For many of us, myself included, it’s easy to forget that an organization like the Girl Scouts still exists. My personal experience with Girl Scouts ended when, as a Brownie, I went to sleep-away camp where my mother was a counselor. When I found out I had to share a tent with other girls I didn’t know, I refused and slept in my mother’s tent. That was the end of my Girl Scout days. (For those of you who don’t know, my nickname at that time of my life WAS "SHY"!)
So a few months ago when I was referred to the Girl Scouts
USA organization to help 10 of their girls prepare presentations for an
upcoming conference, I was intrigued. I
was informed that these 10 girls had been selected to be recognized as National Young Women of Distinction. They
had been selected from thousands of girls across the country who had created
Gold Award “Take Action” Projects.
According to the GIRL SCOUTS USA website:
To earn her Gold Award, a Girl Scout
Senior or Ambassador (These are
Girl Scouts age 16-19) designs and helms a “Take Action” project that: - She is passionate about—in thought, deed, and action
- Incorporates organizational, leadership, and networking skills
- Fulfills a need within her community (whether local or global)
- Creates change that has the potential to be ongoing
- A traveling mini-van that brings education, food, and hygiene to homeless street children in the Philippines.
- A martial arts program taught to a girl’s school in India so that they could gain confidence and feel safer dealing with what’s called “Eve-Shaming”:
- A heavily researched documentary on Human Trafficking AND another heavily researched documentary on Child Pornography;
