UNOFFICIAL Memory Books!

Troop Leader Resources 8 Comments ambassadors, badges we don't need no stinkin badges, brownies, cadettes, daisies, gsusa, juniors, seniors, troop stuff

A few years ago, the Greater Iowa council came up with Memory Books for girls (and leaders too, I suppose). I vaguely remember what they looked like, but I thought it was a great idea, especially considering girls don’t have their own handbooks these days due to the way GSUSA has arranged national programming. GSUSA took the idea and ran with it, and soon afterward, published its own version in 2019:

August 21 2022

Two New OFFICIAL Scarves and a Surprise!

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 2 Comments OFFICIAL scarf

A few months, a couple of OFFICIAL scarves were put on sale on the GSUSA online shop which means they’re being retired. You can count on all OFFICIAL scarves being eventually put out to pasture, so if you see one you like, don’t wait to get it (unless it’s $150 and you want to wait it out for the inevitable mark down). But OFFICIAL scarf retirements mean that new ones will arrive! And arrive they did! Continue reading

August 16 2022

2022-23 National Programming Summaries

Troop Leader Resources 8 Comments ambassadors, badges we don't need no stinkin badges, brownies, cadettes, daisies, juniors, seniors, troop stuff

Addendum 8/6/23: You can find 2023-24’s summaries here.

A while back, I wanted to streamline the Badge Explorer (which has a lot of wasted space for printing) and include all of the awards that aren’t featured. So I put together these summaries of each level, and I update them every year. I’ve made them every year for the past few, and I recently realized I had never published them on my blog!

Updates for 2022-23 include:

Retired financial planning badges removed
New badges added
Global Action & World Thinking Day Awards added
Daisy petals updated

August 14 2022

Wherefore Art Thou, Journeys?

National Operations 11 Comments girls guides, gsle, gsusa, journeys, vtk

If you were around between 2008 and 2011 when the new national program called the Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) rolled out, you’ll know that a new type of content called Journeys was considered the new backbone of it. Badges, the staple of Girl Scouting throughout its history, took a back seat. Some might even say that Journeys were shoved down everybody’s throat. It took a while, but I think GSUSA reluctantly realized that you can lead a volunteer to a Journey, but you can’t make them do it. So through the years, some changes were quietly made.

All this time, I was under the impression that our national programming was still Journey-driven, but after writing my Tough Cookies Revisited paper, I realized this wasn’t the case. I think it’s OFFICIAL that we’ve moved back to a badge-centric national program. It seems obvious now, but I guess it just didn’t click with me until recently because Journeys were so heavily pushed when I began as a volunteer, and it stuck with me. They’re still required for the higher awards, but there’s not an emphasis on them like there used to be. The following is a rundown of the Journeys’ journey through the years and how they’ve faded into the background. Continue reading

July 29 2022

Online Smithsonian Collection and Archive List

Traditional Stuff 2 Comments history, OFFICIAL scarf, volunteer systems

It’s listed as a uniform belt but the image meta says it’s a hat.

If you’re like me, you love browsing through Girl Scout history. The Smithsonian has catalogued its Girl Scout items online and many of them include pictures! Here’s a link that will take you straight to its items, and I’ve narrowed it down further to only show items with pictures. Some of my thoughts:

Many of the items are identified incorrectly (like labeling badges as patches and mixing up BSA and GG items for GSUSA), but they’re still fun to look at.
You can stop at about page 11 because a bunch of non-Girl Scout items show up at that point. There might be a few things scattered after that, but I didn’t go much further.
It’s always a little disconcerting when you see things that you wore growing up labeled as vintage and historical.
I am not sure why this Girl Scout Glove Make-Up Kit got my attention, but I need to research it in the GS Catalog website to find out what exactly it is.
Alas, no OFFICIAL scarves were featured. If you want to see a display of them, check this out!

July 14 2022

GSG Survey about NCS Proposals

National Governance No Comments 2023 NCS, national council, national delegate

I’m cross-posting this here to get the word out. Please send this out far and wide!

YOUR voice is IMPORTANT as a part of the MEMBERSHIP of the Movement! GirlScoutGovernance.com is hosting a survey to hear what the membership has to say about potential 2023 National Council Session (NCS) proposals that were submitted to the National Board by councils for consideration of placement on the NCS agenda. Please share this survey with your National Delegates, service units, other volunteers, Girl Scout Seniors or Ambassadors, and staff so that the membership’s voice can be heard. Voting ends August 31, 2022. Results will be posted in early September on GSG and submitted to the Office of the National Board before the National Board meeting in late September.

Addendum 9/12/22: Results can be found published on GSG. Continue reading

July 7 2022

We Gather Here To Lay It To Rest

National Operations 2 Comments circlearound, gsusa

R.I.P. CircleAround. We hardly knew ye.

If you have no idea what I’m referring to, it’s probably best that you don’t know.

June 20 2022

Lawsuits and NCS Proposals Join Forces

National Governance No Comments 2023 NCS, blue book, cei, councils, democratic process, farthest north council, gsusa, membership dues, middle tennessee council, national board, national council, volunteer systems

I haven’t written all that much about the Middle Tennessee lawsuit other than one post last year and then a blurb back in March. From what I can tell, attorneys are still playing ping pong, and discovery is ongoing. I read online somewhere that the case would be heard in 2023, but I can’t find that reference now.

But recently, the Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana council submitted a proposal for consideration for the 2023 National Council Session agenda, and it’s related to the Middle Tennessee case. It involves an amendment to the GSUSA Constitution and the Credentials section in the Blue Book of Basic Documents. Continue reading

June 14 2022

A Spooky Governance Story

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 1 Comment camps, councils, delegate, democratic process, governance, gsusa

<<Spotlight on a group of Girl Scouts sitting around a campfire that’s starting to burn down to embers>>

Leader: It’s STORYTIME! But this story might get kind of scary, so prepare yourselves! <<holds flashlight under chin>>

Girl 1: Ooh, I love scary stories!

Girl 2: I dunno about this. <<looks around tentatively>>

Leader: It’s okay. It’s an educational scary story. It’s about what happens when council leadership doesn’t use the DEMOCRATIC PROCESS when making major decisions! Continue reading

June 1 2022

Trailblazers – The Second Year

Experiences as a Leader, Hikes & Outdoors No Comments backpacking, camping, hiking, leader issues, outdoors, trailblazers

Well, another year has passed, and we’re about to hit summer now. Last summer was a weird one. I was in a boot for a few weeks due to wearing shoes that didn’t have enough support at the beach which caused me to eventually develop a Morton’s Neuroma or something along those lines. It still bothers me from time to time, but I just ignore it and move on. It was also the Summer of *NSYNC. What will this summer bring?

Anyway, I just wanted to pull together a recap of the second year of our Trailblazer troop. It was a very different experience than our first year, so we’re still finding our way. So how was it different? Continue reading