Posts Tagged "Badges"
My Senior/Cadette Uniform
Yes, back in the day when the Cadette/Senior Girl Scout uniform was blue not tan, I had way more badges than I knew what to do with. These photos were taken once I finally got everything sewn on… which I have to admit was just recently. So here they are for your geek and astonishment! A ten year old sash and vest (yes, I needed both).
Girl Scouts Rebranding?
I read an interesting article recently from the Washington Post titled Blogs In, Badges Out as Girl Scouts Modernize. As a marketer by profession and life-long Girl Scout purist and enthusiast, this naturally piqued my interest on multiple levels.
Long associated with images of dorky vests and singalongs around the campfire, the 97-year-old Girl Scouts of the USA is trying to become cool. Or at least cooler.
With enrollment dropping sharply, the organization is experimenting with a total makeover of the Girl Scout experience.
What’s in: books and blogs written in girls’ voices on topics such as environmental awareness and engineering; troops led by college students; videoconferencing with scouts in other countries.
What’s out: textbook-style lessons on the value of helping others; shunning the Internet; moms as troop leaders for teenagers.
Thin Mints are not in jeopardy, but — OMG! — badges will be de-emphasized.
“We took a step back and asked, ‘What do girls need from us right now?’ ” said Eileen Doyle, the Girl Scouts’ senior vice president of program development. “There is consistency in our goals throughout our history, but we can maintain that while being fun, edgy and challenging for modern-day girls.”
I’m of two minds about the loss of badges as a core of the Girl Scout program. I learned so much about very diverse things in my pursuit of badges. I was an overacheiver and I wanted to earn as many badges as possible, including all the dabblers in various categories. That goal forced me to broaden my intellect, and I can’t imagine being who I am now without having picked up those little bits of information that broadened my horizons. On the other hand, I’d hate for girls to not join scouts just because of some of the negative stereotypes surrounding it, that it’s all badges and cookies. I hope this works out for them, but I also hope that they find ways to increase learning opportunities that loosing an emphasis on badges might otherwise be lessened.
Read MoreGet your cookie gear on!
Received an email today from the Girl Scout Store advertising all their cookie gear. They now have everything from badges, to socks, to scrapbook kits, to a totally awesome cookie jar! Check it out all the Girl Scout cookie gear here.
I’m not the kind of person that uses a cookie car, but this is awesome. Also, to reflect back for a moment, it’s been 10 years since I was a girl scout and I can selfishly wish they’d been smart enough to market this kind of thing when I was a scout! Not only is this a cool piece of paraphernalia, but it would have been a great thing to be able to sell to neighbors, friends, and relatives along with the cookies. What an up-sell opportunity! I have the benefit of being able to look back on this from my current career in marketing to know that any up-sell opportunity it one worth exploring.
I’m also really glad to see that there are actual badges now regarding the cookie sales. I remember all we got was the event patch for participating, and I always had the nifty little Top Seller add-on patch. Way to go GSUSA!
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