New Girl Scout LEadership Experience

In fall 2008, Girl Scouts of the USA will launch the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience designed to provide girls with expanded leadership opportunities. From projects to improve our environment to assisting victims of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, each year 2.6 million Girl Scouts take the lead in bettering their communities and the world. Girl leaders have been at the heart of Girl Scouts since its founding in 1912, when Juliette Gordon Low recognized that nurturing girls’ leadership abilities would ensure their roles as change-makers of the future.

Fall 2008 marks the beginning of the transition to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. GSUSA is providing guidance on managing membership and program over the next several years with specific attention to:

New Membership Grade Levels
New Program Resources and Awards (Journeys)
Existing Resources and Awards
Girl Scout Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards
National Outcome Strategies
Preparing Adults for Change
Purposeful Leadership
Girl Scout Pathways
Uniforms

Click on the following downloads for more information:

The “Journeys” are coming!

Today’s busy Girl Scout volunteers have been asking for easy ways to guide girls through the wealth of experiences that Girl Scouting offers. This fall, those requests will be answered as we launch the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience at each grade level. Easy-to-use companion adult guides will accompany each leadership journey and are designed to help volunteers guide girls easily through fun and meaningful experiences. The adult guides will also help volunteers to understand and observe the impact of the program on girls’ lives.

Click on the following download for more information:

Details about the Journeys

What is a Leadership Journey?

A leadership journey is the exciting new way of working with girls in a series of themed activities focused on building specific leadership skills. Journeys generally are designed in a six to eight session framework, and are fully customizable by girls and volunteers. In partnership with girls, volunteers can add outings, celebrations, and explorations that suit the journey’s theme and the girls’ interests. Journeys can be stretched over a Girl Scout year or done over the course of a few weeks or months. While journeys offer plenty of choices for girls, the companion adult guides will provide the “roadmap” volunteers want.

Girls of all ages and from across the country contributed their ideas and feedback to make the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience a reality. Girls said they wanted challenging experiences and an exciting, contemporary “look” for books and awards. They also shared, in no uncertain terms, what “leadership” means to them.

Download the Full GSUSA Research Review of Exploring Girls Leadership here.

How do these journeys benefit girls?

Leadership journeys intentionally guide girls to be leaders in their own lives and as they grow. Experiences in each journey are tied to the three keys to leadership that are at the heart of the Girl Scout philosophy of leadership:

DISCOVER: Girls understand themselves and their values and use their knowledge and skills to explore the world

CONNECT: Girls care about, inspire and team with others locally and globally and

TAKE ACTION: Girls act to make the world a better place.

How will I know that girls in my group are benefiting from the journeys?

Each adult guidebook describes how the experiences in that journey tie into the national leadership outcomes. Fifteen national leadership outcomes, or benefits of the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience, were identified by GSUSA in tandem with youth development and education experts. Knowing these outcomes, and the “signs” of these outcomes in girls, makes it possible to see the impact you are having on girls’ lives. You will find the outcomes and their signs built right into your adult guide.

Transforming Leadership, a new book published by GSUSA, outlines the Discover-Connect-Take Action framework of the 15 outcomes, and helps adults to understand how girls will benefit from the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience now and in the future.

Download the Transforming Leadership Book from GSUSA
Download FAQs about Outcomes and Transforming Leadership