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Supergirly

Girl Scouts Revamp Badges to Include More Science and Technology

by Jamie Frevele | 11:10 am, October 13th, 2011


There’s an old saying that scouts are there to do good! Clean up parks! Help old people cross the street! How about a Girl Scout helping you fix your computer? Or explain sunscreen? Or do your taxes? Okay, maybe they won’t be doing that last one, but Financial Literacy is just one of the new badges that Girl Scouts can earn now that they’ve given their badge system a big overhaul. Some of the traditional badges will remain, but new emphasis is giving girls the chance to earn their stripes in business, science, and technology. (Even the beauty badges are taking a more intellectual turn, and that’s just awesome.)

While it’s not that surprising that the Scouts are taking a turn for the technological — especially since even toddlers have their own iPads nowadays — but it is really awesome to see that young girls are being encouraged to learn about it and even help others with it beyond just their own casual use. Now they can earn Computer Expert, Digital Movie Maker, and Website Designer badges. Ideally, this will spur the interest of girls enough for them to stick with computers throughout their teen years, and maybe even get the urge to dig deeper and consider working in the field when they grow up. Other business-oriented badges include product design (part of its new Innovation series), but also teach girls financial literacy and help them treat their cookie selling as a real business — Meet My Customers, Business Plan, and Customer Loyalty badges will be offered. Also: Geocaching. Geocaching!

The new badges were designed after consulting with people who are very familiar with the practice of earning badges — the Girl Scouts themselves. While some badges will stay the same, such as Cook, Athlete, and Naturalist badges, which a press release says are “as relevant today as they were in 1912,” some other classics — like Fitness, Makeup, and Fashion — are changing. It won’t just be about “finding your colors” (this former Girl Scout is, apparently, a “spring” — a “spring” who never got to go geocaching). Instead, the Science of Style badge will take a different approach to earning the badges, like the chemistry behind cosmetics instead of just how to use them. And that’s a really great way to teach girls that it’s not all about their image, that there are many levels to being a girl.

(via NPR)

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  • Anonymous

    Love this. Wish we’d had some of these when I was in Girl Scouts. Not that I didn’t love my GS experience; these just would have made it even better!

  • http://www.facebook.com/eva.heater Eva Marie Heater

    This is a great step in the right direction, but the whole cosmetics thing really bothers me. Yes, earning a Chemistry badge would be great, but I wish they’d take the cosmetics and makeup out of it. I just despair at the thought of these things. Apparently it’s just me. I really wish society would grow away from the idea of painting one’s face for anything other than Halloween or something like that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/unusualfowl Ashley Bowie

    The overhaul started when I was a scout, and, now that I’m a leader, I’m getting to see it in action with the Kinders and 1st graders in my troop. 
    Yeah, the chemistry of cosmetics might seem a little pandering, but people wear makeup. They have for thousands of years. It’s what they do. Cosmetics are a thing, and it makes sense to learn about it. The badge in which that activity occurs is very interesting, and you don’t necessarily have to do that specific activity to earn it. 

  • A Talbot

    This is so awesome! I wish they were doing this when I was a scout!

  • Anonymous

    I’m all in favor of reclaiming traditionally-feminine things like Fashion and Makeup.  I read somewhere once that fashion is one of the few art-forms that women are encouraged to pursue and cultivate a taste for, and it could be used as a tool for personal empowerment and expression if we were taught to think about it that way.  I’d never thought of it that way before, but I love the idea and hope the Girl Scouts apply it to the badge as well.  OTOH, I hope the makeup badge also involves a portion on thinking critically about makeup and why women use it and men don’t, etc.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=742530231 Amanda Jean Carroll

    Now if only they would remove the “to serve God” nonsense from their pledge, we’d have a deal. 

  • http://twitter.com/RockShrimp Willow

    At least they don’t actually care if you say it or not (or mean it), unlike Boy Scouts.

  • Life Lessons

    Way to go Girl Scouts!!!

  • Lisa Jonte

    Considering that my daughter got badges for ridiculous nonsense like going to freakin’ Build-A-Bear Workshop, I applaud this move.

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