Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians

Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians (gscsa) builds 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 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 110 years, Girl scouts has brought their dreams to life and worked together to build a better world.as our society still grappled with the lingering effects of a global pandemic, gscsa continued to adapt and found new ways to support girls. While the pandemic presented more challenges than ever before in our history to girls and their families, it also allowed us to learn how to continue our mission in the face of adversity. Most importantly, it reinforced that the programs and leadership skills provided by Girl scouts is needed more than ever.girl Scout programming is provided through the Girl Scout leadership experience and Girl Scout outreach, serving more than 6,500 girls in our footprint. the Council ended the 2022 membership year (oct. 1, 2021 through sept. 30, 2022) with 6,527 Girl members and 3,903 adult members. In addition to individual troop activities, approximately 3,100 girls participated in more than 200 programs, either organized by gscsa staff or one of our community programs partners during the 2022 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 outcomesa 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 scoutalumnae 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 10,910 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, 905 girls donated 3,762 pounds of food, which will help the food banks provide approximately 4,000 meals to families across our service area. Additionally, gscsa donated approximately 33,000 boxes of cookies to friends of the troops 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 4,400 Girl scouts sold 1,345,252 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 skillsgoal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethicsall of which help them succeed today and in the future. They grow their confidence and practice leadership, too.with the pandemic still lingering, we were able to hold summer resident camp again safely in 2022, while following all safety and physical distancing protocols to protect everyone's health. Approximately 400 girls attended our summer resident camp at camp tanasi this year. Whether they spent a few days or two weeks, girls learned a variety of outdoors skills as well as things 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 1,300 girls participated in troop camping at one of our three beautiful camp locations. Our Girl Scout community troop program has grown since its launch in the summer of 2018. This year we were able to serve 131 girls through nine community troop 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 so 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.girl scouting goes way beyond cookies and badges and encourages girls to make real, concrete change for the better in their communities. 224 high award recipients completed 8,170 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 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 amount of $2,000. the gsusa gold award scholarship recognizes one outstanding gold award Girl Scout per Council, and the 2022 awardee for gscsa is riley s. of powell, tn. Her project was building and installing a community blessing box at mount hermon united methodist church. Riley was selected because her project exemplified the core components of the gold award, and she demonstrated extraordinary leadership to drive lasting change in her community and beyond. Gscsa is proud to support the girls in our Council through the joyce maienschein leadership grant. This grant is funded by donations honoring long-time volunteer joyce maienschein's legacy in Girl scouts. Cadette, senior, and ambassador girls or troops who are working on take action projects, silver award projects, or gold award projects can apply for this grant. In 2022, approximately $3,000 was awarded to one troop and six girls in support of their projects. Additionally, gscsa is honored to have received part of a government grant through the knoxville community development corporation for the western heights project. There will be a community troop in the new community center being built there with these funds. the rotary club of knoxville also donated money to us for this troop.we've shared a lot of numbers and facts here, but what we did not have room to describe is the countless badges earned (thousands! ), programs attended (thousands! ), skills learned (immeasurable! ), fun had (limitless! ), friends made (irreplaceable! ), ideas sparked (never-ending! ), challenges overcome (unforgettable! ), troop meetings held (hundreds! ), nor every moment of girl-led leadership (extraordinary! ).