1

Frequently Asked Questions

New Program Content from Girl Scouts of the USA Get Ready! New Program Content Coming for Back to Troop 2019–20

Here’s what’s new for Back to Troop 2019–2020:

BADGES

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Coding for Good Three badges per level for all levels (Daisies-Ambassadors)

Girls learn how to code computer programs that can make a difference in the world. They learn some of the basic concepts of coding, explore how to develop a videogame, and go through the app development process.

Cybersecurity Three badges per level for Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors

Girls learn how computers and the internet work and apply the concepts of safety and protection to the technology they use every day. These badges are developed in partnership with the Cyber Innovation Center.

Space Science

Space Science Researcher o Cadettes discover more about the amazing properties of light, and how we use

it to make discoveries about the Universe and space science.

Space Science Expert o Seniors learn about the Universe—their place in it—and how light is used to

make discoveries about it.

Space Science Master o Ambassadors explore space science and ways they can be a part of NASA now

and in the future.

2

OUTDOOR High Adventure

Daisy Trail Adventure o Daisies choose between taking an adventurous jog or playing hiking games.

Brownie Trail Adventure o Brownies choose between trail running or taking three different types of hikes

(such as a night hike, beach hike, and color hike).

Junior Trail Adventure o Juniors choose between trail running—for at least a mile, if possible—or taking

three longer day hikes.

Cadette Trail Adventure o Cadettes choose between a 3-mile trail run or a trail hiking challenge that

includes a trail covering significant elevation challenges, a trail covering a great distance, and a trail on a new type of a terrain.

Senior Trail Adventure o Seniors choose between competitive trail running and a 3-day, 2-night

backpacking trip.

Ambassador Trail Adventure o Ambassadors choose between coaching another girl in trail running or

completing a 5-day, 4-night backpacking trip.

Daisy Snow or Climbing Adventure o Daisies choose between playing in snow or bouldering on a rock-climbing wall

in an indoor gym.   

Brownie Snow or Climbing Adventure o Brownies choose between cross-country skiing or rock climbing on an indoor

or outdoor climbing wall.   

Junior Snow or Climbing Adventure o Juniors choose between snowboarding/skiing or recreational tree-climbing

(using ropes and harnesses).

Cadette Snow or Climbing Adventure o Cadettes choose between snowboarding/skiing or outdoor climbing with a top-

rope climbing system.

3

Senior Snow or Climbing Adventure o Seniors choose between an overnight snow camping trip or a 2-day outdoor

climbing trip.

Ambassador Snow or Climbing Adventure o Ambassadors choose between a 3-day winter backpacking trip in the

backcountry or a 3-day outdoor climbing trip.  JOURNEYS

Outdoor STEM Think Like a Citizen Scientist (Cadettes, Seniors, Ambassadors & Multi-level 6–12)

o Girls learn how scientists use the scientific method to find answers to scientific

questions and solve problems. They make observations and collect data to better

understand their environment and take part in a citizen science project. Girls will also

Take Action on a problem they care about. They’ll brainstorm issues, explore the root

causes, and decide on one problem to address as a group. They use the scientific

method to plan, create, and present their sustainable Take Action project.

GLOBAL AWARDS 2020 World Thinking Day Award On February 22 of each year, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world

celebrate World Thinking Day by doing the same activities around a shared theme. The 2020 World Thinking Day Theme is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In this year’s activities, girls expand their understanding of these concepts and practice the skills to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and complete a Take Action project to make their communities more equitable and inclusive. Although World Thinking Day is February 22, girls can earn this award at any point during the year!

2020 Global Action Award Every year, the Girl Scout Global Action award addresses the United Nations

Global Goals for Sustainable Development. To honor the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, in 2020 this award focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Girls can earn their Global Action award by discovering what gender equality means, connecting with the issue in their community and around the world, and completing a Take Action project to make our world a more equal place.

4

ENTREPRENEURIAL AWARDS

Cookie Entrepreneur Family Award

The new Cookie Entrepreneur Family Pin will allow parents to see the power of the cookie program first hand, while engaging their family in developing a girl’s individual skills through her cookie experience. There are 6 sets of requirements, one for each grade level, and a girl can earn a unique pin each year she is a Girl Scout.

Now, the Frequently Asked Questions!

GENERAL

Will the Girl Scout National Proficiency badge logs and charts be updated? Yes. The National Proficiency badge charts and award logs will be updated for all levels and will be available on girlscouts.org by September 2019.

5

Has there been an updated badge placement chart for the vests/sashes? The Girl Scout Merchandising team is working on the updated diagrams now. They will be updated for all levels on girlscouts.org by September 2019.

What is the policy for girls doing badges outside of their age level? Badges are carefully designed to be developmentally appropriate for girls, and to provide them with appropriate progression and things to look forward to. Therefore, we hope girls will stick to earning the badges for their level, master those skills, and be excited about getting to do new badges as they grow in Girl Scouting.

How will Juliettes and individually registered girls get this information? Individually registered girls will be able to purchase badge booklets from their council shops and add them to The Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting. Their parent/caregiver will also be able to access them through the VTK (see page 10).

Do the new Journey awards physically fit together like the old Journey awards into one large linked award? No, they are not in that format.

Will the three-piece Journey awards go away? No, they will remain the awards for the three original Journeys. That has not changed.

Why do all the Take Action awards look the same? By creating one design for each grade level, people will be able to see at a glance how many Take Action projects a girl did as she progressed through Girl Scouts.

Would a girl earn multiple Take Action awards? One for each Journey they do? Yes.

Will girls be able to earn the LiA award when working with younger girls on the STEM and Outdoor Journeys? Yes. There is new information about earning the LiA with the newer Journeys in the Resource section of the Volunteer Toolkit.

How will the new Journeys impact the Summit award and its prerequisites? Girls will still earn the Summit award once they have completed ANY three Journeys for their grade level, including the newer Journeys.

Are the Journey and Take Action awards separately awarded? The Take Action project is a key element of completing a Journey. A Journey is not complete until a Take Action project has been done. For example, although volunteers can give the girls the STEM-specific award after the third meeting if they wish, the Journey has not been completed until the Take Action project is done.

6

OUTDOOR

Are additional resources available to support the facilitation of the new High Adventure badges? The High Adventure badges seek to push girls further into the outdoors than ever before. To support our councils and volunteers in achieving this goal, GSUSA is releasing a toolkit on Playbook via gsConnect in August 2019. The High Adventure Badge Activation Toolkit will include topic-specific badge overviews and talking point guides for engaging outdoor retailers and activity experts for each badge. The toolkit serves as a “pick and go” document. Councils can PICK a badge topic, pull the related resources, and get their girls GOING!

If a girl does both of the activities in a High Adventure badge, can she earn the badge twice? Yes. If a girl wants to do both a snow and climbing activity, for example, and she completes all five steps for each, she may receive two badges.

STEM

What is the new STEM program for Back to Troop 2019?

New Journey for Cadettes/Seniors/Ambassadors/Multi-level 6–12 Think Like a Citizen Scientist

New badges for Cadettes/Seniors/Ambassadors

Coding for Good (3 per level) Cybersecurity (3 per grade level) Space Science (1 per grade level)

New badges for Daisies/Brownies/Juniors Coding for Good (3 per level)

Do girls need computers or other devices to do the Coding for Good badges? No. The Coding for Good badges are unplugged—no device needed! This means girls can learn about coding without using a computer. In fact, it’s often more effective! In addition, the “unplugged” activities give every girl the opportunity to earn the badges, even if she doesn’t own a device. However, if girls want to practice coding on a computer as part of the badges, girls in grades K–5 can use CodeSpark Academy, a program that teaches kids, especially girls, the basics of coding. Girls in grades 6–12 can use VidCode, a web-based platform that teaches creative coding through JavaScript. In each badge meeting plan on VTK, you’ll find the Coding for Good Badges—Plug It In meeting aid with more information on how to access these platforms and support girls through the plugged activities.

7

When girls do the new STEM Journey, does their Take Action project have to involve citizen science?

No, this isn’t required (although girls can if they want to!). In the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey, girls learn about citizen science, the scientific method, and how scientists use both to answer scientific questions, solve problems, and learn more about the world.

When girls develop a Take Action project, they can use what they learned about the scientific method and collecting data to develop their project: how to observe problems in their community, collect data and research on what causes and can solve the problem, develop a possible solution, and put it into action

When girls use scientific method to take action, they’re thinking like scientists to make the world a better place.

Please note that completing another citizen science project is not enough for the Take Action project, but girls can use what they’ve found by doing a citizen science project to take action—for example, if they completed Stream Selfie, the troop may have discovered trash or pollution which they can bring to city council’s attention.

How can I guide girls who do want to develop Take Action projects that focus on citizen science? Check out the Girl Scout Take Action Guide for the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey, available in the Meeting Aids section on the VTK. The guide includes the following information:

o Take Action: Your Path to Silver and Gold o How to Make Your Project Sustainable o Your Take Action Talent Inventory o Your Take Action Decision Bracket o Finding Take Action Inspiration o Take Action Project Examples (This includes 10 project examples; approximately half

address STEM issues.)

COOKIE ENTREPRENEUR FAMILY PIN AND COOKIE ACTIVITY PIN What is the Cookie Entrepreneur Family pin? The NEW Cookie Entrepreneur Family pin enables families to support girls as they learn to think like entrepreneurs through the Girl Scout Cookie™ Program. Each Girl Scout grade level has its own set of requirements to help families guide their Girl Scout as she runs her own cookie business year after year. Girls can earn all 13 pins in the collection—one unique pin for each year they participate.

8

What happened to the Cookie Activity pin? We are retiring the Cookie Activity pin after the 2018–19 season. Remaining pins will be available for sale while supplies last. Check for availability at your local council’s store or at www.girlscoutshop.com. What is the structure of the new Cookie Entrepreneur Family pin? There are six sets of requirements, one for each Girl Scout grade level. Girls can earn a pin each year she participates in the Girl Scout Cookie Program and meets the requirements. While the requirements don’t change from year to year within a grade level, the girl and how she approaches the requirements will change. Girls earn a year 1 and year 2 version of the pin (plus a year 3 for Girl Scout Cadettes) within their grade level. This structure is similar to the My Promise, My Faith award structure. Why did the pin requirements change?

The Cookie Activity pin had one set of requirements for all grade levels. To provide a

robust programmatic experience, differentiate the experience by grade level and set it

apart from the Cookie Business badge requirements, we decided to take the learning

to the family level where girls are implementing many parts of their Girl Scout Cookie

Program.

Families are an important element of the Foundational Girl Scout Experience and play

a key role in supporting a girl’s Girl Scout Cookie Business. Girls often prepare for the

Girl Scout Cookie Program in their troop, earning Financial Literacy and Cookie

Business badges as they gain five skills: goal setting, decision making, money

management, people skills, and business ethics. We recognize girls are often

practicing these skills at home, too, as they sell Girl Scout Cookies with support from

their families. This new recognition will help families support girls as they develop the

five skills and learn to think like an entrepreneur at home.

Why is the pin changing? The Girl Scout Cookie program is an important part of our movement history giving girls the power to do good in the world. Reimagining the Cookie Activity pin gives us the opportunity to update the pin design to bring the image of our famous Girl Scout Cookies to the front of the uniform. We’ve also seen leaders and parents searching the internet for a missing pin from a particular year. This new pin collection will be evergreen, meaning Girl Scout shops will have the supplies on hand year around. The design changes as girls progress through the program versus the design changing each year. Does the pin carry over from uniform to uniform? The Cookie Entrepreneur Family pin is designed to stay on the grade level uniform. The only pins that carry over from uniform to uniform are the World Trefoil pin, Highest Awards, Journey Summit awards, Membership Stars and Discs, and Life Saving awards. The previous

9

Cookie Activity pin was also designed to stay on the grade level uniform, but some girls decided to carry them over from year to year. We do not encourage uniform policing. Where will the requirements for the pin live, and when will they be accessible? The requirements will live in the following locations by July 16, 2019:

o On the VTK in the Resources tab and as a meeting aid in all Cookie Business badges

o On girlscoutcookies.org/entrepreneurfamily for download

o On the Brand Center and Playbook for council download. Councils can print and

distribute if they choose.

What about girls who do not have a traditional family environment? Girls live in many different environments. This is exactly why we chose the word family: in order to include every girl and her own definition of family. This might be brothers and sisters, extended family, foster family, or the caring adult/caregiver closest to her.

VOLUNTEER TOOLKIT

What is the Volunteer Toolkit? The Volunteer Toolkit (or VTK) was designed to support troop leaders in planning and delivering program content through troop meetings to girls. Now, the VTK is available for service unit/administrative volunteers as well as Juliettes/individually registered girls, as determined by council staff. The VTK helps to consolidate resources into one digital tool to save time and assist with planning the Girl Scout year, meeting agendas, and troop management. How do I access the VTK? From your council homepage, look for “Sign in” or “myGS” in the upper right corner—click on that and select “Volunteer Toolkit.”

Do I need to use a certain browser? The VTK works best on Chrome. If you experience issues, be sure to clear your browser cache.

I’m having trouble using the VTK; I’m receiving error messages. VTK access is dependent on your membership status and role. You need to have current membership status for the upcoming membership year by June 30 to have uninterrupted access to the VTK, as well as having an active volunteer role assigned to you. We suggest contacting your council for further support. Where can I find VTK training, tutorials, or guides? On your council website under Online Support for Volunteers there are four short tutorial videos focused on the Volunteer Toolkit.

10

Can co-leaders of the same troop access the VTK? Yes! All troop leaders/co-leaders in the same troop have access to the same account. Any edits/changes made by one leader will apply to and be visible by all the other leaders—so coordination between leaders is important. If I have a Multi-level troop, can all leaders view the VTK? Yes. VTK defaults to the program level identified at the time of registration; it’s based on the troop number. If one large troop is working in patrols at the grade level with just one troop number, one VTK account is to be shared amongst all troop leaders. Why don’t administrative volunteers, including council trainers, have access to the VTK? They do! As of July 2019 councils have the ability to allow indirect volunteers access to the VTK. How will administrative volunteers who are planning service unit events or day camps access the new program? Councils have the ability to allow VTK access to administrative volunteers as they see it is needed. Do all members of a SU Team have access to the same VTK? No, each volunteer within the campaign will have their own VTK account that cannot be edited by anyone else.

When will parents of individually registered girls have access to the VTK? As of July 2019, councils will have the ability to allow Juliette/IRG caregivers access to the VTK.

Does the primary caregiver of an IRG have to be registered to get access to the VTK or only the girl? Only the girl. What if a Juliette/IRG gets placed in a troop after setting up their VTK? The family will need to download any information they would like to keep, such as achievement records or their Year Plan. Once they are moved into the troop, access to their IRG account in VTK will be disabled.

Can VTK users view program content for grade levels besides their own? Older girls need to see younger girl content, especially for LiA. Yes! All users can view badges, Journeys, and awards for all levels from the Year Plan tab and also through the Resources tab. Is VTK available for Multi-level troops?

11

Yes! There are meetings set up just for Multi-level troops in grades K–5 and 6–12, but these troops can also mix and match other content from the Add Badge/Journey /library on the Year Plan tab. When will the Finance tab be activated, and when will councils be able to view the reports? Each council makes the decision about when to activate the Finance tab. The Finance tab is a way for troop leaders to submit their end-of-year financial report to their council. Parents have a “read only” view of this data. Councils receive individual troop reports, as well as an aggregated report of all troops in their council. (Service unit/admin users as well as Juliettes/IRGs do not have access to this tab.)

Are volunteers able to upload their own resources to VTK? No, however, they can add a custom event to the Year Plan. For example, if there is a field trip to the fire station or they’re attending a council event, these items can be added to the troop Year Plan. Troop leaders can also edit and customize an existing meeting plan as needed. For example, if they wanted to add an activity for the meeting or adjust the time needed for various agenda items, they are able to do that. How do I find a list of what is available in VTK? From the Resources tab, under each program level there is a Badge & Journey Overview link. Browse items before you use them in your Year Plan. Can you mix Journey and badge meetings? Can Year Plans be customized? Can I add/remove options or rearrange content? Yes! There are so many ways to mix and match content on the VTK. Start from the Explore tab with a Select Your Own Year Plan, or you can add badges/Journeys from the link on the Year Plan. Delete meetings you don’t want on your plan or replace them with others. To rearrange within the Year Plan, just drag and drop! Can VTK be used for someone who leads 3 different troops or has multiple types of volunteer roles? Yes! The troop leader can toggle between troop accounts using the gray dropdown on the VTK. If a member has different types of roles (such as troop leader, service unit manager, and parent) the VTK will also show those accounts in the drop down as well. Are there plans to make VTK an app? VTK is set up to be a mobile responsive page so it can easily be viewed on a smartphone or tablet. There are no immediate plans to build a separate app just for VTK. What is included in the archive that happens in July each year? The archive includes Year Plan and meeting details (dates, times, and locations) as well as any submitted financial reports. No girl-specific data such as attendance or achievement data will be archived.

12

What is the Global Button on the VTK? Like the Outdoor Button, which provides alternative outdoor options for some activities on the VTK, the Global Button offers girls and their leaders the option to approach an activity with a global perspective. For example, Brownies on the Wonders of Water Journey might be asked to explore different ways girls collect water around the world. This year the Global Button is available in the three classic Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Journeys: It’s Your Planet—Love It!, It’s Your Story—Tell It!, and It’s Your World—Change It!; the button will be added to additional Journeys in future years. What other global content is available on the VTK? NEW: Open the GATE: Girl Scouts’ Girls’ Access to Education Toolkit which includes Open the GATE, a game that invites girls to explore what girls around the world need to get a high-quality education and achieve their dreams, as well as guidance for troop leaders to prepare girls to learn about sensitive issues, and how to act on what they learned through civic engagement, advocacy, or a Take Action project. This toolkit is available as a downloadable PDF in the Resources tab of the VTK. Global Action Days Toolkit, a resource for troop leaders and volunteers to celebrate nine international days of action with Girl Scouts. By celebrating three of the days (not including World Thinking Day), girls can earn a Global Action Days patch, available if your council opted in to receive the free patches. This toolkit is available as a downloadable PDF in the Resources tab of the VTK.