The New Emerging Program Model

It's Not What You Do, But How You Do It

By Jennifer Gioia

All of the endeavors to capture "the unique Girl Scout experience" in a strengthened national program model are creating a buzz of growing excitement and eager anticipation as each day passes. To simply say program is changing is an understatement of the transformational period we are entering. The time to move toward action is here!

And taking action means building on our most important values and traditions as we articulate them in The Girl Scout Promise and Law, and demonstrating them in girl leadership and service, and in our Movement's consistent commitment to change to meet the needs of girls.

Now is the time for change. With feedback from girls, volunteers and council staff, this new program model is still being refined, but you can already merge some elements of the model into the work you do, and the fun you have with girls. Ultimately, the model—and the outcomes it delivers—will reflect and fulfill our mission: Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

In a Nutshell

The emerging program model follows a girl-centric approach and organizes girls' achievements into three broad categories—Girls Discover, Girls Lead, and Girls Take Action.

Leadership will be the objective where discovery and taking action intersect—it's the bridge between what girls "get" in Girl Scouting through discovery, and what girls "give" back by taking action. Above all, the new program will focus on girls gaining leadership skills through activities that match what girls say they want: to belong and to have fun.

It's Not What, but HOW

The new model integrates specific educational theories and methods (the HOWs) to create a framework for girls to create their own experiences, reflect on them, and apply what they learn to new challenges. This learning cycle gives girls the desire to continue on the journey to discover, lead and take action. As a volunteer, you play a pivotal role in the implementation of the emerging program model. More important than what girls are doing and what awards they achieve, is how they are doing it. As a recommitment to encouraging girl leadership development and personal growth, you may enjoy the challenge of applying the approaches (see chart) in your work with girls.

• Non-Formal Education
• Experiential Learning
• By Girls, For Girls
• Cooperative Learning
• Girl/Adult Partnership
• All Girl Environment

Embracing these approaches of the emerging program model will ensure that you are helping girls build the confidence, character, courage and aspiration to make the world a better place—the desired outcomes of the Girl Scout Movement.

The Model in Action

Even though the model is still being fine-tuned, you can get in on the excitement now. Introduce girls to the New Interest Projects for Girl Scouts in middle school and high school, and to the Girl Scout Challenge Awards. Both sets of awards were developed based on the principles of the emerging program model.

New Interest Projects: The Learn-Do-Share Way

Throughout 2005, GSUSA partnered with girls, volunteers, and council staff to create ten new Interest Project Awards. The response was overwhelming and yielded a solely girl-driven set of awards, available free online at www.studio2b.org.

Girl-driven: New Interest Projects

B Xtreme Experience exciting adventures and extreme sports, even individual ones. Read more. Home Is Where the Heart Is Help raise awareness of homelessness and increase efforts to aid the homeless community. Read more. Sew Glam Clothes may be store bought, but fashion is what YOU make it! Read more. Read more. Hi-Tech Hide & Seek Take scavenger hunts to a new level with Geocaching and letterboxing. Read more. G.O. Girl! Organize your personal space—and you'll be organized, too. Read more. In the Pink Join the fight against breast cancer by thinking "pink." Read more. Uncovering the Evidence This is CSI—one Cool Science Investigation of the forensic kind. Read more. Couch Potato Make the most of your TV watching by becoming an expert at it. Read more. Global Girls Channel your efforts toward the good of women worldwide. Read more. On Your Own Build and stretch your "real life" skills—the ones you won't learn in school. Read more.

The priority message from girls was the need to update the structure of Interest Project (IP) activities and the requirements for earning them. When asked to create an IP of their own, girls consistently used words like "learn," "try," "do," "share," and "teach" in the activities they proposed. To reflect the ideas suggested by girls, the four activity categories we've been using (Technology, Skill Builders, Service Projects, and Career Exploration) were consolidated into three:

LEARN: Acquire new skills while building knowledge of a specific topic.

DO: Practice newfound skills and cultivate knowledge. Many of these activities engage girls in exploring a career path that might potentially be of interest or benefit in their future.

SHARE: Really shine by demonstrating new skills and knowledge in a leadership role. Many of these activities ask girls to develop and plan a sharing project in their community.

Beyond giving feedback, girls also helped to shape the content and activities of each new Interest Project. Michelle, age 15, said, "I did testing with the Sew Glam Interest Project. I made an awesome pair of hand-embroidered, shredded jeans. I then converted those jeans into a skirt! It was so much fun to take something that was 'vintage' (my word for old) and make it hip and cool. I’ve even had people ask me if I would do a pair for them!"

Volunteers Love the New Interest Projects Too!

Meri, a USA Girl Scouts Overseas volunteer, from New Delhi, India, introduced the new Interest Projects to her troop saying, "With my troop of nine girls, we spent an hour or two talking about interests and then prioritizing what they wanted to do over the next few months. All the top vote getters were the new Interest Projects! Having awards online allows Girl Scouts to be flexible and timely and meet girls where they are. This is a great idea!"

As Meri's troop began to work on the new awards, she used a By Girls, For Girls approach to keep the awards flexible and relevant to her troop. "We have done some substituting for activities. For example, in the G.O. Girls Interest Project we did a version of 'trading spaces,' which the girls really liked, as we don't have access to things in Delhi that one has in the United States. Plus the feng shui element is not 'exotic' here."

For more tips for adults on the new Interest Projects, visit Girl Scout Central.

'Challenging' Girls to Be Their Best Selves

Challenge Awards Fun awards will be available so girls can celebrate their achievements after taking THE CHALLENGE.

The Girl Scout Challenge is a set of awards for Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, and Girl Scouts in middle and high school that promotes the Girl Scout Mission by way of the Girl Scout Promise and Law. In answer to volunteers' consistent requests to make re-sources easily accessible, the activities and requirements are available for free online at www.gogirlsonly.org (Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts), and www.studio2b.org (Girl Scouts in middle school and high school).

The activities for the Girl Scout Challenge are designed to engage girls in discovering key Girl Scout values, building leadership skills, and taking action by applying these values and skills to their everyday lives. The Girl Scout Challenge provides a meaningful experience for all girls regardless of their length of time in Girl Scouts. You can use The Challenge to shed new light on what matters most in Girl Scouts, or introduce new girls to what makes Girl Scouting special and unique.

Processing What They Learn and Applying It to Life

Note that each award has questions to guide girls to reflect on what they have learned through the activities. It's important to spend time discussing the reflection questions with girls. Conversations help girls harvest their insights and apply them to new situations in the future. For more tips for adults on the Challenge Awards visit Girl Scout Central.

To order the new Interest Projects or Girl Scout Challenge Awards contact your local Girl Scout Council, or order from Girl Scout Merchandise at: 800-221-6707.

Watch for more tools to use as the new program model emerges into the lives of you and the girls you work with.

Adapted from LEADER, Summer 2006. © Girl Scouts of the United States of America.