The Girl Scout mission is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts is the premier leadership organization for girls and an expert on their growth and development. We have identified the three keys to leadership: girls Discover themselves and their values; Connect with others; and Take Action to make the world a better place. At Girl Scouts, everything centers on the girl—activities are girl-led, which gives girls the opportunity to learn by doing in a cooperative learning environment. To accomplish this, programming focuses on 15
short-term and intermediate goals (outcomes) that help girls gain specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and
values. These outcomes work in tandem with the three keys to leadership and combined, they make up the Girl Scout Leadership Experience curriculum.
A girl can be a Girl Scout in many different ways:
Troop Pathway—offers the same group of girls the opportunity to participate in the Girl Scout Leadership Experience over a period of time.
Events Pathway—gives girls the ability to participate in activities about topics of interest to them. The primary difference between the events pathway and all other pathways is that different girls participate in each event. Examples include: Reach the top of a climbing wall; go horseback riding; paint a self-portrait or make a clay pot; build a robot of engineer simple machines; explore a wetland or visit a farm.
Camp Pathway—features day, weekend, and resident camp experiences that introduce and explore the out-of-doors. A defining characteristic of this pathway is that it is an outdoor, condensed experience. Examples include: Get creative with arts; practice outdoor skills; splash around with swimming and boating; work together with team challenges; play games and sing songs.
Series Pathway—is a short-term duration that fits into the busy lives of middle- and high-school girls. Although a series is similar to a troop experience, it is based on a shorter timeframe. Examples include: Discover how to grow friendships, prevent bullying, and stay connected; explore different types of media and the stories they hold, and tell your own story in a creative way; take a deeper dive into a specific topic like Financial Literacy.
Travel Pathway—offers girls leadership opportunities and cross-cultural understanding through local, regional, national, and international travel. Girls prepare, plan, money-earn, and participate as a group.