July 29 2021

Trailblazers Rebooted, Part Two

Experiences as a Leader    3 Comments    , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Part One, I wrote about our new Trailblazer troop and how it’s structured and formatted.  After I started writing, I realized I needed to break out our experiences from the logistics.  This one will be about the moments we had as a troop during our first year.

I’m entering my 12th year as a Girl Scout leader. I’ve found that there have been years that I look back on with a smile, and others, not so much.  Before this past year over a two year span, there were some bright spots, but overall it was a tumultuous experience on many levels.  There were times where I started to wonder if the door on this part of my life was beginning to close and it was time for me to move on to something else.  I told myself that we’d see how the Trailblazer troop played out, and I’d make a decision about what to do after that.

Then the pandemic hit and things were thrown for a loop.  The world came to a standstill. The National Council Session turned virtual, and three years of anticipation went out the window. Things dragged on throughout the summer, and I became very bored and wrote incessantly about the upcoming NCS.  But throughout it all, I put all of my hopes in our new Trailblazer troop’s kickoff.  We leaders met in-person in August to plan the year and crossed our fingers that we’d be able to pull it off.  I really cannot say enough about my co-leaders.  We work well together and come at things from different angles, which in my opinion gives us a well-rounded approach.  Continue reading

July 22 2021

Farthest North vs. GSUSA: It’s Over. Really Really Really.

National Governance    5 Comments    , , , , , ,

What?  Could it be?

The Farthest North Girl Scout Council (Farthest North) and Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) are happy to announce they have settled their two lawsuits. The parties are excited to put these litigations behind them, and look forward to working together to deliver Girl Scouts life-changing experiences to even more girls in Northern Alaska. GSUSA welcomes Farthest North to the common technology platform and turning the page on past differences. GSUSA and Farthest North remain wholeheartedly committed to our mission and ensuring that girls in our Movement have the opportunity to realize their biggest dreams and full potential.

God bless America.  Continue reading

July 14 2021

Trailblazers Rebooted

Experiences as a Leader    7 Comments    , , , , , , , , ,

Last year, I shared news that we were about to launch a new Trailblazer troop.  Well, we’ve got one year under our belts, and it was a success!  After I started writing this, I realized I’m going to have to split this up into two separate posts.  This one will be more about the format and structure of our troop, and the second one will be our personal experiences throughout the year.  I can’t wait to write that one because there were some amazing moments that I want to share.

To give you a little bit of history, my Senior co-leader and I were attempting to figure out what to do in the Fall of 2019 because we were flailing around with our Senior girls and were struggling with a variety of issues.  During that previous summer (2019), GSUSA announced that it was reviving the Trailblazer and Mariner programs.  I read up on it and ran the idea of creating a council-wide Trailblazer troop by Cheryl because the two of us tended to run a more outdoor based program.  She said it sounded good.  We talked to our girls and told them that we were considering starting a second troop, and we wanted to get their take.  We explained that this would fill a niche in the council that was sorely needed and give other girls experiences that they wouldn’t necessarily get if their troop didn’t do outdoor activities.  They were fine with it.

I feel very strongly about the Girl Scout program offering outdoor experiences for a variety of reasons.  First of all, it’s fun.  I also believe it’s something that we as a Movement should capitalize on because it’s something not many youth organizations and activities offer.  It’s a way we can set ourselves apart.  And most importantly, multiple studies have shown that spending time outdoors offers health benefits both mentally and physically.  I don’t have to tell you that everybody spends way too much time on electronics, so unplugging and getting outside is more important than ever.  The mental health of girls depends on it.  Continue reading

June 3 2021

Middle Tennessee Gets an Offer It Can’t Refuse

Opinions    19 Comments    , , , , , , ,

In early May, the Middle Tennessee council filed a lawsuit because GSUSA is going to pull its charter due to Middle TN’s refusal to adopt a common IT platform called CEI, which is short for Customer Engagement Initiative.  Believe or not, I’m going to write about a lawsuit that does NOT involve Farthest North!  Shocker!  Although, GSUSA is pulling FN’s charter for the same reason, so they are sort of related.  Originally, I wanted to wait and incorporate GSUSA’s response to Middle TN’s case, but it has 60 days to respond after the lawsuit was filed, and I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait that long.  So here we go.

Before you continue reading, I highly suggest that you first read my previous blog post called We’re Spending HOW Much on IT? if you haven’t already, because it will give you some perspective and background on CEI, how much it costs, and what it is.  Continue reading

May 25 2021

We’re Spending HOW Much on IT?

National Operations    6 Comments    , , ,

Recently, I fell down yet another rabbit hole, and believe it or not, I did it attempting to give GSUSA the benefit of the doubt for something I’ve railed about for years now. In a former life, I was an IT professional, so this speaks to me.  I’ve always been extremely critical of GSUSA when it comes to its IT expenses because I’ve always thought they were enormously expensive. GSUSA’s council-wide technology platform is called CEI, which stands for Customer Engagement Initiative. It’s also referred to as Volunteer Systems 2.0, but I’m going to stick with CEI since that’s what is used in later charts. Yes, there will be charts and dollar figures, so go get a cup of coffee now.

What is CEI exactly? In basic terms, it’s an IT system. It was piloted in 2014 and then slowly rolled out to councils in 2015. From a volunteer standpoint, you use it in the form of Volunteer Toolkit, gsLearn, Volunteer Systems (or MyGS), and possibly some other parts, depending on what your council has enabled. There are other backend components that council staff interact with. Its foundation is based on Salesforce, which is a customer relationship management service (among other things). GSUSA requires councils to be on CEI to fulfill their charters, but before “agreeing” to onboard CEI, councils are obligated to sign a technology agreement (aka a contract). One of the terms is that GSUSA can charge councils whatever it wants year to year. Currently, all councils are on CEI, except for two – Middle Tennessee and Farthest North – but more about that in a future post.  Continue reading

May 14 2021

If You Want Something Done Right… Membership Cards Edition

National Operations    3 Comments    , , , , , ,

Back in December, I offhandedly wrote about the membership cards found in MyGS and how they don’t print properly.  They also don’t feature the words GIRL SCOUTS anywhere.  Additionally, J-Low’s name should be listed as the Founder per the Blue Book.  That post unexpectedly went viral!  Who knew membership cards would be such a hot topic?

Soon afterward, I submitted a Customer Care ticket to GSUSA detailing the issues.  They routed it to my council who then lobbed it back to GSUSA.  I haven’t received an update about it since then.

Today, someone in our council’s UNOFFICIAL leaders Facebook group stated that she was having problems printing out membership cards and needed help.  I responded that I had notified The Powers That Be about the issue but hadn’t heard anything.  She thanked me and said she had hoped to print them off for her troop’s bridging ceremony later this month but she would just figure something else out.  Continue reading

May 4 2021

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Yank Their Charter

National Governance    20 Comments    , , , ,

I’ll just leave this right here:

Update from National Board and CEO

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) remains wholeheartedly committed to building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. GSUSA issues charters to over 100 local Girl Scout councils to bring our powerful mission to life with Girl Scouts throughout the country. The charters and our Girl Scout governing documents in the Blue Book of Basic Documents provide rights and obligations for local councils. While the chartering process is an internal Girl Scout business matter, good governance is the foundation of our organization’s ability to deliver on our mission—helping girls realize their biggest dreams and full potential. As such, GSUSA takes this process very seriously and conducts a thorough annual review of each council’s adherence to its charter obligations.  
Continue reading

April 21 2021

The Four Pillars Revisited

National Operations, Opinions    5 Comments    , , ,

This is a follow-up to my last post about revamping our program.   In it, I wrote:

Our program is based on four pillars – the Outdoors, STEM, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.  We should stick with those, but add Art into the mix too.  These five pillars should be the basis of our programming moving forward.

The current Four Pillars

A few days ago, I revisited these pillars.  I realized this whole time that I didn’t have the same definition of “Life Skills” that GSUSA has:  “By partaking in life skills programming, girls enhance the academic skills they learn in school through topics such as civic engagement, healthy living, communication skills, financial literacy, and global citizenship.”

Continue reading

March 25 2021

A Skills-Based Program Reset Button

National Operations, Opinions    9 Comments    , , , ,

“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.” — Maya Angelou

Unless you’ve been under a rock lately – a really big rock – we’re currently looking for a National CEO. Considering we’ve gone through three National CEOs in the past ten years, it goes without saying that we need to get this next hire right.  The incoming CEO will have a big job on her hands dealing with the fallout from a pandemic and the upheaval it’s brought.  But while it’s certainly an intimidating situation, it’s also a good opportunity to hit the reset button and get back on the right track.  Continue reading