Winter 2025 SOAR Magazine

All Girls Everywhere

G irl Scouts have been redefining what’s possible for girls since the organization was founded in 1912. As our society evolves and changes with each decade, so do the needs of girls. While our founder, Juliette Gordon Low, was advocating for society to see the value in leadership development programs for young girls, Girl Scouts in the 21st century must instead focus on re-imagining the traditional Girl Scout experience and responding to impactful societal shifts due to growing youth socio-emotional challenges, decreased volunteerism and family financial constraints. Today, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri serves thousands of girls in schools across our 28-county jurisdiction through the following:

• Traditional volunteer-led troops • Community Troops, led by GSEM staff members in underserved areas • Outreach, in-classroom curriculum delivered in partnership with a school district to boys and girls to enhance emotional literacy and specialty troops including Girl Scout Beyond Bars Over the past year, the organization has focused on building a stronger foundation to support our current generation of Girl Scouts and their families. As a complement to our traditional programming, in areas like STEM, entrepreneurship, outdoors and life skills, girls can now participate in newly launched academic enrichment, mental health and workforce development

programming. These increase critical competencies that promote lifelong success. These robust programming experiences are the first-of-their kind across Girl Scout councils nationwide and support girls with the competencies needed to become strong leaders of tomorrow. By equipping girls with the necessary building blocks of resiliency, courage, empathy, compassion and empowerment Girl Scouts is propelling them to make an impact and positively contribute to driving economic growth and increase social mobility for their families, communities and beyond.

New Holistic Program Opportunities • College Entrance Exam Preparation • Educational Outreach and Workforce Professional Development • Mental Health Programming and Support • College and Career Planning • Community Partnership Programming

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