The Girl Scout program is based on the Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE), in which girls discover themselves, connect with others, and take action to make the world a better place – all within the safety of an environment where girls take the lead, learn by doing, and learn cooperatively. At the core of the GSLE are National Leadership Journeys, which are fun and challenging experiences grouped around a theme and spread over a series of sessions. Each Journey has all the important components of the GSLE sewn right in.
National Leadership Journeys help Girl Scouts learn and practice the Three Keys, aid their communities, and earn leadership awards, progressing up Girl Scouting’s Ladder of Leadership as they do so. There are three series of Leadership Journeys, each about a different theme; the girls in your group can choose the theme that interests them most.
Journeys help girls develop 21st Century skills that allow them to come up with creative solutions to challenges in their lives and their community. Journeys offer girls a path to understand how to best dive into a topic. Armed with research, critical thinking skills, and brainstorming sessions, girls come up with creative solutions to problems in their community. Each time a girl completes a Journey, she has learned skills which will help her accomplish future goals, including working towards the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards.
Girls who use Journeys have learned to be curious and know how to accomplish their goals. This will help them throughout college and later in their careers in a fast-paced, technologically driven global economy.
In a national survey, when girls were asked whether they believed that a girl could make a difference in the world, about 90% answered yes. But, when the same Girl Scouts were asked whether they believed they personally could make a difference in the world, most did not believe they could. Community service has long been a fundamental part of the Girl Scout program. However, it’s clear that girls want to be able to make a lasting change in the world. Journeys provide step-by-step instructions for helping girls to create and carry out a Take Action project in the sample sessions in the Adult Guides. They also incorporate Discover and Connect activities, and the three Girl Scout processes (Girl-led, Learning by Doing, and Cooperative Learning). The sample sessions in the Adult Guides have it all mapped out!
To guide girls on a great Journey, all you need is enthusiasm and a sense of adventure. Before you dive in, try these four simple tips:
1. Choose a Journey. Because Girl Scouting is girl-led, it’s important to give girls the chance to pick the Journey they want to do. Talk to them about what each Journey for their grade level is about and let them choose one.
2. Get to know the Journey. Access Journies through the Volunteer Toolkit. Read the girls’ book for the pleasure of it, just to get an overview of the Journey’s theme and content.
3. Invite the girls (and their parents/guardians) to use their imaginations to make the Journeys come to life in ways that excite them. Remember that you and the girls don’t have to do everything exactly as laid out in the sample sessions.
4. Step back and watch how the girls, with your knowledge, support, and guidance, have enormous fun and a rewarding experience. Celebrate with them as they earn their national leadership Journey awards, and perhaps some Girl Scout badges too!
Girl Scouts of the USA provides digital troop tools just for you! Be sure to check out the Volunteer Toolkit (often called the “VTK”), available for troop leaders and parents of all troop levels with resources and activity plans for badges and journeys, as well as troop management tools. Get more information about how to use the Volunteer Toolkit. To access it directly, simply click on “My GS” in the upper bar of our website, www.gsnorcal.org, login and then click on Volunteer Toolkit.
Although each Journey is unique, the following elements are present in every Journey (although the order may be slightly different):
Teambuilding
Girls get to know each other and learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses
Be Inspired
Girls learn about women role models, and think about who inspires them
Learn & Discover
Girls have the opportunity to learn about an issue they care about
Create A Vision
Girls create a vision – if they had no boundaries or limitations, what would they want to accomplish to make the world a better place?
Choose A Take Action Project
Girls focus on a doable part of their vision and choose a Take Action Project
Plan the Project
Girls make plans, and realize that together they can do greater things than they can accomplish alone
Do the Project
Girls carry out their plans and get a chance to make mistakes and adjust, in a safe environment
Reflect
Girls think about what went well, what didn’t and what they learned
Celebrate
Girls plan a celebration of what they’ve accomplished
Journey Downloads
Downloads to send home to parents, Journey Assets (lists that provide a fast, easy way to find the relevant pages for each topic area), songs, ties to state curriculum, and other resources for the journeys are included in the Volunteer Toolkit to download and use.
Journey Maps
How do the Leadership Journeys fit in with the other things girls do in Girl Scouting? Check out the Journey maps. These maps show you how all the fun and meaningful traditions of Girl Scouting fit right into any National Leadership Journey. There, you can also find information about the topics that each Journey covers, which you can share with girls. And you’ll find even more fun traditions to complement your Journey in The Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting, a resource for each grade level of Girl Scouting.
The following Journeys are available for volunteers to choose from. They are:
- It’s Your Planet—Love It!
- It’s Your Story—Tell It!
- It’s Your World—Change It! (Daisies ONLY)
- Outdoor
- Think Like an Engineer
- Think Like a Programmer
- Think Like a Citizen Scientist
It’s Your World—Change It!:
- Available for purchase in council stores (adult guide and girl book) for Daisies–Ambassadors
- On the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisies ONLY as part of a 15 meeting Year Plan
It’s Your Planet—Love It:
- Available for purchase in council stores (adult guide and girl book) for Daisies–Ambassador
- On the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisy, Brownie, and Junior as part of a 15 meeting Year Plan
It’s Your Story—Tell It!:
- Available for purchase in council stores (adult guide and girl book) for Daisies–Ambassadors
- On the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisy, Brownie, and Junior as part of a 15 meeting Year Plan
Outdoor:
- Available on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Brownie and Junior as nine sessions in total, which includes three outdoor badges plus three Take Action meetings and is part of a 15 meeting Year Plan
- Available on Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisies as seven sessions in total, which includes two outdoor badges plus three Take Action meetings and is part of a 15 meeting Year Plan.
- Available for Multi-level for Daisies-Juniors on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK).
- Cadette, Senior, Ambassador, and Multi-level are available for Back to Troop as PDFs on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK).
Think Like an Engineer:
- Available on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador. The Journey is six sessions in total, including three Take Action meetings, and is part of a 15 meeting Year Plan.
Think Like a Programmer:
- Available on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador. The Journey is six sessions in total, including three Take Action meetings, and is part of a 15 meeting Year Plan.
Think Like a Citizen Scientist:
- Available on the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK) for Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador. The Journey is six sessions in total, including three Take Action meetings, and is part of a 15 meeting Year Plan.