"Our Girl Scout troops in Mower County have always been incredibly excited by our outdoor activities. Every year, our girls in Austin attend Girl Scout Camp where they try new outdoor activities like hiking or camping. Last year, they even started a Girl Scout summer soccer camp so that they could stay connected during the summer while also keeping active and going outside. For many ConnectZ Girl Scouts, ConnectZ is their first opportunity to access some of these outdoor activities, especially more resource-intensive ones such as camping.
Since moving to virtual spaces, youth in general have fewer opportunities to engage in outdoor activities and have had to spend a considerable amount of time on computers. One ConnectZ Girl Scout named Lily was uninterested in trying any outdoor activities before joining Girl Scouts. However, once she joined Girl Scouts this year, she saw how other girls decorated their Girl Scout uniforms with skill-building badges they’d earned. Some of these badges were around topics that Lily already loved, like YouTube or social media—but some were also for the outdoors.
Even though Lily hadn’t been interested in the outdoors before, seeing those badges sparked an interest in her, and now, in addition to earning badges about navigating the internet, Lily is especially excited to earn her outdoor badges in the coming months. Even though our ConnectZ troops are currently meeting virtually, the ConnectZ troop leader in Austin still leads girls through hands-on activities that can often include the outdoors and include supplies that the troop leader delivers to girls’ houses.
Girl Scouts ConnectZ offers girls the opportunities to engage in the topics they’re interested in while also exploring their potential in areas they’d never even considered. They do so with the support of their fellow Girl Scouts and their troop leader, and they do so in a fun learning environment that encourages girls to try new things and take on new challenges, just like Lily has."
-Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys
