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[Pages H2651-H2652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING GIRL SCOUTS ON THEIR 107TH ANNIVERSARY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Oklahoma (Ms. Kendra S. Horn) for 5 minutes.
Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor
the Girl Scouts of the United States as it celebrates its 107th
birthday today.
On this day in 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded this organization
for, in her words, the girls of Savannah and of all America and of the
world.
As you might be able to tell from the pictures next to me, Girl
Scouts holds a very special place in my life.
Girl Scouts prepares girls to empower themselves, promotes
compassion, courage, confidence, character, leadership,
entrepreneurship, and active citizenship.
You see, my life has been shaped, as have many other girls and women
throughout this country, in large part by the lessons I learned through
scouting. From my great-grandmother, to my grandmother, to my mother,
to myself, Girl Scouts and the values that they taught me and the
strengths that Girl Scouts helped me to achieve have helped carry me
through life.
For more than a century, the Girl Scouts have taught girls to be go-
getters, innovators, risk-takers, and leaders.
Today, with a record number of women serving in the U.S. Congress,
there are also a record number of Girl Scouts. Fifty-eight percent of
the women in the U.S. House of Representatives are Girl Scouts and 73
percent of female U.S. Senators are Girl Scouts.
Though there are hundreds of Girl Scout alums in both houses of
Congress, there are three of us who earned scouting's highest honor:
myself, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, and Senator Tammy Duckworth.
This award, the Gold Award, is given to high schoolers after they
identify an issue in their community, investigate it, build a team,
build a plan, and implement it. These 1- to 2-year take-action projects
must have sustainable impacts on the community. They can be petitions
to add playgrounds to local parks, recycling campaigns, building
emergency kits, and on and on and on, but the one thing they have in
common is a sustainability requirement. They simply can't be a one
shot. They must create lasting change.
Girl Scouts teaches its members to look for the root cause of a
problem, not simply the symptoms.
The Gold Award is the highest achievement in all of Girl Scouts.
Congress isn't the only place as well that Girl Scouts have gone into
public
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service. Three Secretaries of State, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine
Albright, and Hillary Clinton, were all Girl Scouts, and virtually
every single female astronaut has also been a Girl Scout.
Today, more than 50 million women alive have participated in Girl
Scouts growing up. I am proud to say that for the Girl Scouts of
western Oklahoma, there are today 14,000 girls who are members.
Worldwide, Girl Scouts has 2.6 million current girl and adult members.
Although Girl Scouts is perhaps best known for the entrepreneurial
skills it introduces through the cookie program, it does so much more
to develop leadership skills in girls. It teaches them how to advocate
for themselves, for others, and it gives them a voice beginning at a
very young age.
Programs introduce girls to science, technology, engineering, art,
and mathematics, or STEAM, often paths where girls might not otherwise
be encouraged or supported to go on their own. Those STEAM programs
introduce girls to these important areas and help them to move through
challenges.
Girl Scouts can also learn about the outdoors through going on long
treks, camping, kayaking, mountain biking, and countless other
activities, all while learning how to minimize their impact on the
environment.
Bottom line, Girl Scouts teaches girls the skills they need and they
might not get elsewhere about healthy relationships, soft skills,
financial literacy, nutrition and health.
All of these journeys are designed by girls and for girls, following
evidence-based approaches that ensure they fit girls and foster their
growth.
I am honored today to rise to celebrate the Girl Scouts on their
107th anniversary as a fourth generation Girl Scout and Gold Award
recipient.
____________________