Senior Girl Scout Way (GSWB)

The Senior Girl Scout Way badge is part of the Legacy badge set introduced in 2011.

Explore Girl Scout music
Singing brings us all together and helps us feel connected, strong, and proud. Girl Scouts sing in special places or to mark special times – or, sometimes, just for the fun of it! As a Senior, dig into the Girl Scout songs that have connected our Movement across time and space.

CHOOSE ONE:

Add to the canon of Girl Scout songs!  Find popular songs that convey something about the Girl Scout spirit, or write your own words to a pop song with a catchy beat. Teach it to your Senior sisters, then, sing it together at a Girl Scout event.

OR

Trace the roots of traditional Girl Scout songs.  Find three songs Girl Scouts like to sing from cultures around the world. Learn their history and how they changed as they passed from the original language into English. Are the songs part of a traditional celebration? If you can, find out how each became a Girl Scout song. Then, learn to sing the songs, teach them to a group of younger Girl Scouts, and share what you learned about the songs.

FOR MORE FUN:  Hold a traditional celebration, and perform your song there.

OR

 Preserve old Girl Scout songs.  Reach out to Girl Scout alumnae who love to sing, and make recordings of them singing their favorite old songs. From the recordings and your time with these women, learn the songs and teach them to a group of younger Girl Scouts.

Scouts’ Own

“'''A voluntary uplifting of their hearts. . . in thanksgiving for the joys of life.”''' In these words, Lord Baden-Powell described the quiet and reverent communion known as Scouts’ Own.

-Senior Girl Scout Handbook, 1963

'''A Scouts’ Ownmay be a carefully planned and rehearsed ceremony, or it may be an almost spontaneous time when Girl Scouts reflect together on a shared experience. Anytime and anyplace where Girl Scouts are gathered together, indoors or out, is the right time and place! The beauty of nature, unusual examples of honor or courage of kindness, inspiration in music or art – any of these would be great themes. A good Scouts’ Own brings the theme to life through poetry, stories, music, and pictures. Whatever the theme, it is the “uplifting of hearts” that really makes this ceremony a traditional Scouts’ Own.'''

Help younger Girl Scouts celebrate a special day
Girl Scout celebrations honor women and girls who change the world. As a Senior, help younger Girl Scouts celebrate a special day. Use your leadership skills to encourage leadership in a younger group of girls, guiding them to turn their ideas and imaginations into a successful event!

CHOOSE ONE:

Celebrate for the Girl Scout Way badge.  As step 2 of their Girl Scout Way badges, each level of girls celebrates a different occasion:

Brownies – Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday

Juniors – Girl Scout birthday

Cadettes – Girl Scout Week

Review how each group can complete each step, and assist them in bringing their celebration to life. Think like the pros, and consult with the girls on their choices for fun themes, decorations, games, activities, and songs!

OR

Help younger girls bridge up.  Bridging ceremonies honor girls’ growth and all they’ve learned and accomplished as Girl Scouts – and all they will do in the future. Help girls create a fun and meaningful bridging ceremony they’ll always remember.

OR

Share in planning and carrying out a Scouts’ Own.  Use your experience to help girls make their ceremony even more special – what tips and inspiration can you bring from your favorite ceremonies? How can you help add even more passion, heart, and substance to the ceremony?

More  to EXPLORE: Share your technical know-how. Offer to photograph or film the special day and, then, show a digital slide presentation or videos.

Spread sisterhood through the Girl Scout Law
“Sisterhood” doesn’t mean just sisters in your family. All the girls and women who are Girl Scouts try to live by the Girl Scout Law. That’s what unites us as a Girl Scout sisterhood. In your Senior badge, reflect on the Law’s ten important lines, and share your thoughts and inspiration with your sisters.

CHOOSE ONE:

Create your own list of laws tied to the Girl Scout Law.  As a Senior, the world is opening up to you. As you head out to explore it, change it, and enjoy it, think about how you’ll carry on the Girl Scout ways. Write out the lines of the Girl Scout Law, and under each write one specific commitment or action you want to incorporate in to your life. Share your list with your Girl Scout sisters, and discuss their ideas, too.

OR

'''Help define the Girl Scout Law. '''Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly how to put the concepts of the Law into practice. For example, does “respecting authority” only mean following rules and laws? Does being courageous mean saving someone’s life, or can it, also, mean standing up for what you believe even when others disagree? For each line of the Law, write some examples you’ve seen in your life – whether the actions were by Girl Scouts or by other leaders you respect. Then, share your list with younger Girl Scouts, and ask for their ideas, too!

OR

Focus on one line, and use it to expand sisterhood.  For example, you might choose “respect myself and others,” and share it by inviting members of women’s groups at local places of worship to share their religious and cultural traditions with you and other Girl Scouts. Or, you might choose “use resources wisely,” and invite a woman who works in waste management to share her recycling, composting, or water-saving tips with two different groups of brownies that are both working on their Household Elf badge (where they learn to be clean and green) or their WOW!Journey (where they learn to love and care for water). The goal is to bring sisters together through our Law.

More To EXPLORE

Be a Sister to Other Women.Seniors earning their Community Action interest patch in 1963 shared sisterhood in a variety of ways. Follow in the Girl Scout tradition of welcoming and respecting diversity by choosing a group of women from one of these areas to host, help, or otherwise assist:

·      Help a family newly arrived from another country to settle in your community and get acquainted with your neighborhood and its people.

·      If there is a college or university in your community, help make foreign students feel welcome. Talk to the foreign-student adviser of the college to find out what particular service you can give.

·      Offer to serve as hosts or guides to international visitors who need language help while they are in your community.

Careers that Spread the Girl Scout Way
 * Author                     
 * Chief Executive Officer               
 * Public Defender
 * Interpreter               
 * Chief Operations Office               
 * Social innovator
 * Lobbyist                   
 * Chief Financial Officer                
 * Religious leader
 * Home Nurse              
 * Chief Technology Officer              
 * Student provost
 * International development worker           
 * Cultural exchange coordinator
 * International education worker              
 * Museum donations manager
 * Fair housing advocate                         
 * Social services case worker
 * Environmental educator                       
 * Historic preservationist
 * Girls’ education researcher                  
 * School administrator
 * Corporate team-building expert             
 * University administrator
 * Advocate for victims of domestic violence

Leave your environment better than you found it
It’s the Girl Scout way to care about the world around us – whether it’s a room, a campground, or the world. As a Senior, help protect and promote your environment.

CHOOSE ONE:

Plant the seed of a Take Action project.  Interview parks or community recreation staff about the biggest challenges and constraints they have in keeping their area clean and green. What issues could Girl Scouts help address – or, what issues need innovative solutions? Brainstorm ideas that you or other Girl Scouts might put into action in Take Action projects for your It’s Your Planet – Love It!Leadership Journeys. (You might use strategies from your Social Innovator badge!) keep your list as inspiration, and share it with other Girl Scouts, too.

OR

Beautify your environment.  Work with a community arts council or local artists to organize and execute a mural, theme garden, or other large-scale project on a council property, at your school, or an area building. Invite younger Girl Scouts to help come up with and create the project. Get permission first if your project is permanent.

FOR MORE FUN:  Juniors completing their Gardener badge need to plant a garden – could you all work together?

OR

Leave the human “environment” better than you found it.  For one week, make it your practice to leave the people you encounter feeling “better than you found them.”  Do at least one concrete action each day. Example activities might be: surprising your parents by plying their favorite song on an instrument, making a point of telling your soccer teammates why you think each of them is a great player, addressing a friendship conflict, or baking homemade fortune cookies with fun messages inside and passing them out to classmates.

A FEW FAMOUS GIRL SCOUTS

 

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

former U.S. Secretary

of State

SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK 

former actress and

former U.S. ambassador

MARTHA STEWART 

TV personality, CEO Martha

Stewart Living Omnimedia

SHERYL CROW 

singer

SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR 

former Associate Justice,

U.S. Supreme Court

RITA DOVE 

1993 US Poet Laureate

ANN MOORE

former CEO of Time Inc.

and former publisher

of Peoplemagazine

JANET RENO

former U.S. Attorney General

ANNE D’HARNONCOURT

former director and CEO of

Philadelphia Museum of Art

GLORIA STEINEM

author and

women’s rights activist

DEBBI FIELDS

founder of

Mrs. Fields Cookies

LINDA GOODMAN

astrologer

MAE JEMISON

astronaut

KAREN KAIN

prima ballerina

REBECCA LOBO-RUSHIN

WNBA basketball player

ANNE SWEENEY

president of Disney/

ABC television group

JUANITA WALLS

former FBI agent

BARBARA WALTERS

journalist, TV host

HEATHER WHITESTONE

Miss America 1995

Enjoy Girl Scout traditions!
Traditions bring people together. A tradition can be a special food, a ceremony, a song – anything that’s passed along through the years. Celebrate and share with others all that Girl Scouting does for girls, and help those traditions stay strong for another 100 years (and more!).

CHOOSE ONE:

Learn from famous Girl Scouts.  Research the biographies of three famous Girl Scouts or Girl Guides in different professional fields. Know their backgrounds, accomplishments, leadership qualities, and how their lives reflect the values of the Girl Scout Law. Share your stories about how Girl Scouting prepares girls for future success with parents of younger Girl Scouts and interested community members (perhaps those who’ve helped girls in your area with Leadership Journeys!).

OR

Advance diversity.  Talk with current or alumnae Girl Scouts, volunteers, or staff, or go online to get statistics and stories about diversity in the Girl Scouts. Then, take one action to help make the Girl Scouts an organization to which every girl has access. Perhaps it’s helping your volunteer team hold a “Get to Know Girl Scouts” night for families from diverse groups, or introducing kindergartners in an immigrant community to the Flower Friends.

OR

'''Showcase your own traditions. '''First, watch The Golden Eaglet, a promotional film for the Girl Scouts made in 1918. Talk with your Senior friends about the similarities and differences in Girl Scouts now and then. Finally, make a three-minute film or digital slide show that shares your ideas about why Girl Scout traditions are important and how they benefit girls. Girls who see it might be inspired to get involved in the fun, friendship, and action!