newjerseynewsroom.com

BY PAT SUMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Although most people may think “cookies!” when they think “Girl Scouts,” for the organization celebrating its 100th birthday today, there’s so much more to say -- as nearly 60 million living American women who were Girl Scouts could affirm.

The praise of famous former Girl Scouts (they range from Hillary Clinton and Mariah Carey to Dakota Fanning, Condoleezza Rice and Katie Couric, according to abcnews.go.com) would echo around the world with the 3.2 million current members, girls and adults, in every residential zip code and in 90 countries.

Founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low, a Savannah, Georgia socialite, the Girl Scouts had noble purposes from the start. After meeting Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder of Boy Scouting, Mrs. Low decided a similar organization for girls was in order.

On March 12, 1912, she gathered 18 girls together for the first local Girl Scout meeting. Well-to-do, orphans and Jews – their diversity foreshadowed the organization’s characteristic openness to all girls, regardless of race, color, creed, economic status. . . .

Low could hardly have dreamed that at her death 15 years later, there would be 168,000 Girl Scout members, according to USA Today, which also, fittingly, described Low as “one smart cookie.”

The official Girl Scout website blog says of Low, “She believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air, Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid.”

Quoted in the Star-Ledger, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey says the two basic Girl Scouting goals one hundred years ago were leadership development and service to community. She notes that while the activities are different today, “the goals are totally intact."

Traditionally, of course, homemaking skills were involved and rewarded, while today’s emphasis is more on independence and leadership. In 2012’s “Year of the Girl,” the top priorities include an emphasis on technology, financial literacy and career development, particularly in the fields of math and science.

ToGetHerThere, just launched by the Girl Scouts of the USA, will be “the largest, boldest advocacy and fundraising cause dedicated to girls’ leadership in the nation’s history. The multi-year effort will seek to create balanced leadership — the equal representation of women in leadership positions in all sectors and levels of society — within one generation.”

As might be expected, the official Girl Scout website includes details on this and other initiatives, such as the Girl Scout Forever Green (GSFG) program.

The Girl Scouts’ CEO Anna Maria Chávez began this celebratory day with a sunrise ceremony in Savannah, where the first scout meeting was held. Signaling the day’s end, Girl Scouts in greater New York will light the Empire State Building green. In between those two events, girls all over will join in the Girl Scout promise and law at 19:12 military time.

Happy hundredth birthday, Scouts!

The Girl Scout Promise

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.