October 16 2025

A Moment for Macy

Opinions    6 Comments    , , , ,

Last Tuesday, GSUSA released a statement about its property strategy. I didn’t think much about it until one line stopped me dead in my tracks:

Following an intense study and evaluation of Edith Macy, in partnership with internal and external experts, GSUSA recommended, and the National Board approved the full sale of the property.

I was so stunned by this sentence that I literally could not process it mentally. I think it took about an hour before the news really sunk in.

I always thought due to its significant history that Macy was “safe.” Sure, GSUSA had unloaded National Center West and Rockwood through the years, but Macy seemed to be untouchable in my mind. Until now. Continue reading

September 10 2025

Governance Challenges on the Local Level

Opinions    11 Comments    , , , , , , , , ,

If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been a big advocate for healthy governance within Girl Scouting for quite a while now, and I’ve attempted to take action to shore up what I see as deficiencies including starting a website devoted to Girl Scout governance, writing a National Council Session proposal establishing a task group to study governance within the Movement, and authoring a white paper in 2019 about restoring the democratic process to Girl Scouting. Steps have been taken on the national scale by GSUSA to initiate a deep dive into governance which includes a partnership with Harvard, but it’s limited to a national scope. While I’m happy to see some action, I’m a little skeptical if there will be any long term effects because of where we stand with local governance. I question how we can model good governance nationally when we’re struggling to implement it successfully on the council level. But recently, I realized I’ve never really written in-depth about council governance models, so that brings me to this post where I will delve into it and also discuss what I foresee as a possible trend. Continue reading

August 31 2025

A Bit of Personal News

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    3 Comments    ,

RONR was my close companion for the months leading up to the RP exam!

I usually keep my private business quiet, but I thought I’d share this bit of news with you. At the end of July, I took the Registered Parliamentarian examination through the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) with the hopes of becoming a credentialed Registered Parliamentarian (RP). I found out recently that I passed the test, so I’m now an OFFICIAL RP!

So what’s involved with this? First, you must join NAP which requires an easy 40 question test on parliamentary procedure. Within NAP, there are two levels of credentialing: Registered Parliamentarian (RP) and Professional Registered Parliamentarian (PRP). The RP exam consists of two sections. The first section features 100 multiple choice questions while the second section includes five essay questions. You must score an 80% on each section in order to pass. A year after you become an RP, you are qualified to take the PRP exam. The PRP exam is much more involved, and travel is necessary because it involves in-person testing such as serving as a presiding officer for a meeting and presenting to a panel in addition to a written test. Continue reading

August 23 2025

Updated UNOFFICIAL Memory Books for 2025-2026

Troop Leader Resources    3 Comments    , , , , , , ,

And here’s what you’ve been waiting for! I’m publishing the latest version of the UNOFFICIAL Memory Books for Membership Year 2025-2026. In case you’re wondering what these are, they are a (sort of) recreation of the Memory Books that GSUSA published a few years ago. The concept was nice, but the execution was a little lacking due to the way our national programming rolls out new content every year. These UNOFFICIAL memory books can be printed onto 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper and placed in a 3 ring binder so that pages can be added (or removed) as the leader or girl sees fit.  You can read more about the concept on the original blog post. Note that these only provide badge requirement summaries. Requirements can be found in the badge booklets or VTK.

These new versions include the new body image badges released over the summer and the new Leadership Awards for Juniors through Ambassadors. I removed the badges that were quietly retired including My Best Self (Brownie), Staying Fit (Junior), Eating for You (Cadette), and Women’s Health (Senior). I also updated the design for the Cadette Animal Helpers badge. You can find the retired badges (along with previous years’) in a separate file that I’ve included below. In case you only want the new body image badges, I’ve pulled those out into their own file as well. Continue reading

August 10 2025

Updated Badge, Journey, and Award Summaries for 2025-26

Troop Leader Resources    No Comments    , , , , , , ,

It’s that time of year again! Here are updated Badge, Journey, and Award summaries for all levels for Membership Year 2025-26.

Updates include the new badges for all levels plus the new Leadership Awards for Juniors through Ambassadors. I also updated the Animal Helper badge for Cadettes with the new design and summary. Journeys (and any related awards) were updated with a note that they will be retired in October of 2026. Note that these are just summaries of the badge requirements, not the requirements themselves. Requirements can be found in Volunteer Tool Kit, downloaded from the GSUSA store, or purchased in council stores.

Also, these badges have been retired:

  • My Best Self (Brownie)
  • Staying Fit (Junior)
  • Eating for You (Cadette)
  • Women’s Health (Senior)

The following are links to PDF files stored on Dropbox. You shouldn’t need a Dropbox account in order to download them. Just click off the box and then a Download button should appear in the top right corner.

Continue reading

August 2 2025

Challenges in Our Trailblazers Program

Experiences as a Leader    9 Comments    , , , ,

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that since 2020, I’ve been attempting to get some sort of outdoor program for older girls up and running in my council. I haven’t provided an update since my last post about visiting the Adventurers in the Skyline council, so the following encompasses some rambling thoughts about what’s going on.

Here’s a little bit of history in case you’re just now joining us.  In the summer of 2019, GSUSA released guidelines to resurrect Trailblazer and Mariner troops targeting girls in 8th through 12th grade. My co-leader and I decided to set up a council-wide Trailblazer troop in the fall of 2019 and recruited leaders from different parts of the council. We kicked off in the fall of 2020, and our first year was a resounding success due largely in part to the fact that all other activities had been cancelled due to covid regulations. We filled up for every event and had waiting lists for most of them. The second year still went well, although we didn’t have as many girls attend our events overall. However, by the third year, the world had gone back to normal, and we were dead in the water. We cancelled all but one event due to a lack of registrants, and interest in the troop was low. During this time, two other Trailblazer troops tried to make a go of it and weren’t successful either. We didn’t want to give up on the idea though, so we tried partnering with our council and got rid of the troop model but still called ourselves Trailblazers M2M. In other words, a girl didn’t have to join a TB troop in order to participate, and our events were advertised on the council calendar and open to any girl in 8th through 12th grade. We did a little better, but some events were still cancelled due to low registration. Continue reading

June 28 2025

A Plethora of Proposals

National Governance    6 Comments    , , , , , , ,

Things have changed a little bit on the backend when it comes to the National Council Session (NCS) proposal procedure, and pretty much all of it has been out of my sight due to my not being a National Delegate and a change of inside sources. In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, I’m referring to proposals that are submitted by councils for consideration on the NCS agenda. The way it works is that according to the GSUSA Constitution, council proposals that gain 15% (17) of endorsements from other councils automatically get placed on the agenda, unless it involves a Constitutional amendment, and if that’s the case, then the National Board makes the sole determination. You may not like that last bit, but it’s just part of the check & balance system of the Constitution. Note that a council endorsement doesn’t mean that a council necessarily is in favor of the proposal – it just means its leadership believes that the proposal should be debated at the NCS. Continue reading

May 28 2025

GSUSA Partners with Harvard on Governance

National Governance    9 Comments    , , , ,

A couple of people sent me this press release recently posted on the National Delegate website:

We are pleased to announce that the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Center for Public Leadership is partnering with GSUSA to conduct an assessment of GSUSA’s governance processes. The project will be led by Marshall Ganz, the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society, who brings decades of practice in teaching, researching, and writing on leadership. The Harvard team will partner with GSUSA staff and leadership to develop criteria for assessing the strengths of our Movement governance model, identify opportunities to learn from comparable organizations, and recommend improvements to Movement governance including ways of working and overall effectiveness. This external assessment is intended to complement the ongoing Movement governance assessment launched by the National Board in September 2023 and the work of the Movement Governance Advisory Team. The Harvard research team is eager to understand the experience and perspectives of National Council delegates. You may receive an email from senior researcher Alaina Segura [e-mail removed] inviting you to participate in surveys, focus groups, or interviews. Your participation is optional. The Harvard team will also meet with members of the National Board and the Movement Governance Advisory Team (MGAT) as part of its assessment. The Harvard team will share their insights with the National Board and MGAT in late fall 2025 so that MGAT can use the findings to inform their final report on Movement governance, to be delivered no later than the 58th National Council Session in July 2026. We look forward to collaborating with our National Council delegates on this important assessment of Movement Governance. Should you have any questions, please reach out to the Office of the National Board (boardoffice@girlscouts.org).  Continue reading

May 13 2025

A Blue Book Mystery of Majority

National Governance    4 Comments    , ,

I haven’t posted much lately, but I’ve been keeping myself busy doing non-Girl Scout things. Have I mentioned that I’m studying to become a certified parliamentarian? Yes, I recently joined the National Association of Parliamentarians, and hopefully come this July, I will pass the Registered Parliamentarian exam and become an official parliamentarian. I’ve been talking about doing this for about six years now, and it’s finally time that I put my money where my mouth is and actually do this thing. Eventually, I’d like to become a Professional Registered Parliamentarian, but first things first.

I’m taking a quick break from studying to indulge my inner nerd on a topic that will probably lull most of you to sleep – our own Blue Book (BB). For some reason, I find bylaws and other governing documents fascinating to study, and our collection of governing documents called the Blue Book of Basic Documents is one of my favorites. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I actually have a Blue Book collection dating all the way back to 1920! You might wonder what you can do with a Blue Book collection, but I’ve referred back to them quite a few times attempting to scratch an itch in my quirky curiosity. I don’t believe I’ve ever shared one of my research topics, but I figure it’s time to let you in on one. But in order to do that, you’ll have to stay awake long enough for a brief lesson in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR). Continue reading