I have been a member of Girl Scouts for a long time, close to 30 years at this point. I have been involved as a girl, a volunteer, a leader, a member of the service unit, and a parent. Over those years, the program has changed, and it is set to change again in Fall 2008.

The first time I noticed changes, I was in eighth grade and they switched from the old program where the pinnacle of the Girl Scout experience was a First Class award. I earned that award and then promptly turned around to work on the new awards: the Silver and Gold Awards. The Silver and Gold Awards still exist alongside an award designed for what is now the Junior level of Scouting (4th-6th grades) called the Bronze Award.

Another major change over the years was the introduction of Daisy Scouts for girls in Kindergarten. Daisies, in my assessment, made a lot of sense. Organized around the ten points of the law, the program provided a solid introduction to Girl Scouts. The one drawback to the Daisy year was that it was a year and then the girls moved onto Brownies. Oftentimes the girls were Daisies for as little as six months before they moved on because, by definition, Daisy troops were always brand-new troops often with brand-new leaders and the learning curve was steep.

The new organizational structure addresses that issue by changing the age breaks for all levels of Scouting. Let me take a moment to say no matter what age the girl or what level, all girls are Girl Scouts. Here, though, are the new age breaks that will be in place as of October 2008:

Girl Scout Daisy, Grades K-1
Girl Scout Brownie, Grades 2-3
Girl Scout Junior, Grades 4-5
Girl Scout Cadette, Grades 6-8
Girl Scout Senior, Grades 9-10
Girl Scout Ambassador, Grades 11-12

As noted, I do believe that an extra year of Daisies is worthwhile, and being a Brownie for just two years is also logical. I have reservations about the current Try Its meeting the needs and interests of third graders though, and I am definitely not in favor of the Junior level being reduced to a two-year stint. There is much to do at that level and two years will fly by before the girls even settle in to the program.

I have many questions about these changes, but I have decided not to fret. The reality of the situation is change happens as regular as the wind blows within the organization, but those changes never really change what we do. At the core, Girl Scouts is about the girls exploring their world. The center of program remains the promise and the law regardless of what the girls are called at a particular age.

Truth be told, my girls are more interested in being with their friends, trying new things, and community service than they are in the traditional awards to be earned at each level. Thus, rather than trying to race through and complete awards that they do not care about in the end, my focus will be to continue to offer activities that have meaning to my troop. If the patches and badges that look so nice on the uniforms come along the way, great, but if not, I am confident what the girls will take away in the form of personal growth and confidence is reward enough.

This attitude is even more pragmatic given that national has only announced age-level name changes but has failed to present new leveled programming materials to match. For all I know the Bronze Award will be something that can be earned at either at the new Junior or Cadette level (that would be my recommendation), so there is no sense in panicking. Additionally, the awards are not sequential. In other words, there is no reason my girls, in grade 8, can decide to earn whatever the age-appropriate award is regardless of what choices they made in the past. The bottom line is that I believe it is my job as leader to make sure the troop's activities are in line with what the girls want.