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guiascouts.com Girl Scouts of the USA History Scouts groups National organization Girl Scout Promise Special programs Awards and badges

Awards and badges

A Girl Scout working on her Gold Award project.Members can earn awards appropriate for their age level. Originally called badges, the terminology has changed to Learning Petals for Daisies, Try-Its for Brownies, Badges for Juniors, and Charms and Interest Project awards for Cadettes,Seniors,and Ambassadors (older girls).

The highest achievement in Girl Scouting is the Girl Scout Gold Award, which can only be earned by Seniors and Ambassadors. Cadettes and Juniors can earn the Silver Award and Bronze Award, respectively. These awards require large-scale service projects showing leadership along with service hours. The service projects must improve a current situation, such as restoring the eroded banks of a stream.

Girls can also earn and display on their uniform awards from outside organizations, such as the religious emblems from religious organizations, or the President's Volunteer Service Award. Scouts can also receive awards for lifesaving and leadership. The Honor Pin recognizes an adult member who has delivered exceptional service beyond expectations to two or more geographic areas, service units or program delivery audiences in a way that furthers the council's goals.
 

Impact on American life


Among the many famous American Girl Scouts are Lucille Ball, Katie Couric, Dakota Fanning, and Elizabeth Dole. Many Girl Scouts have become successful leaders in numerous professional fields such as law, medicine, politics, journalism, and science. Beginning with Lou Henry Hoover, the incumbent First Lady has served as the Honorary President of GSUSA. Lou Henry Hoover was also the actual President of the Girl Scouts from 1922–1925 and Chairman of the National Board of Directors from 1925–1928.

During World War I and World War II, Scouts helped the Allied forces by selling defense bonds, growing victory gardens, and collecting waste fat and scrap iron. Girl Scouts also spread their values into their communities through community service projects such as soup kitchens and food drives.

Controversies

No official stand on sexuality issues
Girl Scouts of the USA stated in an October 1991 letter:

As a private organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. respects the values and beliefs of each of its members and does not intrude into personal matters. Therefore, there are no membership policies on sexual preference. However, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. has firm standards relating to the appropriate conduct of adult volunteers and staff. The Girl Scout organization does not condone or permit sexual displays of any sort by its members during Girl Scout activities, nor does it permit the advocacy or promotion of a personal lifestyle or sexual preference. These are private matters for girls and their families to address.

GSUSA upholds a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on sexuality. The debate over this issue is split between those who feel that the policy is insufficient in preventing discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and those who question the inclusion of homosexuals.


To Serve God in the Promise
In early 1992, the Totem Girl Scout Council suggested changing the promise to make it possible for girls who did not believe in a monotheistic god to join. In November 1992, the parents of Nitzya Cuevas-Macias sued for their daughter to be permitted to participate even though she refused to promise to serve God.

On October 23, 1993, the Girl Scouts of the USA voted 1,560-375[45] to permit individuals to substitute another word or phrase for "God" in their promise.

"THAT, since the Girl Scout organization makes no attempt to interpret or define the word 'God' but encourages members to establish for themselves the nature of their spiritual beliefs, it is the policy of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. that individuals when making the Girl Scout Promise may substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word 'God'."

with the explanation that

"For some individuals, the word 'God', no matter how broadly interpreted, does not appropriately reflect their spiritual beliefs. Since the belief in a spiritual principle is fundamental to Girl Scouting, not the word used to define that belief, it is important that individuals have the opportunity to express that belief in wording meaningful to them. It is essential to maintain the spiritual foundation of Girl Scouting, yet be inclusive of the full range of spiritual beliefs. This [policy change] does not take the word 'God' out of the Girl Scout Promise. It gives those individuals who wish to do so the option to state their commitment to the spiritual concepts fundamental to the Movement with a word or words more appropriate to their own beliefs. For instance, an individual may say 'my faith' or 'Allah' or 'the Creator'."

Girl Scout President B. LaRae Orullian made an official statement that the change is "a very strong statement that Girl Scouts continue to be on the cutting edge, and this is a continuing effort to show that we have strength in diversity and that we are an inclusive organization."

Some groups consider that the Girl Scouts of the USA have not gone far enough in making Scouting open to non-theists; others that they have gone too far in removing God or that they are violating the constitution of the WAGGGS. The WAGGGS constitution requires member societies to maintain membership standards to include a promise similar to the one established by Baden-Powell, which includes the concept of duty to God. The GSUSA policy adopted in 1993 led to the 1995 formation of an alternative organization, the American Heritage Girls (AHG) that accepts only leaders and chartering organizations that agree with a specific Christian statement of faith. As of 2006, it had about 5,000 members.


Banning prayer at meetings
An Associated Press article states that Girl Scouts ban prayer at meetings. The official Girl Scout policy does not ban nor require prayer.

The Girl Scout organization does not endorse or promote any particular philosophy or religious belief. Our movement is secular and is founded on American democratic principles, one of which is freedom of religion. Although Girl Scouts has policies supporting religious diversity, there is no policy by Girl Scouts of the USA that prohibits or requires the saying or singing of a grace, blessing, or invocation before meals by Girl Scout members in a troop/group setting, in a resident or day camp, or at meetings, conferences, and other large events. The decision to say a grace, blessing, or invocation is made locally at the troop or group level, and should be sensitive to the spiritual beliefs of all participants.

Association with Planned Parenthood


Although GSUSA is not nationally aligned with the reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood, Girl Scout councils may choose to have connections to the organization. In 2004, in Waco, Texas, the Bluebonnet Council endorsed a Planned Parenthood education event (which did not mention abortion) but did not provide money nor send Scouts to it. This was criticized by some pro-life movement supporters and social conservatives, resulting in a boycott of Girl Scout cookies sold by the Bluebonnet Council. Although Waco residents responded to the announced boycott by purchasing a record amount of cookies, the Bluebonnet Council removed their endorsement. The pro-life group states that 20% of the investigated councils have some connection to Planned Parenthood though that includes councils that have endorsed events that Planned Parenthood also endorsed.


Oldest living GSUSA Girl Scout
The oldest living Girl Scout is 102-year-old Marianne Elser Crowder, born in Colorado Springs in April 1906. She joined the Wagon Wheel Council Troop 4 in 1918 and earned her Golden Eaglet, the GSUSA's highest award at the time. She later operated her own dance studio in Colorado Springs and headed the dance department at Colorado College before moving to Menlo Park, California in 1939 where she taught dance in the community recreation program from 1949 until her retirement at the age of 97. The Wagon Wheel Council named Crowder the nation's oldest Girl Scout after it conducted a nationwide search and sifted through council archives.


Similar organizations
Camp Fire Girls was founded in 1910, around the same time as the Girl Scouts, by some of the creators of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1975, the group became co-educational and soon afterwards changed its name to "Camp Fire Boys and Girls". The name was changed to Camp Fire USA in 2001. As of 2009, the group has a membership of about 750,000.

Another parallel group is the American Heritage Girls (AHG), started in 1995 in West Chester, Ohio, by a group of parents upset with available female Scouting organizations.AHG is a Christian organization that states that it is "a Scouting program for girls that supports the traditional values of God, Family and Country." It has a membership of about 6,000.

Various religions have their own youth clubs such as Missionettes for the Assemblies of God.

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guiascouts.com Girl Scouts of the USA History Scouts groups National organization Girl Scout Promise Special programs Awards and badges