Many Girl Scout representatives from the San Marino Service Unit attended a recent Rotary Club of San Marino meeting to hear and support the featured speakers.
Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles Chief Executive Officer Lise Luttgens and local Girl Scout Emma Antonides talked about the benefits of the girls’ leadership development organization – beyond the cookies!
“I can’t tell you how delighted I am to see all of these Girl Scouts in the audience,” said Luttgens, who is a lifetime Girl Scout.
She introduced the Girl Scout organization by explaining, “Our movement has forged paths of leadership and community service for girls and young women across the globe for over 100 years.”
Luttgens said the Girl Scouts are focused on leadership, business and financial literacy, life skills, outdoor adventure and the environment and STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
“Our activities are girl-led,” she said. “They promote cooperative learning and learning by doing. These are all important skills for girls as they become adults and go on into the working world. Our leadership experience empowers girls to discover the world around them, to connect with people and causes, and to take action to create positive change.”
Luttgens listed the avenues in which the opportunities are available as: the troop experience, after-school programs, day and overnight camp, and counsel-wide events and programs.
“The two million Girl Scouts across the nation, including our 40,000 here in Greater Los Angeles, make a difference every day by making our world a better place,” she said. “Our girls, including and especially, the many girls in the San Marino community, are influencing legislation, feeding families, saving our environment, encouraging the destitute and protecting the marginalized.”
Luttgens said Girl Scouts provides the chance for girls to “take the lead, take risks, try something new, push their limits and to find their voice.”
She said the Girl Scout Cookie program is the largest financial literacy program for girls in the world.
“It focuses on teaching girls people skills, money management, goal setting and decision-making,” Luttgens said. “All of these skills build her confidence, her life skills and empower her future. All of these skills make her a more capable employee and a more successful employer.”
She told a story of a recent Girl Scouts of Greater L.A. food drive, when 4,000 girls worked together to fight hunger in Los Angeles helping to provide 31,000 meals to the hungry.
“Our programs are inspiring girls to do amazing things,” Luttgens said. “But there are some significant threats to girls today—especially in Los Angeles. Research shows that 60 percent of girls avoid participating in fundamental life activities because they’re afraid of the way they look. Girls’ self-esteem and ambition plummet in middle school. Only one in five girls believe that she has what it takes to be a leader.”
She said that is an astounding and disturbing statistic, adding that California is ranked 29th out of all 50 states in the index of girls’ well being.
“I think we can do better,” Luttgens said. “Fortunately Girl Scouts is helping buck these national trends and beating the odds. Our girls are stepping up and speaking out. They’re standing tall.”
She then introduced Emma, saying, “She is the epitome of our mission to inspire girls with the ideals of courage, confidence and character, and exemplifies how our organization encourages girls to build a better future for all of us.”
Emma is an ambassador from Troop 15131 in San Marino and the daughter of Rotarian Grace Yang.
“Girl Scouts has always been a part of me,” Emma said. “I first started in kindergarten and I’ve been an active Girl Scout for 13 years, earning the Bronze, Silver and Gold Award.”
She said her favorite annual Girl Scout activities are the Twilight Camp in Lacy Park, Girl Scout Cookie sale time and the Fourth of July Parade. Emma spoke about her experiences in Girl Scouts, such as being a camp counselor and selling cookies.
“I gained confidence and communication skills at a young age that would help break my shy outer shell,” she said.
“Impressing the power of confidence upon girls as they develop is a much better strategy than trying to help women overcome and course-correct later in life,” Luttgens said. “At its core, the Girl Scout leadership experience ingrains confidence in every girl. That we have mastered.”
She said one of the challenges in Girl Scouts is financial support, explaining that programs for girls receive only 7.5% of the philanthropic dollar globally.
“I ask you, ‘Is this a reflection of our confidence in girls?’” Luttgens said.
She added that another challenge is some misguided thoughts pervasive in the community that Girl Scouts is only for people of a certain race, income level, religion or who have families with stay-at-home moms.
“Our founder, Juliette Gordon Low, started this organization with the ideals of diversity in mind and this still holds true today,” Luttgens said. “Our biggest challenge is finding sources and volunteers to serve girls, especially those who live in low-income communities.”
She said she’s spoken to college counselors across the country and there are three things that put young people ahead of the pile for college admissions: an Eagle Scout Award for Boy Scouts, a Gold Award for Girl Scouts and a Black Belt in Martial Arts.
“What do all of those three things have in common?” Luttgens asked, rhetorically. “Long-term commitment, persistence, ability to stick with something, overcoming an obstacle, working as a team and working independently. All three of those things speak to a successful candidate for college. If I could just get every parent to understand that and not take their girl out at age 11 because they’d rather be at the mall or the parents want them to be on the debate team. If we had more girls who finished strong like Emma, I think the world would be a different place.”
Luttgens asked the audience to spread the word that Girl Scouts is more than just cookies.
“You have some amazing leaders here,” she said. “You have an amazing service unit here. You have amazing girls who have earned and are earning their Gold Award, and are making a difference in this community.”
