For a few years now, I knew that I wanted to build my Senior Project around Girl Scouts. The organization and program has been the most influential part of my life. I have been a Girl Scout for 10 years now, starting when I was in second grade. While this may make it seem that I already know a lot about my topic, it’s not true. Being a Girl Scout and leading Girl Scouts are two very different things, especially in the world of my project. 

I have led my Girl Scout troop before in various activities, but no matter what I led, I always had a level of comfort because I knew exactly how our troop worked and I knew everyone pretty well. In my project, I don’t know exactly who I am leading. In the most basic of terms, I am leading for high school Girl Scouts, but that is such a broad demographic. I know that my troop has always been more research and art based, but that isn’t the case for every Girl Scout. I have to be able to bring together a community of girls whose interests vastly differ. 

Answering my essential question is very important to me, not just in the context of Senior Project, but as a Girl Scout as well. As I got responses to my survey last week, I realized that most high school Girl Scouts had a similar experience in terms of involvement: their troop became less involved within the GS organization, but the girls themselves became much more involved, but there are fewer resources for them. It felt good to see my experience reflected in others, and it would be meaningful if I could be the one to begin to change that experience for the better.