Eff Yeah, Girl Scouts!

Aren’t you too old to be a Girl Scout?

November 13, 2011

As I currently sit in the Houston Hobby airport, the ending of convention is a very bittersweet experience. Even though I’m exhausted beyond belief and have two midterms within the next 48 hours, I’m not ready for it to end. This weekend has been absolutely amazing and has surpassed each and every last one of my expectations. Alas, the only problem is, I’m going home with more passion and inspiration than I can handle. In fact, as I called my Grandmother to tell her of all the huge plans I have in store, her response was “Oh great, more things to focus on besides school. This is why we don’t like sending you to these things.” Of course, she was only joking, as she completely supports each of my endeavors and encourages me through all of the outrageous ideas and plans I have. With one caveat, however: I must continue to do well in school.

As I head back to Berkeley, I must continue to struggle with the delicate balance of school and extracurricular activities. Between internships, Girl Scouts, leadership roles, and sorority life, it can get tricky at times. Now, more inspired than ever, I go home with three major project ideas underway: to found the first college sorority for Girl Scouts, to write a proposal for the next National Council Session, and to get the Gold Award Mentors’ Network up and running. Luckily for me, I have a wealth of opportunity available in the Bay Area. In fact, Malia Mailes (YWOD 2010) and Vrinda Agarwal (YWOD 2011) are both freshmen at UC Berkeley and I have/will definitely be reaching out to them for support in getting all of these projects off the ground. Yet, these projects only address one side of my passion for social change.

As a Girl Scout of 15 years, I have seen how far the organization has come. Yet, looking to the world around me, I can also see how far it has to go. The unfortunate fact is that, it is not that Girl Scouts isn’t already doing an amazing job at churning out powerful and influential women, it’s that society is neglecting to respect Girl Scouts as the organization partially, or fully, responsible for their leadership.

You know, I don’t know what rock I was living under for the first 16 years of my life, but it wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I discovered that men and women were still unequal. I had no idea of the pay difference between genders, nor did I know of the male bias that was present in the workforce. In fact, just this weekend, my mind was blown away by the statistic that less than 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and that women make up only 17% of congress. As a woman studying political science and nonprofit management, I had absolutely no idea that the gap is still this wide.

Although I’m only 19 years old, my social network consists of incredibly powerful youth. In fact, I would bet money on the fact that I, very personally, know the person whom will be our President around 15-20 years from now (when we’re all of age to run, of course). Moreover, because of my wide range of involvements in Girl Scouts, most of these youth in my network are women. It has been this way my entire life and I have never known anything different. I never knew that the girls I called my friends would grow up to be the 3% or the 17% whom are undervalued as problem solvers in our world. I never knew that, when I would tell my elementary school teachers that I wanted to be the first female President, there would be less than a 3% chance of achieving my goal and even less of a chance that I would be valued as a female leader – in any capacity.

On Saturday, at Business Meeting #2, the entire delegation was given the opportunity to answer this question: “If resources were unlimited, what is your wildest dream for Girl Scouting?” After thinking about the question and conversing with our neighbors for a while, we were given the opportunity to speak at the microphones and tell the delegation about our dream.

As a college student, I’ve experienced first hand the sad truth that, once girls graduate high school, they go missing from the Girl Scout movement until, one day, twenty years later, these girls have children of their own and think, “Oh! I should really sign my daughter up for Scouts!” and enter the movement once again as troop leaders. Let me first say that troop leaders are of the utmost importance because, without these women, there would be no Girl Scouts. However, we are missing our opportunity to capitalize on the vibrant resources that 18-30 year old Girl Scouts can offer.

These women, although they may not be impressively accomplished professionals, hold the potential to further the Girl Scout movement in more ways than we can imagine. These women are insightful, innovative, and on the cutting edge of, not only technology and social media, but politics and social change as well. They are well-educated, informed, powerful, knowledgeable, and willing to donate their time, energy, and money to the cause that nurtured them through their younger years. They have the opportunity to advocate the “this-is-what-Girl-Scouts-can-do-after-you-graduate” factor across a multitude of sectors in the country. These women can make Girl Scouts “cool” to the middle and high school girl struggling with the “closet Girl Scout phase.” So, why in the world are we ignoring them?

As a college sophomore, I have basically two options for continuing my Girl Scout career: start a troop or volunteer. With a busy class schedule, I just knew that I wasn’t at the point in my life where I could be a consisted and reliable leader of young girls. However, I also knew that there was no way I was ready to give up my Girl Scout title.

Two months before I had even moved up to Berkeley, I began contacting the local Girl Scout council, GS NoCal, to find out how I could get involved. After a seemingly-infinite number of phone calls, they finally placed me in the Universe Quest program (which I’ve posted about previously) where I was actually able to earn money working with a small STEM-based “troop” of middle school girls.

Although I absolutely loved and cherished this opportunity, it was simply too much of a commitment for me. Between driving the long distance from Berkeley to the middle schools, preparing for the classes, and actually teaching the classes, it was a time commitment I wasn’t ready to make as a college student. I continued through the end of the school year, but never asked for that position once I came back in the fall. Quickly, my first avenue of being involved in Girl Scouts had disappeared.

Next, I attempted to start a Campus Girl Scouts group at Berkeley. However, as you can imagine, that was an incredibly hard group to market. College students simply don’t understand (1) how you can be a Girl Scout after 8th grade, and (2) why they would want to get involved now. Again, that option was quickly shot down as I couldn’t find students to be members of the club.

So, here I am, today. A strong, passionate, and dedicated member of the Girl Scout movement and I struggle to simply find a place where I still fit in to that movement. Yes, I have other organizations to be involved in, yes, my time is stretched thin as a student, but never will I find something I love and believe in more than Girl Scouting. I don’t want to join Habitat for Humanity, Rotaract, Alpha Phi Omega, or any other service group on campus. Instead, I want a way that I can continue to be a valued and utilized member of Scouts, where I can pass my courage, confidence, and character on to the next generation of girls. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I am not the only woman (or man) in existence who feels this way. So why are we letting this untapped potential go to waste?

I tell you this story to help you understand why my dream for Girl Scouting, although it may not appear this way, is one that we must quickly make a reality. It may not seem as urgent as revitalizing the badge programs, finding more funding, or keeping up with social media, however, I can assure you that, once we begin to nurture each member of our movement, no matter the age, everything else will fall into place. With that said, as a proud Girl Scout Alumna, I dream of a day when I will never again be asked, “aren’t you too old to be a Girl Scout?”

I excitedly look forward to what the future holds for Girl Scouts and all whom are involved in the organization. One day, we will be known, not just for our cookies, but because we are the girls and women whom are actively changing the world around us.

I realize that this post has touched on so many subtopics that are simply far too dense to write about in a single sitting. However, I look forward to deconstructing the ideas, statistics, and projects I’ve presented in future posts. So, I hope you will all stick around to read them as we get closer to the end of 2011 and to entering 2012: the Year of the Girl!

—Marissa

Visit my blog at marissavessels.com for more Girl Scout-related posts!