Prnewsnow Reach the World NOW

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Girl Scouts Continue to Change With the Times but They Stay Grounded...



The typical image of a Girl Scout is a little girl in a Brownie uniform, selling cookies, singing by a campfire, or making a noodle necklace. Today's Girl Scouts are doing much more than that. Today's Girl Scouts could be learning about forensic science one day, explore business and finance another day, and the next, organizing a service project that impacts the community and the world.



The Girl Scout program is based on the Girl Scout Promise and Law, but the program continues to evolve. Gone are badges and interest projects in sewing and differentiating slices of meat. Today's badges reflect girls' interests and needs, including physical fitness, managing stress, the arts, the environment, other cultures, and community service. Girl Scouts, the premiere organization for girls ages 5-17, builds character, courage, and confidence in girls with the support and guidance of trained mentors, while providing fun and educational activities and exciting opportunities that they can not get anywhere else.



Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania is now taking registrations for the upcoming school year. Any girl ages 5-17 is welcome to join the fun. Parents or guardians can register by calling 215-564-2030, ext. 226 or going online to www.gssp.org.



Community service remains a mainstay for Girl Scouts. However, today's Girl Scouts are using the Girl Scout program to create service projects that broadly impact their local community, the region, and the world. Brownie Troop 9 out of Lansdowne, conducted a clothing, toy, and blanket drive last winter. The girls and their leaders decided they wanted to do something to help the children of Iraq and launched the community drive. They collected 3,500 pounds of clothes, blankets, and soccer balls for Iraqi children. The girls arranged to ship the goods overseas with help from ABF Freight, National Air Cargo, and a subsidiary of Halliburton. The items were distributed through the Iraqi Assistance Center.



Other troop based activities that have impacted the local neighborhoods throughout the region include: a series of programs a the Dresher Hill Rehabilitation Home, to brighten the days of its residents; the council-wide Baby Bundles campaign for which girls collect baby items that are distributed to needy families, through local agencies; neighborhood clean ups; painting rooms in churches; knitting blankets for the needy; and cutting their hair for Locks of Love.



One of the key focuses of service in Girl Scouts is the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. Girls must finish a series of activities to earn these honors with the Gold Award being the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Each award requires the girl to perform some type of community service. The pinnacle of the Gold Award is a service project that the girl must create and lead. The project should be something that can exist after the girl has finished it. Recent Gold Award projects have included: an awareness campaign for Long QT Syndrome (SADS) that resulted in a Congressman's participation, starting an Amnesty International Chapter at a high school, creating a special education curriculum that a school district implemented, creating outdoor cookbooks, painting a mural at a train station, and coordinating and creating leaflets regarding nutrition and cystic fibrosis for a children's hospital.



Since 1912, Girl Scouts has been the preeminent place for girls to develop into strong women. When Juliette Gordon Low founded the program she wanted to create a place where girls would be given the opportunity to grow and move beyond their isolated home environments and into community service. Today's Girl Scouts maintain Juliette Low's sense of adventure, albeit in a very modern way. While times have changed, Girl Scouts is still the preeminent place for young women to develop into leaders in their homes, their communities, and their worlds. Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania is one of over 300 Girl Scout Councils in the United States. In Girl Scouts, girls participate in fun, educational activities that build character, confidence, and courage and encourage them to discover, lead, and take action in today's ever changing world. Serving eastern Montgomery, Philadelphia and Delaware counties, the council serves more than 21,000 adult and girl members.



For more information, call Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania at 215-564-2030, ext. 226 or log on to the GSSP web site at www.gssp.org.






Prnewsnow Reach the World NOW

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

This article has been robotically scanned and tagged by Prnewsnow with the following search tags. No human manipulation of these tags take place.
| Bankruptcy | Business Owners | new bankruptcy laws |




Last 1000 Articles Submitted XML FEEDS FOR ORGANIZED NEWS