#BecauseofGirlScouts
My journey with Girl Scouts began in 1984 when I first
joined as a brownie. The friendships,
skills and opportunities Girl Scouts provided helped shape me into the strong,
independent, determined woman I am today.
I watched as women poured their time and talents into our development. They cared about our lives and who we would
grow up to be. I am grateful to them for
giving me the skills and determination to thrive in life.
Girl Scouts have been at the forefront of change for over
100 years and will continue to lead the way, pushing boundaries, breaking down
barriers and crashing through walls to make sure girls have the tools they need
to reach their full potential. The
founder of Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low, was a 51-year-old woman, divorced,
nearly deaf, living in a time when women were not even allowed the right to
vote. She inspired me with the way she
lived her life. She knew her life had
purpose and power and did not let anything stop her. Thanks to her vision and passion we have an
organization with nearly 2 million girl members and over 50 million alumni;
congresswomen, astronauts, professors, Olympic athletes, and International
queens. We are changing the world one
girl at a time.
We teach girls how to discover
who they are and where their talents and abilities lie, connect them with people and resources that will allow them to take action to change the world. The experiences and opportunities provided through
Girl Scouts are as varied as the many people who answer the call to lead. My platform is not one passion, but a many
passions, platforms and movements rolled into one. Girl Scouts takes whatever she loves, is talented
at, is willing to work for or can create, and encourages and supports her to
use those passions to the absolute best of her ability. Our Girl Scout Leadership Experience is the
preeminent leadership program for girls in the world. Because it is created by girls, for girls and
is designed to be girl led; Girl Scouts gives her the confidence, determination
and skills she needs to thrive. We live
our mission to build girls of courage,
confidence and character who make the world a better place!
One of the most important ways we do this is to expose her
to many different experiences in a single gender environment. It is scientifically proven in this
environment she is more willing to try new things, explore STEM fields such as
engineering, robotics and cybersecurity.
At times, she will find a strength she didn’t know she had, she will
fail at times, she will decide to work harder to improve, she will learn from
her setbacks and be brave in the face of a challenge. By experiencing all these different outcomes
girls become more willing to try something new again and again. They know they can fail or succeed and
survive. They will learn something
important about themselves either way.
Through Girl Scouts and International Pageants, I have been
able to focus my purpose for this next chapter of my life. We have these same goals, to empower girls
and women to discover where their
talents and abilities lie and how to use them, to connect with people and resources and then take action to make a lasting, positive change.
I am thrilled and so grateful to have the honor to serve as
Mrs. North Dakota International 2019.
Through Girl Scouts and the International Pageant system I have been
able to discover and cultivate my strengths.
I have created a badge workshop
series called Take Heart, where I teach girls about the traditions of Girl
Scouts and invite International queens to share about their platforms. Take Heart means to become confident and
courageous in a difficult situation. I
believe it is these situations and experiences that develop our character. I use these workshops to instill in girls
that each of us have strengths and talents and our experiences, good or bad,
can be used for a purpose. That each
girl is unique, valuable and important.
Along with these workshops, I focus on international travel.
Through Girl Scouts I was able to chaperone a group of teenage girls on a
week-long trip to London that included visiting one of the 5 Girl Scout World
Centers. On that trip I truly saw the
benefits of Girl Scouts lived out. These
girls knew how to handle a challenge, they had the determination, confidence
and skills to thrive wherever they went.
This experience inspired me to dedicate time and resources to making
international travel an opportunity for more girls. My next trip is a 2 week tour of Europe in
July 2020. My future plans include
international adventures to all the Girl Scout world centers and Take Heart
Badge workshops in several states and countries around the world.
#MrsNorthDakotaInternational2019
#MrsIntl2019 #NDIntl19
#BuildingStrongLeaders
#DiscoverConnectTakeAction #CourageConfidenceCharacter #GirlScouts
#BecauseofGirlScouts
