Discover, Connect and Take Action II


Connect  - In Girl Scouting girls learn to connect with other girls, adults and even with ideas … Girls who are part of a Girl Scout Troop are often lucky enough to have a built-in set of friends, along with a caring group of adults to support them.  These friendships can go with a girl throughout her life.  -- I’m still friends with Sandy Chojnowski, who was in my Brownie Troop in 1958!  
 Girl Scouting also takes girls outside their comfortzone and helps them to connect with other girls, and with a wide range of people in their community and beyond. Camping and Girl Scout destinations! offer great opportunities for expanded connections within the Girl Scout family.  Participating in the Girl Scout Cookie Program® can connect girls with the public, and with the world of commerce and business.
Providing quality customer service is a prime connection that even a child will understand and value.  Everyone appreciates being treated with a smile and a few kinds words during any business transaction, and Girl Scouts gives each girl the opportunity to experience that kind of successful connection.
 
Community service projects can give girls the opportunity to meet new people, explore careers, and connect with community leaders.  This year our 74 girls who received the Girl Scout Gold Award made connections as varied as working directly with younger children, approaching their school administrators on a new recycling project and providing supplies for needy children in the rural south.  They did intergenerational projects with their elders and they produced entertainment and athletic events that brought their communities together.
 
Through Girl Scouting I’ve had the privilege to connect with our elected officials and with Girl Scouts and Girl Scout Leaders from across our Council and around the world. While waiting for the evening show at Walt Disney World’s MGM Park, I met a Troop of girls and their Leaders from Kansas.  In Honolulu I was wearing my Girl Scout hat while standing in line at a concession stand.  A gentleman tapped me on the shoulder  and asked if I was part of Girl Scouts in Nassau County, New York.  I said yes, and introduced myself.  When he introduced himself, I recognized his name as a donor who had just given our Council $2000 to support our work in the Hispanic community – Small world!
 
In 2002 I hosted a group of Girl Guides from El Salvador, and I still hear from one of them regularly on Facebook. While traveling in London last year, it was easy to identify Girl Scouts and Girl Guides who were traveling in uniform and I got to feel that same sense of connection that I have here at home when I'm visiting an Association event, or encountering a Booth Sale at my local super market.  
 
I’m looking forward to using this blog as another way to connect with my Girl Scout sisters … Next we’ll tackle the Girl Scout Key- Take Action.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Make a Sit-Upon Using a Reusable Shopping Bag

How To...Tie a Girl Scout Scarf

Working at a Girl Scout Camp by Maggie Robinson