposes girls to design thinking to understand how engineers solve problems. As with all Leadership Journeys, girls complete hands-on activities and use their newly honed skills to take action on a problem in their community. The programming aims to prepare girls to pursue careers in fields such as cybersecurity, computer science, and robotics.
Girls in grades K–5 can now earn badges in:
–Environmental Stewardship, through which girls learn how to respect the outdoors and take action to protect the natural world (funded by the Elliott Wildlife Values Project).
—Cybersecurity, introducing girls to age-appropriate online safety and privacy principles, information on how the internet works, and how to spot and investigate cybercrime (funded by Palo Alto Networks).
—Space Science, enabling girls to channel their inner NASA scientist as they learn about objects in space and how astronomers conduct investigations. (funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and led by the SETI Institute).
–Mechanical Engineering for Girl Scout Juniors, through which girls in grades 4 and 5 design paddle boats, cranes, and balloon-powered cars, learning about buoyancy, potential and kinetic energy, machines, and jet propulsion. Following last year’s introduction of Mechanical Engineering badges for girls in grades K–3, the addition of these badges for Girl Scout Juniors means that all Girl Scouts in elementary school can now have hands-on engineering experiences.
“Whether they are fighting cybercrime, exploring how engineers solve problems, or advocating for issues affecting their community, girls learn how to be their best selves through Girl Scouts,” said Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas CEO Jennifer Bartkowski. “I am thrilled that this new programming helps girls build essential skills they will need for the future. We believe in the power of all girls, and we invite them to strengthen their unique abilities by joining Girl Scouts.”
Girl Scout troops are now forming. Parents, caregivers, and community leaders are encouraged to sign up as volunteers. Interested families are invited to explore one of our local family-friendly “Join Events” hosted at local school campuses, community centers and libraries to discover what a girl can do when she’s learning, leading, going on adventures, and having fun at Girl Scouts. To learn more about Girl Scouts visit gsnetx.org/join.
Girl Scouts is building the next generation of female leaders and are key to unleashing the strength within every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™.
About Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas
Girl Scouts is building a pipeline of strong, confident girls. As the expert in how girls learn, Girl Scouts provides relevant programming that focuses on life skills, STEM, entrepreneurship and the outdoors – helping girls develop the confidence to know they can do anything they put their minds to. Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas serves more than 25,000 girls and 12,000 volunteers across 32 counties. In 2018, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas opened the STEM Center of Excellence, a 92-acre state-of-the-art camp just outside of Dallas where girls can experience programs in astronomy, robotics, coding, computer science and more. Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas was recognized as a 2018 Tech Titan Technology Advocate Finalist, 2017 Million Women Mentors Stand Up for STEM Award, and 2016 CNM Connect Nonprofit of the Year. Learn more at gsnetx.org or call 972-349-2400.
