Girl Scout Blog

Join the Girl Scout Gold Award Facebook Community and Conversation!

2013-05-17T10:55:00.001-05:00

Girl Scout Gold Award recipients are young women of extraordinary achievement who have made the world a better place. The Girl Scout Gold Award community Facebook page pairs Gold Award Alumnae and its equivalent from 1916 with girls currently earning their Gold Award.

Log onto Facebook and join the Girl Scout Gold Award community and conversation! Share your stories and make new friends!

Now check out this awesome Girl Scout Gold Award recipient! The world needs more girls in STEM careers. For her Gold Award project, this Georgia Girl Scout started a STEM career finder website that's since gone global, drawing girls from Atlanta to Africa.

Daniel Boockvar Appointed First-Ever Chief Customer Officer at Girl Scouts of the USA

2013-05-16T08:59:00.000-05:00

Girl Scouts of the USA announced today that Daniel Boockvar has been appointed the organization's first-ever Chief Customer Officer. Boockvar, who has been a senior executive at Weight Watchers International for nearly a dozen years, will join Girl Scouts on May 20, 2013.

Boockvar currently serves as Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations at Weight Watchers, where he has a broad portfolio of duties including responsibility for meeting the needs of over a million Weight Watchers members a week across 20,000 locations and overseeing approximately 20,000 employees. Boockvar joined Weight Watchers in 2002 as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel and steadily moved up the ranks, serving as Vice President of Operations and Sales and later Senior Vice President for Global Business Development.

During his tenure, he helped steward major transformational initiatives for Weight Watchers that include rolling out new national programs, introducing new products and partnerships, launching new stores, and opening new markets in China and Mexico. He began his career at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and worked in sales and business development at several Internet/e-Commerce-based entrepreneurial ventures before joining Weight Watchers.

"Danny is the perfect fit for this key leadership position," said Anna Maria Chávez, Chief Executive Officer at GSUSA. "His considerable experience and expertise in managing a large, multi-unit membership-based service organization for an iconic global brand will be invaluable to the Girl Scouts as we move into our next 100 years of building girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place."

In his new role at Girl Scouts, Boockvar will report directly to Chávez and will be responsible for helping GSUSA build its organizational muscle and make it even more service oriented and customer focused to better serve and engage its 3.2-million members. The position will be integral to the organization's operations and efforts to drive increased membership through better experiences and relationships with its customers--from its 112 councils, to girls, to adult volunteers and beyond.

"I am so honored to join what I consider the single most important organization for girls in the history of this country," Boockvar said. "The opportunity to be a part of this storied, vibrant brand with its unique mission, and to apply my background, experience, and passion is something that I am very excited about."

Girl Scouts Launches BFF Bully-Prevention Program, Local Girl Scout Produces Acclaimed Anti-bullying PSA

2013-05-15T08:43:00.002-05:00

Girl Scouts of the USA is excited to launch BFF(Be a Friend First), a national bully-prevention initiative for middle school girls. Based on GSUSA's popular aMAZE! leadership curriculum, the program helps girls to recognize and intervene in bullying situations and lead positive change in their schools and communities. Sadly, statistics show that when a girl is bullied, 85 percent of the time nobody steps in to help her.

Additional research shows girls are more likely to bully others subtly, through relational aggression--manipulating their relationships with other girls online and off--as opposed to using physical aggression. The same studies also show that bullying behavior peaks in middle school, when the need for social acceptance is high, making this a crucial time to help girls learn to prevent bullying.

"Girl Scouts is about growing girls into leaders, which includes teaching girls to recognize when something is inhibiting their development, such as relational bullying," said Anna Maria Chavez, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of the USA. "Giving girls the skills, support, and tools they need to stand up for themselves and others is a key component of leadership. We are creating a program that, with the guidance of adults, can help girls to make their world a better place on an issue that is important to them."

As part of a recent contest, Girl Scouts Speak Out! received PSAs from girls around the country who had a lot to say about bullying.

The Washington Post reports that Hannah, a High School freshman, entered the contest to create an anti-bullying public service announcement Although there’s no talking in the Hannah’s video, the message is clear.

“When you’re exclusive and mean you don’t make any friends, in fact you just make enemies,” Hannah wrote in her contest entry.

The video, called “Cliques”, won first place. The national competition encourages girls to create videos about important issues. Five finalists were chosen by online voting, and “Cliques” was among the top five, with more than 5,300 votes. Girl Scout officials picked Hannah’s video as the winner.

“Cliques,” which was filmed at Hannah’s school, stars 15 of her friends.

The need to prevent bullying is more important than ever because such behavior can affect a girl throughout her life. Bullying statistics show that almost 1/3 of all students ages 12--18 report that they have been bullied at school and 160,000 children miss school each day out of fear of being bullied.

For more information on BFF and how you can get involved or bring the program to your area, look here!

Spotlight on Girl Scouts 2013 National Young Women of Distinction: Nicole

2013-05-14T16:31:00.003-05:00

Disturbed by incidents of teen dating violence, this New Jersey Girl Scout got the state legislature to pass a law mandating violence-prevention programs in schools as part of her Gold Award project.

Happy Mother’s Day!

2013-05-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Guest Post: A Message from Anna Maria Chávez

A special message from Anna Maria Chávez, CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA

Today is Mother’s Day; a day when we pause to honor and give thanks to the all the amazing women who, through their patience, guidance, and infinite capacity for love and nurture,instill the values that inform our entire lives.

Mothers are a reservoir of love and compassion for girls and boys alike – there’s no wound she can’t heal with a kiss and a band-aid, no joy that can’t be sweetened by her embrace, no despair that can’t be softened by her love.

Of course, mothers are an invaluable part of the Girl Scout experience. Mothers are the original role models – the ones who set the earliest example for young girls about leadership. Whether she serves as a troop leader, volunteer or cookie mom, the incredible mother who gives freely of her time to help develop the next generation of female leaders is truly the life blood of our Movement.

As a Girl Scout and a mother myself, I know firsthand the impact my own mother had on my Girl Scout journey, and I know the feeling of boundless love and joy that comes from being a mom. So take a moment today to give thanks to the wonderful women in your life who taught you to enjoy and cherish every moment.

A very happy Mother’s Day to the moms who make our Movement and our world a better place.

Give Your Mother the Gift of History

2013-05-10T10:29:00.001-05:00

Doing some last minute Mother's Day shopping? What better gift to give than a piece of history? Our Girl Scouts of the USA Commemorative Silver Dollar will make the perfect gift for your favorite Girl Scout mom or troop leader! Buy one now at www.girlscouts.org/coin.

Video: Squawk Box Featuring Anna Maria Chávez

2013-05-10T09:24:00.003-05:00

Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez was on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning—Check it out!

Tune In: Squawk Box Featuring Anna Maria Chávez

2013-05-09T12:55:00.004-05:00

Good news! Tomorrow morning, Joe Kernen, co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Box, will interview Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez about our amazing track record building leaders—from business executives to political powerhouses—and the positive affect that Girl Scouting has on girls.

Designed to give viewers a jump on the business news of the day, Squawk Box is a fast-paced and informative business news program. But have your java ready, as the segment will air bright and early tomorrow from 6:50−7:00 a.m. EDT. (Check your local listings for the time the program airs in your area.)

Jobs@GSUSA: Andrea Bastiani Archibald

2013-05-09T07:22:00.000-05:00

Once a month, we show how our readers a behind-the-scenes look at our work here at Girl Scouts' national headquarters. In each profile, we spotlight employees from different departments and the work they do to serve our 3.2 million members. Today, we are looking at Andrea Bastiani Archibald, Ph.D., Developmental Psychologist, Program Development & Research at Girl Scouts of the USA.

Andrea Bastiani Archibald never seems to stop. She juggles meetings at GSUSA, presentations on new research, and phone calls with parents and councils. As a developmental psychologist, she’s an active participant in every step of GSUSA’s creative process, ensuring that the programs and leadership experiences Girl Scouts receive help them achieve their goals.

Andrea works in what she calls a “research-to-action” cycle, overseeing each Girl Scout initiative from beginning to end in order to guarantee that girls get the best possible experience. A typical cycle for Andrea begins when she collaborates with the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) to initiate research and learn what kinds of leadership experiences girls are looking for. Then she meets with GSUSA digital and print editorial teams to create program content that’s relevant and fun. Once the programs are rolled out, she teams up with GSRI again to learn what girls believe can be done to further their experiences. Recently, Andrea has been focusing on the new BFF (Be a Friend First) initiative, based on the aMAZE! leadership Journey. She hopes this Girl Scout anti-bullying initiative, now in the pilot phase with councils, will attract national and regional partners as well as more girls to Girl Scouting.

Andrea majored in psychology at Skidmore College and earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Columbia University. She spent most of her academic career researching and publishing studies about girls’ health and development. After working with girls in clinical settings, Andrea realized she was more interested in developing preventative programs to keep girls happy and strong.

One of the greatest challenges Andrea faces in her work is integrating the ideas of a wide variety of contributors in order to create effective Girl Scout program with measurable outcomes. She finds joy in many aspects of her work, from learning how a program directly impacts girls to talking with parents and councils about their roles in girls’ development and well being. Applying what she learned in academia to further the organization’s mission gives her great satisfaction. Above all, Andrea is glad to be part of an organization that supports girls changing the world in ways that only they can.

This interview was conducted by Elizabeth Venere, who is not only our social media content scout, but also a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient entering her senior year of college this fall. She provides GSUSA with awesome social media content.

Mother's Day Gift Idea: 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Commemorative Silver Dollar

2013-05-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

Here’s a fresh gift idea that inspires and pays tribute to a piece of history—give the Girls Scouts of the USA Centennial Silver Dollar. For the first time ever, the Girl Scouts has a commemorative coin, one of only two commemorative coin programs that will be issued by the United States Mint this year, and the first dedicated to a girls’ organization. The commemorative coin is a great gift idea for Mother’s Day! It’s also a winning choice for girls, Girl Scout alumnae, coin collectors, and lovers of unique historical collectibles. President Obama signed the legislation authorizing minting of the coin after passage in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

This beautiful coin features three girls of different ages and backgrounds on the heads side, and on the reverse side it shows the Girl Scouts’ 100th Anniversary logo, along with the inscription COURAGE, CONFIDENCE, CHARACTER (from the Girl Scouts mission to “build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place”). See more about the coin at www.girlscouts.org/coin.

The Girls Scouts of the USA Centennial Silver Dollar will be available in uncirculated and proof qualities starting on February 28 while supplies last, at a cost of $X plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Place your order by calling 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) or order online at www.usmint.gov.

Support the future of Girl Scouts while also giving a piece of history. The Girl Scouts of the USA will receive a $10 surcharge (already included) from your purchase for national program development and delivery.

Leadership Skills Learned in the Girl Scouts Featured on Money With Melissa Francis

2013-05-07T21:03:00.001-05:00

WNBA President Laurel J. Richie, Ingredion CEO Ilene Gordon and Rep. Susan Brooks, (R-Ind.), stopped by Fox Business to discuss why the Girl Scouts produce so many women leaders.

Spotlight on a Girl Scout Alumna and Gold Award Recipient

2013-05-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

Jill Bader, Nashville native and communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee in Washington, D.C., was recently the keynote speaker at the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee’s Salute to Outstanding Leadership Award ceremony. She is also a former aide to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Girl Scouts of the USA, the Mitt Romney campaign and leads the Republican State Leadership Committee's Right Women, Right Now initiative to recruit more Republican women to run for state level office. She received her Girl Scout Gold Award in 2000.

“Today is a great day to be a girl”, writes Bader in a column for The Tennessean. “While there is still a long way to go to achieve total equality, there has been no better time to be a girl than in today’s America. Now, we teach our young women — just like their brothers — that they can become anything they desire to be and do anything they set their minds to do.”

Jill was on hand to honor 43 local young women receiving Girl Scouting’s highest honor, the Gold Award, as well as 576 girls earning their Silver and Bronze Awards.

“I make the following plea to girls everywhere: Appreciate all the opportunities we have today as women,” she continues. “When barriers arise, ask for help. Thank the community for welcoming you to the leadership table. Don’t just ask to sit down; pull up a chair and join us! Say yes — to going to college, to traveling abroad, to running for governor, to open a medical practice, to falling in love and raising a family.” Make sure to read the entire column here.

Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee currently serves 39 counties that include 7,130 volunteers and 14,031 Girl Scouts.

Anna Maria Chávez to Moderate Panel at Forbes Women’s Summit

2013-05-06T05:38:00.003-05:00

Girl Scouts of the USA Chief Executive Officer Anna Maria Chávez will be in some very impressive company on Thursday, May 9, when she takes part in the inaugural Forbes Women’s Summit: Power Redefined in New York City. The summit will feature a who’s who of accomplished women from Forbes Most Powerful Women, 30 Under 30, and Celebrity 100.

Chávez will be moderating a panel discussion on innovation and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The panelists include Ellen Kullman, chair of the board and chief executive officer of DuPont; Leslie Dewan, chief scientist at Transatomic Power; Susan Hockfield, president emerita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Cori Lathan, chief executive officer at AnthroTronix.

Forbes is taking a different approach with the event in that it won’t focus on women’s issues, according to Moira Forbes, president and publisher of ForbesWoman, “but how a new generation of women can join forces with more traditional leaders to help solve society’s most critical issues—and redefine the notion of power through innovation and disruption.”

Girl Scouts will be well represented. Girl Scout National Board of Directors member Linda Descano, president and chief executive officer, Women & Co., and managing director and head of digital partnerships, content and social at Citi, and Girl Scout National Board of Directors member Cathy M. Coughlin, senior executive vice president and global marketing officer, AT&T Inc., are both participating.

Among some of the other participants include U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Huffington Post Media Group Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington and Anne Sweeney, co-chairman, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney ABC Television Group.

Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland Empowers Girls to Stand up Against Bullies Through Empathy

2013-05-02T16:15:00.001-05:00

Lindsay Collett, Program Manager of Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland, recently wrote a column for Start Empathy.

"Power Up, developed by Girl Scouts of Colorado, focuses on encouraging the 85% of girls who are bystanders to bullying behavior—especially the gossip, exclusion, and drama common among girls—to stand up and defend targets and make the world a better place,” writes Collett. “The Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland decided to join in Colorado's efforts of empower young women to stand up to bullying. Doing nothing is not an option! By teaching girls how to think—instead of what to think—girls learn to trust their gut to know when they experience, witness, or perpetuate bullying; and to understand that no simple answer works in every situation.”

An all-girl program, Power Up is focused on preventing the unique verbal and relational bullying prevalent among girls.

“Though we haven’t had the program long—just under one year—we’ve already empowered more than 1,000 girls to become defenders against bullying behavior,” writes Collett. “After completing the program, girls have thanked us for teaching them how to handle harassment and for helping adults actually understand what girls are like. Girls have shared how much they’ve learned—that it’s okay to help someone in need, ignoring bullying makes you a bully, and not to pick on anyone because they now know how much it can hurt. Since attending Power Up, girls have changed the way they look at bullying, how they think about people, and the way they treat everyone around them. We’re looking forward to the future, and being able to train more volunteer facilitators and teaching even more girls that doing nothing is not an option!” Read the entire piece here!

CNBC Discusses Financial Literacy and Online Cookie Sales with Anna Maria Chávez

2013-05-01T07:39:00.000-05:00

Anna Maria Chávez caught up with CNBC's Kayla Tausche recently, to discuss the thriving Girl Scout Cookie Program and the financial literacy and empowerment programs provided by Girl Scouts. Check it out!

CNBC Tracks the Big Business of Girl Scouts!

2013-04-30T18:27:00.000-05:00

Girl Scouts will be featured on CNBC and the Nightly Business Report on PBS today. In fact, the Girl Scout Cookie Program and the Girl Scout Research Institute's Having It All: Girls and Financial Literacy were the focus of a roundtable discussion on CNBC early this morning - clip below! CNBC will air another segment on Girl Scouts at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Nightly Business Report will also feature a segment during its newscast, which airs in many markets at 6:30 p.m. ahead of the PBS NewsHour. (Please check your local listings for broadcast times.) All of this is great exposure for our financial literacy study and the Girl Scout Cookie Program!

Do It for Your Daughter PSA by NJ Troop 1701 Junior Girl Scouts To Air on Live with Kelly & Michael, Rachel Ray, Katie and Scrubs

2013-04-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Girl Scouts going for their Bronze Award with Do It For Your Daughter campaign get their public service announcement (PSA) on some of the biggest TV shows on the air. Six 11-year-old Junior Girl Scouts–- Adriana, Francesca, Jacqueline, Joyce, Michele, Morgan—from Middletown, NJ created a campaign and PSA to encourage moms to get their mammograms. The powerful 30-second PSA will air today and tomorrow on:

April 30 - Live with Kelly and Michael (around 9:45 a.m.-9:50 a.m.)

May 1 - Rachael Ray (around 10:50 a.m.-10:55 a.m.), Katie (around 3:25 p.m.) and Scrubs (around 2:02 a.m.-2:05 a.m.)

Since one of the girl’s mothers is a two-time cancer survivor, and all the girls had experiences with serious family health issues, they came up with the campaign Do It for Your Daughter. Troop leader Dorianne Hennessy approached award-winning producer Caz Bielen, who didn’t miss a beat before he said yes, and off they went to make a PSA. The campaign includes the event Jam for the Exam (May 10). The girl’s goal—get 1,000 moms to promise to get a mammogram.

Anna Maria Chávez: Confronting Cyber Violence in the Digital Age

2013-04-26T13:58:00.001-05:00

Anna Maria Chávez has a column in Huffington Post titled "Confronting Cyber Violence in the Digital Age".

"Cyber bullies can hide behind a mask of anonymity online, and do not need direct physical access to their victims to do unimaginable harm," states Chávez... "This makes it possible for cyber bullies to torment their victims on a nearly constant basis -- leaving no escape from the trauma, no refuge from the bullies, and no sense of safety."

According to DoSomething.org, nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online and 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. 90% of teens who have seen social-media bullying say they have ignored it.

"At Girl Scouts, we are committed to raising awareness about the terrible effects of cyber bullying, and to teaching girls how to recognize the signs of bullying of any sort and extricate themselves or another from a bad situation before it spirals out of control and ends in tragedy," says Chávez. "By arming girls with the skills, foresight and confidence they need to identify and confront bullying behavior, we create a world of engaged leaders who refuse to be victimized or to sit idly by while another suffers."

To that combat cyber bullying, Girl Scouts offers BFF (Be a Friend First), which works with the aMAZE! Journey and gives middle school girls valuable skills to develop healthy relationships, prevent bully behavior, and become peacemakers in their schools and communities.

"Our BFF (Be a Friend First) initiative teaches middle school girls relational and leadership skills to stop bullying behavior when it happens and prevent it from happening in the first place," according to Chávez. "BFF uses role playing, creative writing, games, quizzes and discussion exercises through which girls explore challenging issues online and off, like peer pressure, stereotyping, gossip, and cliques. As part of BFF, girls also identify their own community's needs on bullying to create and lead projects in their schools and communities to tackle region-specific issues."

Spotlight on Gold Award Recipients from Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa

2013-04-25T12:11:00.001-05:00

Check out this video of Girl Scouts who earned their Gold Award in 2012-2013 through Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa. Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa is comprised of 67 counties in Iowa, two counties in South Dakota and one county in Nebraska. The Girl Scout Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. Open only to girls in high school, this prestigious award challenges you to change the world—or at least your corner of it, and be eligible for college scholarships, too. By the time you put the final touches on your seven-step project, you'll have solved a community problem—not only in the short term, but for years into the future. Check out the seven steps below.

Anna Maria Chávez Honored at Washington, D.C., Gala

2013-04-25T08:22:00.001-05:00

Anna Maria Chávez, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the USA, was honored by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) with the organization’s Excellence in Community Service Award at a gala event in Washington, D.C., last night.

The event, which was hosted by ABC News correspondent John Quiñones, recognizes people, corporations and law firms that have been instrumental in advancing Latinos. Chávez is the product of a Mexican-American family from Arizona, where she went on to become deputy chief of staff to then-Governor Janet Napolitano.

In attendance at the event was Lidia Soto-Harmon, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital, among many other dignitaries. This is only the latest award recognition for Chávez in the past year. She was listed among The NonProfit Times’ Power & Influence Top 50 and was selected as one of the 100 Women Leaders in STEM by STEMconnector. She also received the 2012 Chairman's Award from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Girl Scouts FIRST LEGO League Team Takes Part in White House Science Fair

2013-04-23T07:21:00.000-05:00

Two Girl Scouts, Catherine and Summer, and troop leader Susannah Rousculp represented their FIRST LEGO League Team known as the Atomic Flying Pickles from New Mexico at the White House Science Fair. The team was invited to attend after sharing their invention of an evaporative cooling headband for seniors with the White House Office on Science and Technology.

“When students excel in math and science, they help America compete for the jobs and industries of the future,” said President Obama on WhiteHouse.gov. “That’s why I’m proud to celebrate outstanding students at the White House Science Fair, and to announce new steps my Administration and its partners are taking to help more young people succeed in these critical subjects."

The Washington Post reports that the team developed the evaporative cooling headband, as part of their "Senior Solutions" project, to provide the elderly with a non-pharmaceutical solution to insomnia. The cooling headband they tested is filled with gel that soaks up water and stays hydrated for hours. Worn at night, the headband offers evaporative cooling action that may bring down the temperature of the frontal cortex to reduce racing thoughts that can keep the elderly awake at night.

The girls presented their project along with one of their robots at the fair, which President Obama hosted to celebrate student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country.

"We'd like to thank the White House for the opportunity to be part of this important science fair. To expose girls to STEM activities and careers, our council partnered with the New Mexico First Lego League," said Peggy Sanchez Mills, Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails. "We're delighted that the girls' exploration into STEM has brought them all the way to White House Science Fair. We believe each of the young ladies is a wonderful example of future leaders who have the potential to change the world for the better. This is what happens when a community invests in a girl; when we invest in a girl we invest in our future."

"I am so excited and honored to be going to the White House and to be able to meet other students from around our country doing STEM related projects," said Catherine. "I think this will be a great experience for me and my teammate. It's great to be representing Girl Scouts and to be sharing all the new STEM activities we are doing. My team and I won the state FLL Champion's Award for inspiring others about the excitement of science, and I hope that other girls will be encouraged to see how fun STEM activities can be."

Volunteer Appreciation Week 2013

2013-04-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Girl Scouts of the USA is kicking off Volunteer Appreciation Week by thanking all of our volunteers for volunteering for girls. Without a paycheck and without any fanfare, Girl Scout volunteers devote themselves to girl leadership. They put in long hours, stay patient as girls lead their own activities, and bring fun and spirit to everything girls do. Girl Scout volunteers are making a difference in the world, one girl at a time.

Volunteer Appreciation Week is set aside especially for volunteers. Girl Scouts pay tribute to the volunteers who help girls make the world a better place.

Girl Scouts CEO Anna Maria Chávez Receives “Changing the Game Award” from Advertising Women of New York

2013-04-18T13:49:00.003-05:00

Anna Maria Chávez, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), was honored today by Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) with its Changing the Game Award, which recognizes women who are catalysts for innovation.

Chávez was recognized for transforming and revitalizing the iconic organization and guiding it through its 100th anniversary in 2012, as well as spurring cutting edge initiatives involving girls and science, technology, engineering and math. “Making the Girl Scouts contemporary and cool is what Anna Maria Chávez is all about,” wrote AWNY about Chávez in special section in ADWEEK magazine.

“It is quite an honor to be recognized by AWNY,” said Chávez, who was among 16 women honored by the professional organization that has more than 1,600 members. “The cultural and demographic realities of our country are changing at a rapid pace, and so are the interests and lifestyles of American girls. As the premier leadership development organization for girls, we need to make sure we are keeping pace with the girls we serve – without apology, but with drive, pride and innovation.”

Chávez was honored in the No Apologies category, which recognizes women who are “creating whole new business models, industries, or marketplace opportunities.” The other recipient in the category included Leah Busque, founder of TaskRabbit; Rachel Chong, Chief Executive Officer of Catchfire; and Heather Davis, Senior Managing Director and Head of Global Private Markets at TIAA-CREF.

The awards were presented at a luncheon at the New York Hilton.

Share With a Friend! Having It All: Girls and Financial Literacy in Video

2013-04-18T08:44:00.001-05:00

A Lesson in Resilience From the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts

2013-04-17T07:56:00.001-05:00

The Boston Globe reports that marathoners who run for a cause vow to return next year to the Boston Marathon. Two bombs exploded without warning during the 2013 Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, killing 3 people and injuring 183 others.

At the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, which had waited five years to join the BAA’s charity list, chief executive Ruth Bramson said the $60,000 raised will send dozens of Scouts to camps this summer. Many of her 13 runners were troop-leading mothers setting examples for their daughters.

“Will we be back next year? Without hesitation,” Bramson said. Beyond any money raised, “it’s also a show of support for this city, which we love. We will absolutely not be deterred by this.”

One troop leader who ran Monday, Alana Bresnahan of Salem, has already indicated she will be back for the 2014 race. “I want to be on the team next year,” said Bresnahan, who raised nearly $5,500 this year. "We need to show Scouts that we can’t live in fear.”