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"Girl Scouts -- It's More than Cookies" - Gretchen Steenstra
So my disclaimer is I am not going to be tied into my slides, so if I ramble a little bit,
all these slides are about Girl Scouts so you'll get it. These are not props, they are
real cookies, so go ahead.
So when I started, my daughter said, "I want to join Girl Scouts." There was no troop,
so I decided I would try it out. I went to the training and it was all about being a
certified Girl Scout leader and these women were talking about how you had to teach girls
how to be leaders, and I was like, "In 2010? This is crazy!"
So they drill into it: Girl Scout Promise, Girl Scout Law, Girl Scout Creed, Girl Scout
Motto, and my friend and I were rolling our eyes through this entire training, saying
"This is not relevant today. This is insanity. We are not doing this."
We continued on with our training and continued to learn the Law, the Promise, the Motto,
you have to be leaders, leader, leader, leader. I also learned important thing on my overnight
training where it was 34°. A 0 degree sleeping bag keeps you alive. It does not make you
warm.
So, we decided to give it a try. We had all our manuals, our books, and we had these little
girls, and we asked them "What do you want to do?" They said, "We want to go camping."
So we said okay. We live in DC so there's all these opportunities and interesting things
you can do with Girl Scouts in DC. They wanted to go camp. So we had... These are my first
kids. You're gonna make me cry now. And the motto is the adults' job is to teach safety
and parameters but the girls make all the decisions, and they took that to heart.
And so my seven-year-old started to say to me, "Miss Gretchen, that is our job. That
is not your job." And they started to embrace that ownership within the first year. So what
did they want to do first? Make a fire. And they were six- and seven-year-old kids! And
so my husband's an Eagle Scout, so we compared fire. Boys Scouts don't learn to make a fire
until they're 10 or 12. Girl Scouts learn when they're ready. My kids were ready when
they were six and seven and my husband was horrified that I was teaching and we also
didn't tell our parents about it.
So this is one of my girls, Mika. After we built this fire, she wanted to cook over an
open fire. And again is my first year and these are six- and seven-year-olds. So I said,
"You're in charge, you can make breakfast," and she was so proud of herself.
My other rule is no parents are allowed to go camping with us because this is the first
time some of these overscheduled kids have been alone without their parents. And I spend
hours with them, crying and coaching them, and they were so proud the next morning when
they woke up.
Rules, which I thought they would not want to follow. They make these paper charts which
are how you run things and the kids own this. And they remind me all the time my job is
safety and being a driver. I thought they would want to do interesting things with technology
and innovation. My kids wanted to learn how to sew. So we sewed 30 blankets for the Linus
Project - by hand.
And then they wanted to do a river cleanup project so we did that, too. So as we went
along we had all these a-ha moments that these veterans were right. That you do have to teach
these kids how do this. That leadership is about empowerment and giving them the opportunity,
and then you have to stand back and let them fail.
And there's cookies!
So my first year I was not going to sell cookies because I was so tired of selling wrapping
paper and nuts and popcorn. I told the kids we're going to skip that and there was a revolt
in my troop.
So we needed to get some more. I also learned that people are addicted to Girl Scout Cookies.
So I brought some for you to share. But the kids LOVED it. And I also learned that this
was another oppportunity for kids to be in control of their own destiny. We make trips
based on how many boxes of cookies it takes to sell. Camping is 300 boxes of cookies.
They have to learn about safety. How to approach people. They manage the money. And they embraced
it. I didn't have to do anything. I have to tell them to stop.
So Girl Scouts sells 175 million boxes of cookies in 90 days. Every single year. And
I think the power of that is that the kids are so excited. And you see these sweet little
six and seven year olds. They own it.
So now I am old school. And when I teach people about Girl Scouts I say You have to know the
fundamentals. You have to know the leadership qualities. You have to understand the motto
of Girl Scouts. And the kids will take it from there. So I encourage you to find some
time to learn from kids. And these are just a few organizations that I've heard people
enjoy. Of course, I endorse Girl Scouts. I highly recommend this for everybody. Thank
you.