Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians

the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians (gscsa) is a mission-driven, girl-focused organization that strives to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Through programs offered to girls k-12 in 46 counties from southwest Virginia, through east Tennessee, and into north Georgia, Girl scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges. Backed by trusted and dedicated adult volunteers, mentors, and alums, Girl scouts lead the way as they find their voices and learn they can do anything they set their mind to. For more than 111 years, Girl scouts has brought to life the dreams of girls and worked together to develop our next generation of successful female leaders.gscsa continues to create new programming to support and educate its Girl members. While the pandemic is behind us, we continue to learn from those challenges by staying true to the mission of Girl scouts, and we are well prepared for any adversities that may arise. the programs and leadership skills provided by Girl scouts are needed today more than ever.girl Scout programming is provided through the Girl Scout leadership experience and Girl Scout community troops, serving more than 7,000 girls in our 46-county footprint. the Council ended the 2023 membership year (oct. 1, 2022 sept. 30, 2023) with 11,068 Girl and adult members. In addition to individual troop activities, approximately 3,200 girls participated in more than 216 programs, either organized by gscsa staff or one of our community programs partners during the 2023 membership year. Girls did everything from stem workshops to rafting to helping others, many earning badges along the way. In the Girl Scout leadership experience, girls learn through activities that earn them badges for things like leadership, stem, financial and business literacy, healthy living, the environment, and global citizenship. Girl scouts helps girls learn these five attitudes, skills, and behaviors of effective leadership:1. Strong sense of self2. Positive values3. Challenge seeking4. Healthy relationships5. Community problem solvingwhy do these five outcomes matter? When girls exhibit these attitudes and skills, they become responsible, productive, caring, and engaged citizens. Studies show that the development of attitudes, behaviors, and skills like confidence, conflict resolution, and problem solving are critical to well-being and rival academic and technical skills in their capacity to predict long-term positive life outcomes.a recent research study provides evidence that Girl scouts stand out significantly from nongirl scouts, demonstrating more well-rounded lifestyles and a stronger propensity for success. Compared to nongirl scouts, Girl scouts are more likely to: exhibit strong leadership outcomes earn "excellent" grades expect to graduate college aspire to stem, business, and law careers feel hopeful about their futuregirls who are Girl scouts do better in school and, as adults, are better educated, have a higher incomelevel, are more active as community volunteers, and vote more often than girls who were not. Girl scoutalums say Girl scouting prepared them to face life's challenges and opportunities with resourcefulness, ingenuity, and discipline. Compared to women who were not Girl scouts, our alumnae feel more capable and competent in their lives, have more supportive social relationships, and feel more optimistic about their futures. (Girl Scout research institute, Girl scouting works: the alumnae impact study)girl scouts performed nearly 7,000 hours of community service projects in the communities across our Council. An impressive example of girls giving back to their communities was demonstrated during our fifth annual food drive for food banks across our Council. This year, 450 girls donated 1,730 pounds of food, which will help the food banks provide approximately 1,442 meals to families across our service area. Additionally, gscsa donated approximately 39,239 boxes of cookies to friends of the troops, hugs for our soldiers, and other local organizations in need. We also had two successful product programs that helped fund all that fun: fall product and the cookie program. Gscsa is proud to say that 4,467 Girl scouts sold 1,124,200 boxes of cookies and Girl and troop participation were at an all-time high for the fall product program. By selling cookies and fall product, girls develop five essential skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics, all of which help them succeed today and in the future. They grow their confidence and practice leadership, too.approximately 320 girls attended our summer resident camp at camp tanasi in andersonville, tn. Whether they spent a few days or two weeks, girls learned a variety of outdoors skills as well as abilities they can use in their everyday, indoor life. Girls also had the chance to try out archery, climbing, swimming, boating, and hiking. In addition to summer resident camp, approximately 1,824 girls participated in troop camping at one of our three beautiful camps, located in various areas of our Council footprint. Our Girl Scout community troop program has grown since its launch in the summer of 2018. This year we were able to serve 150 girls through 10 community troop partner sites across our Council footprint. Gscsa recognizes that not every Girl in our area is able to access Girl scouts because of limitations due to family finances, transportation, or finding volunteers to lead troops in specific areas. That is where the gscsa community troop program comes in to ensure girls can join Girl scouts and gain the skills and confidence that is necessary to success. Our community troop program is staff-led in community centers and schools from southwest Virginia throughout all of eastern Tennessee and on into northwest Georgia. the program is designed to bring the Girl Scout leadership experience (gsle) directly to the Girl in her community, especially to those who may never have the means to participate in Girl scouts.girl scouting goes way beyond cookies and badges and encourages girls to make real, concrete change for the better in their communities. 234 high award recipients completed 6,910 service hours on projects that made their communities a better place.our senior and ambassador level girls work tirelessly to earn the gold award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. By completing a gold award project, girls tackle issues that are dear to them and drive lasting change in their communities and beyond. Twenty-eight amazing girls in our Council earned their gold award this year. Additionally, one exceptional Girl Scout from our Council received the gsusa gold award scholarship in the generous amount of $10,000. the gsusa gold award scholarship recognizes one outstanding gold award Girl Scout per Council, and the 2023 awardee for gscsa is natalie w. of knoxville. Her gold award project addressed her community's food insecurity issues. Natalie identified low income and unemployment as root causes of food insecurity. She discovered other causes, including the inability to access food due to lack of neighborhood stores and lack of transportation, especially among the disabled. Natalie is now attending east Tennessee state university in the global citizen scholars program, which emphasizes experiential learning through education abroad, internships, research, and community engagement. Natalie looks forward to traveling abroad as part of her studies, expanding her global awareness, and continuing her commitment to making a positive difference in the world.a very prestigious thing happened to one of our "out of this world" Girl scouts. Gracie o., a junior-level Girl Scout from knoxville, was the sole recipient from the state of Tennessee to have an essay chosen in the "Girl scouts to the moon and back" national competition for which she had to write an essay and build a miniature mars rover. Part of her prize was receiving a very special space science badge that had been to space and back on nasa's artemis i! the artemis space mission is nasa's first step toward the goal of sending the first woman and the first person of color to the moon. Nasa has been an incredibly dedicated and enthusiastic partner of Girl scouts, inspiring girls to pursue careers in stem.our summer stack club summer reading program had a record-breaking participation number of 4,397 girls from all 50 states and puerto rico. Girls from other countries in the Girl scouts overseas group participated from portugal, taiwan, south korea, italy, and japan. Reading comprehension is so important to helping girls achieve success and we are extremely proud of this important program.