In honor of International Women’s Day – March 8, 2018 – we wanted to highlight Girl Scouts of Orange County. Girl Scouts is the organization valued in Orange County and nationwide, for having over 105 years of experience shaping girls into future female leaders. Girl Scouts teaches girls to take the lead early and often in their lives, resulting in alumnae with higher incomes, more rewarding careers, and a passion for taking action in their communities. No other organization has more experience in building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
In 2017, Girl Scouts of Orange County opened the Argyros Girl Scout Leadership Center in Newport Beach’s Marina Park. Named in honor of philanthropists Julia and George Argyros, the Leadership Center serves OC’s 20,000 Girl Scouts and the additional 13,000 volunteers and adults who guide them as the main hub for Girl Scout STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) experiences. Given the opportunity to utilize Girl Scouts of Orange County’s signature multimedia program INSPIRE, girls visiting the Argyros Girl Scout Leadership Center are offered life-changing opportunities to explore exciting 21st century careers and learn how to take action to make the world a better place.
The non-profit also established the Girl Scouts of Orange County STEM Consortium. Launched in 2015, the Girl Scouts of Orange County STEM Consortium is OC’s first collaboration of its kind, through which Girl Scouts of Orange County works with leading STEM companies to bring vital STEM experiences to girls so that all OC girls embrace their STEM education and recognize its importance for their future success. To date, the STEM Consortium has developed two badges- My STEM Life for Girl Scout Cadettes (Grades 6-8) and STEMsational Me! for Girl Scout Juniors (Grades 4-5) dedicated to helping girls explore STEM in their world and has provided hundreds of girls with enriching, hands-on STEM experiences. Coming this spring the Consortium will be launching STEM Tank for Girl Scout Cadettes (Grades 6-8), Seniors (Grades 9-10), and Ambassadors (Grades 11–12), a series of STEM workshops designed to help girls develop their STEM skills and deliver a pitch to STEM professionals. As of recent, nearly 2,500 Girl Scouts have earned the My STEM Life and STEMsational ME! badges introduced by the STEM Consortium. Additionally, Girl Scouts nationally added 23 new Outdoor programs, making it the movement’s largest national program rollout in almost a decade.
Through Girl Scouts of Orange County’s volunteer-run Day Camp programs, nearly 3,000 Girl Scouts ages 5-17 get outdoors and develop new outdoor and leadership skills, make friends, and have fun. Whether it’s an indoor STEM experience, Day Camp, or one of the many other opportunities Girl Scouts have, each and every program offered by Girl Scouts of Orange County continues to build problem-solvers, challenge-seekers, and future leaders.
In addition to all of the exciting new growth in the organization, a new CEO was announced at the beginning of 2018. Vikki Shepp, who has held numerous leadership positions in her 10-year tenure with Girl Scouts of Orange County, will now continue the organization’s quest to provide each and every girl in Orange County the opportunity to experience all of the life-changing benefits Girl Scouts has to offer.
Over 76% of current female United States senators were Girl Scouts. 67% of current female governors were Girl Scouts. Every female secretary of state in the United States was a Girl Scout. The inclusive, all-female environment helps girls thrive as they develop a strong sense of self, display positive values, seek challenges and learn from setbacks, form and maintain healthy relationships, identify and solve problems in the community, and become the leaders of tomorrow. Beacon Pointe shares in the Girl Scout’s passion to educate, empower and engage young women in all aspects of their lives and thoroughly enjoyed partnering with the Girl Scouts of Orange County to create a finance badge event and host local girl scouts at our office. Beacon Pointe couldn’t be more proud to have a client like the Friends of the Girl Scouts Trust that supports all of the Girl Scouts’ programs endeavors and accomplishments.
Happy International Women’s Day! And, here’s to the efforts of Girl Scouts for shaping the amazing young women of our community and the exciting changes and additions that continue to propel the program forward. We are honored to be long-time partners of the Girls Scouts and continue to watch so many young women flourish through the program.
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