Girl Scouts and Barbie® Partner on Career Exploration Activities!

Today, Barbie® and Girl Scouts of the USA announced a unique partnership to create the Barbie® “Be Anything, Do Everything” patch. The participation patch is designed to inspire the next generation of female leaders, encouraging girls to explore endless career possibilities through exciting new program activities.

With upwards of 135 diverse careers under her belt, Barbie® has been a trailblazer for more than five decades. And for more than a century, GSUSA has been the premier leadership organization dedicated to building girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. In the spirit of the aspirational career path of Barbie® and GSUSA’s heritage, the “Be Anything, Do Everything” participation patch allows Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies (girls in kindergarten through third grade) to explore career choices through the “I Can Be…” activity booklet.

“Together with Girl Scouts, we hope to inspire young leaders and help girls explore all their career possibilities," said Cathy Cline, vice president of U.S. marketing, Mattel Girls Brands. “For over 50 years, Barbie has encouraged girls to dream and explore a world without limits. This partnership allows us to reach girls with an empowering message and provide them with a new platform from which to discover and dream.”

And as Anna Marie Chávez, Girl Scouts’ CEO, said, “This partnership will allow Girl Scouts to offer an engaging and interactive new leadership experience, one that leverages the appeal of Barbie in order to encourage girls to explore exciting new career possibilities. We are tying the fun girls have playing with Barbie to an opportunity to gain insight into the careers of today and tomorrow, with patches and discovery along the way. Like Girl Scouts, Barbie is an American icon; together, we are teaching girls that their futures are wide open with possibilities, and that they can accomplish anything they set their sights on in their careers.”

The Barbie®-GSUSA partnership is founded on activities that encourage and inspire girls around the country to explore a variety of careers.

Throwback Thursday: Girl Scout Space PSA 1976

In the below video, an intergalactic investigation finds that Girl Scouts needs volunteers! Today, volunteering opportunities with Girl Scouts are tailored to fit your calendar, your skills, and your interests. Your time as a volunteer will provide girls the free and safe environment they need to pursue whatever interests, causes, and leadership roles are most important to them. With your support, girls will stand up, stand out, and stand tall.

Explore what being a volunteer could mean for you. We know what it means for girls. Find out more here.

Check Out Some Awesome Recipes on Girl Scouts For Girls Site

Did you know that the Girl Scouts For Girls site has some pretty awesome recipes? They do. Here are a couple favorites!

Cuban Sandwich—Taken from: The Junior Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting

Ingredients and Instructions

1 tablespoon yellow or Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 sandwich roll

2 slices Swiss cheese

2 slices ham or roasted turkey

4 dill pickle slices

Butter, for toasting

Spread mustard and mayo over both halves of roll. Place first slice of cheese on bottom of roll. Top with meat, pickles, second slice of cheese, and top of roll. (This construction will help the cheese melt.) Push down as hard as you can, squashing the sandwich.

Toast sandwich, if desired. Butter outside of roll on both sides. Place in a frying pan and toast on each side over high heat for about 2 minutes, or until lightly browned. (You can also use a sandwich press or countertop grill press.) Let cool a bit, then enjoy!

Makes 1 sandwich.

Garden Charmoula from Morocco—Taken from: Sow What?—An It’s Your Planet—Love It! Journey

This is a popular Moroccan dressing or condiment that can be made with fresh herbs right from your garden. Toss it with pasta, potatoes, lentils, or anything that needs some spicing up.

Ingredients

1 cup flat Italian parsley, washed and stems removed

Handful of cilantro, washed and stems removed

Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped

4 to 6 tablespoons virgin olive oil

1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Optional: Powdered chipotle pepper or hot paprika. Roughly chop the parsley and cilantro leaves and place in small bowl. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Let mixture sit, up to one hour, to allow the flavors to blend. Add a pinch of powdered chipotle pepper or hot paprika, if desired.

Makes approximately 1/2 cup.

Find your favorites here!

Girl Scouts Coast to Coast - August 12, 2013

Today's Coast to Coast has hot air balloons, Tyvek purse production and much more. Check it out!

New Jersey’s Hunterdon County Democrat reports that Girl Scouts recently got together on a very early morning to check out the hot air balloons during the first balloon launch at the annual Quick Chek Festival of Ballooning. During a hot air balloon demonstration, girls were able to go inside a hot air balloon. The girls learned from experienced hot air balloon owner, Keith Sproul, how propane thins the air to make the balloons rise. Girls also learned one of the basic scientific principles of ballooning. In order for hot air balloons to rise and float through the air, the air inside the balloon must be lighter than the air on the outside of the balloon.

WXIA TV II in Gainesville, GA, reports that a group of women who are leaders in local government recently helped Girl Scouts earn a badge. Judge Patty Walters led the girls through a courthouse tour while teaching of compromise and meditation, along with the voting process. Other female officials were there to help out.

In Wisconsin, the Beloit Daily News reports that Girl Scouts from surrounding communities participated in the Girl Scout Art Exploration program. One of the afternoon projects was to create purses out of Tyvek construction material. Tyvek can typically be obtained from construction companies. Pieces of Tyvek were heated together and sealed and then turned inside out. The girls could then decorate their creations with colored plastic stones, feathers and more. They also made handles or straps out of yarn and other materials.

New Jersey’s Atlantic Highlands Herald reports that The United States Air Force selected Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore robotics coach, Richard Morgan, as one of only 24 mentors to the Second Annual FIRST Leadership Program at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. As coach of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore’s robotics team, Morgan introduces girls to programming by creating robotic structures that move and make sound. His robotics team is a part of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program that provides opportunities to girls of all ages in enhancing their education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

New Canaan News reports that Girl Scouts of Connecticut will host the 20th anniversary Woman of Merit dinner on Thursday, Sept. 12. The Woman of Merit award recognizes leaders who demonstrate the Girl Scout values of leadership, personal achievement and service to the community. This year, Emmy award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Diane Smith will serve as emcee. Girl Scouts of Connecticut will be honoring IBM's chief information officer, Jeanette Horan. The company is responsible for equipping IBMers with the technology and tools they need to better support clients and achieve IBM's objectives.

Girl Scouts Unveils Imagine Your STEM Future, National Program for High School Girls

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) unveiled today Imagine Your STEM Future, a national activity series designed to engage high school girls in and inspire them toward careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The activity series, which consists of four flexible units that pique girls' interest in STEM careers and helps them begin to match their interests and skills with jobs in those high-demand sectors, will be available for schools or other hosting sites to have in place this fall, when girls return to school.

"Two things are clear: STEM is part of the future of the U.S. economy, and so are girls," says Anna Maria Chávez, chief executive officer of GSUSA. "Girls are half the talent, skill and innovation that will be the future workforce of this nation. We need to do whatever it takes to engage more girls in STEM, to help them realize a place in tomorrow's economy.   That's what Imagine Your STEM Future is about."

"We've created a nationally scalable program to help girls at the pivotal point of high school.  With 100 years of girls' leadership expertise behind us, we're ready to bring that to bear on getting girls where they need to for a successful future.  Engaging girls in STEM is critical for all of us and the future of the U.S. economy."

Activities vary in complexity to make the program interesting for a broad range of girls grades 9-12. Because the program aligns with national education curriculum standards, it can be used by schools to complement curriculum, as an after-school series, in spring break camps, or at other venues. Throughout the program, teens develop a STEM self-concept where they realize they have explored and learned about STEM subjects, but only after they've had the fun.

Imagine Your STEM Future has already been piloted with more than 6,000 underserved teenage girls across the United States, with positive results. In post-evaluation research done by the Girl Scout Research Institute, girls said that the program increased their interest in STEM, led them to become more informed about STEM careers, helped them realize how important it is to take math and science in school, strengthened their critical thinking and problem solving abilities, and increased their confidence in their STEM skills.

The Girl Scout program comes amid increasing national attention on STEM and girls. A 2012 study by the Girl Scouts Research Institute titled Generation STEM: What Girls Say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math found that 74 percent of girls surveyed are interested in STEM though only a small percent say it's their first choice as a career.  Yet according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM careers are growing at five times the rate of other occupations, with nine of the 10 fastest-growing occupations needing significant scientific or math training by year 2018.

Girl Scouts of Orange County is a Voice for Girls

GirlScouts of Orange County reports that nearly 150 Orange County business and community leaders came together recently for a lively discussion on the strategic case for women’s leadership.  Voice for Girls 2013, hosted by Girl Scouts of Orange County and sponsored by UnitedHealthcare, featured a keynote address by acclaimed author and leadership expert Sally Helgesen, an interactive panel with Orange County girls, and voices of local  leaders.

This is the second year that Girl Scouts has hosted Voice for Girls to rally the community around the support for girls and their leadership potential.  This year’s event honed in on the unique strengths women bring to the workplace and why those strengths are critical to the success of today’s organizations.

Five Orange County Girl Scouts participated in an interactive panel, sharing with Orange County business leaders  how they are already using skills like building and leveraging relationships, organization, and goal-setting to make a difference in their community.  Urmila Janardan, a 12th grade Girl Scout, is working to bring back the journalism program at Trabuco Hills High School.  She found that the school newspaper brought her community together, and she recruited other students, lobbied the school administration, and found a teacher interested in teaching the journalism class.  Although Urmila won’t be at Trabuco Hills High School next year to participate in the program because she’ll be attending UCLA as a freshman in the fall, she is committed to bringing the program back because she believes it’s critical for students approaching voting age to be able to express their thoughts and concerns about the world around them.

After the panel, the girls posed questions to Orange County leaders to glean insight into the local leadership landscape.  Business and community leaders then had the opportunity to ask questions of the future leaders and learn more about what they need to be successful in the workplace.  The girls shared their perspectives on everything from education (girls need more opportunities to explore STEM fields) to their personal challenges with taking on leadership roles.