The overall goal of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience program is to prepare girls for a lifetime of leadership, success, and adventure. Lori Wagner, executive director of the Crookston United Way, tells us about some of the Girl’s Scout activities. “They do a lot of different things like engaging, challenging, fun activities, earning badges, going on awesome trips. They sell cookies as we all know, we love girl scout cookies. They explore science getting outdoors and do community service projects.”
With the support of the United Way, Girl Scouts continues to provide Crookston area Girl Scouts with programming geared toward building the female leaders of tomorrow and empowering them to be Go-getters, Innovators, Risk-takers, and Leaders. In the past year, for example, four Girl Scouts in Crookston completed their Program Aide training to further their leadership skills and to allow them to assume a greater role in mentoring younger Girl Scouts at troop meetings and programs.
Girl Scouts is an opportunity to mobilize girls in their community and help them unleash their leadership potential. As they develop their skills, they identify needs in their community and take action to help others. In Crookston Girl Scout Troop #20065 conducts an annual cleanup of a two-mile stretch of ditches along the highway. Engaging with communities are exactly the kinds of skills and experiences that colleges, universities, and businesses hope to find on college and job applications.
At Girl Scouts, “Can I?” quickly turns into “I will!” A prime example of this is the Giddy Up program delivered annually at the University of Minnesota Crookston Campus as Wagner tells us more. “There were particular girls who when they arrived were too uncertain of the horses to even approach them and pet them,” said Wagner. “Throughout the day they learn about the horses, the parts of them, the types of saddles, how to care for them and ride them. They get up on the horses and have white knuckles on the saddles. Under the direction of the instructor, they spread their arms out wide and trotted in a circle with big smiles on their faces.”
The United Way funds not only allow Girls Scouts to support these great opportunities, but it also provides scholarships to ensure that all girls have access to the outcomes of the Girl Scout Leadership experience. Girl Scouts are very thankful to be a partner of the Crookston United Way for their active group of Girl Scouts –serving 37 girls right now in Fertile, Fosston, and Crookston. This is made possible through the support of 13 volunteers who guide and mentor the Girl Scouts. There’s an especially unique situation this year – there is an Exchange Student from Columbia that has registered with the local Troop. She was so excited about Girl Scouts that she got off of the plane in the U.S. wearing her Girl Scout Uniform. This reinforces that Girl Scouts share traditions with millions of other Girl Scouts and helps remind them that they belong to a big, powerful sisterhood.
