Girl Scout Troop Leader Experience Podcast Interview
Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 1 Comment 
alien biscuits, farthest north council, membership dues, memories all alone in the moonlight, troop 20, troop 2562, troop stuff
A few weeks ago, I was approached by the Girl Scout Troop Leader Experience Podcast (formerly the Girl Scout Volunteer Connection Podcast) and asked if I would be interested in being interviewed for a podcast. I said sure, why not? I warned Sarah, the host, that she might lose some listeners, but she said that was okay and she’d take that risk. 😉
If you’re brave enough to listen to it, I share some of my memories with my troop growing up (including the infamous Alien Biscuits story), experiences as a current leader, and some thoughts on the Farthest North vs. GSUSA case regarding membership dues.
There are a variety of ways to listen to this podcast. You can download it via iTunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-with-amy-brown-of-girl-scouts-with-a-cause-gssc-mm/id1439828810?i=1000454147121
Or play it directly from the website here: http://girlscoutpodcast.com/interview-with-amy-brown-of-girl-scouts-with-a-cause-gssc-mm
Or if this works for you, it’s embedded here:
There might be more podcasts from me in the future, so be sure to subscribe!
In 2009 Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (GSGCNWI) started their 
This will be a quick hitter, but I just wanted to share that I’m creating a YouTube series. I try to present some sort of enrichment after each of our service unit leader meetings, but not everybody can make them. Last year, I sent out a survey to our service unit asking how they wanted to receive UNOFFICIAL trainings, and I was surprised at the number who wanted a webinar format. Well, webinars are hard to schedule, so instead I thought I’d record my presentations instead. I figured recording them live at the meetings wouldn’t be very effective, so maybe I’d try out recording the presentation directly from my laptop the same way I recorded the goofy 
But how do we do this? That was the $64,000 question. Everybody these days is struggling to get volunteers. Many parents want to find troops, but there aren’t very many that want to step up and take the reigns to start a brand new one. I realized that we needed to take a new approach. In the past, it seems like our organization just relied on recruiting girls but crossing our fingers that the leaders and new troops would follow. We needed to be more aggressive. We go all out to show that Girl Scouts gives girls opportunities and an experience that they wouldn’t necessarily have elsewhere. Well, what if we showed women that they’ll also get that in return if they become a leader? Side note: I realize men can be leaders too. In fact, we have a male leader in our service unit! But for this, we specifically targeted women.
You may have noticed I’ve been AWOL lately. It’s been one crazy summer, but not like the John Cusack movie. June started off kinda slow, but then July has gone into overdrive. Here’s what I’m in the middle of right now, and I’ll keep it somewhat short because I’m going in a thousand directions all at once. But I wanted to briefly check in so that you all didn’t think the Girl Scout mafia finally caught up to me.
GSUSA has recently put a focus on bringing civics education to the forefront. On June 3rd, they hosted a webcast that was livestreamed entitled Civics Education: Preparing the Next Generation of Informed and Engaged Citizens. It’s described on GSUSA’s website as such: “This nonpartisan event is an opportunity for community leaders, public officials, and education experts to consider how out-of-school civics programs can prepare the next generation to be involved citizens with a deeper understanding of their government —both now and for the rest of their lives.” It’s archived on their website and can be found here: 