HowGirl ScoutingBenefits Girls

Girl Scouts has been around for more than 100 years and it’s become a tradi-tion for a reason. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of what all the fuss is about. Maybe you think it’s all uniforms and camping or maybe you don’t think about Girl Scouts until you see those booths pop up in February with delicious cook-ies. Well, camping and cookies are absolutely a reason to join, but there’s so much more to it than that.

Girl Scouts helps girls influence the world around them.One of the fundamental tenets of Girl Scouts is that it builds girls of courage, confidence and character – all skills that can benefit a girl as she grows into adulthood by giving her a foundation for leadership. Girls are faced with a lot of pitfalls on this journey and you can’t understate how important it is for them to face the world with a belief in their own abilities and without fear of limitations.

Did you know that in a recent study conducted by the Girl Scout Research In-stitute, Girl Scouts – compared to non-Girl Scouts – are more likely to:

❧ Have confidence in themselves and their abilities, and are happier with who they are as a person.

❧ Act ethically, honestly, and responsibly, and show concern for others. ❧ Take appropriate risks, try new things (even if they might fail) and learn from their mistakes.

❧ Develop and maintain healthy relationships by communicating their feel-ings directly and resolving conflict constructively.

❧ Desire to contribute to the world in purposeful and meaningful ways, learn how to identify problems in the community and create “action plans” to solve them.

Girl Scouts helps girls do well in the classroom and beyond!So – school is tough. There are tons of peer pressures that might influence a girl throughout their school age years. And while Girl Scouts can not change that, what we can do is teach girls the courage, confidence and character to resist those pressures.

Girl Scouts are more likely to earn “excellent” grades than non-Girl Scouts. And, although most girls – regardless of Girl Scout status – expect to grad-uate from high school, Girl Scouts are more likely than non-Girl Scouts to have college graduation in their sights.

Because of the confidence Girl Scouts have built, they are more likely to have positive expectations about their future. Hope for the future has been linked to success in school as hopeful youth are more goal-oriented and can overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams.

Girl Scouts are more likely than non–Girl Scouts to have adults in their lives who help them pursue their goals and think about their future. Indeed, at Girl Scouts, adult volunteers push girls to be the best they can be and ex-pand their possibilities by connecting them to people, ideas, and experienc-es to help them grow.

3 IN 4girls say that because of Girl Scouts, they have become a leader in more

activities with their friends, classmates, as well as in their community!

So. Much. Awesome. Fun.Yes, leadership and business skills are all well and good, but let’s talk about adventure. Girl Scouts has that, too. Learn CPR, explore marksmanship, build working circuit boards, build kites, learn SCUBA diving or snorkeling, ride horses, attend a play and become a skilled archer – and that’s just a sample of the many adventures girls go on in Girl Scouts! It goes beyond just council-planned events. Troops can discuss and plan their own adventures to suit their interests. Whether with a troop, as an individual or with the whole family (brothers, too!), there are so many activities that girls and adults can engage in to expand horizons or hone skills. Girl Scouts opens the doors – and you get to run through them!

Girls are having unique experiences through their outdoor participation. Ninety-seven percent of girls participated in at least one outdoor program in Girl Scouts during the school year, and nearly 40% participated on a monthly basis. More than 70% of girls said they first tried an outdoor activity in Girl Scouts, and half said they could not have done one if not for Girl Scouts.

A Girl Scout Impacts Her CommunityCommunity Service is an important part of growing as a Girl Scout. Girls are encouraged to give back and improve the world around them from the very start and it becomes even more of a focus as early as 4th grade when girls begin planning their Girl Scout Bronze Award. They progress on this path into high school where it all culminates in the Highest Award in Girl Scouting: the Girl Scout Gold Award. Girls earn the Gold Award by dedicating 80+ hours to executing a sustainable project that benefits their community and beyond. It requires dedication, planning and extraordinary leadership. And, you know what? It looks great on a college application.

Girls who engage in Take Action projects (especially through the Bronze, Sil-ver, and Gold Awards) report that these projects helped prepare them to play an active role in their communities in the future.

of girls agree that “Girl Scouts is fun!”

95%

We’re Not Afraid to Embrace TechnologyYeah, we like to get outdoors as much as possible but there’s also a time and place to plop down in front of a computer and learn programming. Or build a robot. Or design a world-changing invention. Girl Scouts has programs that allow girls to see that they, too, can build toward a future that involves sci-ence, technology, engineering and math.

Girls learn specific STEM and leadership skills—such as perseverance in the face of challenging problems, the ability to build and design things, and the ability to think of different ways to solve a problem before deciding on a solution—through Girl Scout STEM programming.

In fact, more Girl Scouts than non-Girl Scouts desire careers in STEM (Sci-ence, Technology, Engineering, and Math), law or business; industries in which women are underrepresented.

And that’s not all…While these are all amazing reasons to be a Girl Scout, its really only the tip of the ice burg. It’s hard to even go into everything Girl Scouts can do for a girl, because the opportunities are endless and each leader, parent, girl or volunteer gets to design their own path.

Ultimately, the most important thing to remember – whether you’re an adult volunteer or a girl earning her first patch – is that you’re part of something that builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who makes the world a better place.

74%74% of girls in Imagine Your STEM Future agree that in the program, they learned more by doing things than

by being told things.