In the Fall of 2019, the Junior Girl Scout Troop 40049 in Boalsburg, PA embarked on a Journey called aMuse. Journeys are a series of badges earned while in the process of learning through three keys to leadership: Discover, Connect and Take Action. The aMuse Journey challenges scouts to try on different roles, define and describe gender stereotypes, challenge those stereotypes and then teach others what they have learned.
The scouts each interviewed six women about the roles they play in their lives, their families’ lives, and in the work world. They examined these roles and aligned them with the values in the Girl Scout Law. Then, in addition to the women they portray in their presentation, the scouts learned about other women role models: Debbie Black, Harriet Tubman, Greta Thuneberg and others. They learned that these are just people like them who searched for the self-confidence to defy stereotypes and overcome obstacles to make a difference in the world.
To teach others about what they learned, they were required to come up with some sort of creative project: a collection of poems, a story, a puppet show, a musical, a quilt, a graphic novel, etc. After learning about some of the more shocking facts about the fates and expectations of women and constraints on their freedoms throughout history, our Juniors became very passionate about learning more. They were intrigued by the idea that for centuries women could be accused of witchcraft just for knowing how to read or treat illnesses! The fact that women could not vote until 1920 was big news to them and then we learned that that only guaranteed the right to vote for white women! When they learned that it did not become illegal to discriminate against African-American and other minority women in their attempt to vote until 1965, they were truly angry. They decided to create a living time-line of the roles of women. They decided to hone in on three very general time periods of history: the 16th/17th century, 19th/early 20th century and the 2000s.
Our troop was about to make personalized invitations to their friends, family, and sister Brownie scouts, when the Covid-19 virus pandemic hit Centre County. We were forced to discontinue our troop meetings and our presentation was put on hold. With no end in sight to social distancing, we decided to compile the scouts’ individual presentations into an online video prepared by another sister scout, Anja Johnson. Thank you to her, Paije Davis and Tim Robicheaux and to all the Junior Scout families for your help in creating this project.
In learning about others’ stories, our Junior Scouts are making their own story. Here is part of it and hope you enjoy. I’m so very proud of them.