By:
Pooja D.
The next morning was the first day
of the convention and I was so excited!
We ate breakfast in our hotel and then walked to the convention
center. While our adult chaperones,
Victoria and Kathryn, checked us in, we played games in an activity room. My favorite game included making a spider web
out of yarn. One person would start off
with the ball of yarn and she would say a sentence. Then, she would throw the yarn to another
person who continued the story by adding another sentence. Pretty soon, we wove an interesting story
about one of the girls in our group, Morgan, and her dog. It was a lot of fun and helped pass the time.
After we were checked in, we
received nametags that we had to wear everywhere in the convention center. These tags had our meal passes and assigned
seat numbers. We had a couple of hours
to explore the city and spent them at the mall getting food to eat and visiting
the Mormon temple. The temple is
gorgeous and we visited an exhibit to learn more about the religion.
After Dr. Trent finished speaking,
the CEO of Girl Scouts Ms. Anna Maria Chavez led us to the Opening Ceremony of
the Hall of Experiences. The Hall of
Experiences had many booths including a cookie booth, an arts and crafts booth,
and even a booth where we could make bunnies out of recycled materials! As if the day had not been exciting enough,
we also attended the opening ceremony of the convention in the evening. There was a grand flag ceremony that
represented many nations across the world.
We also heard a speech by Ms. Alison Levine before we left the
convention center for the night. Ms.
Levine was also an inspirational speaker and I loved her talk. She delivered her speech, not just to the
girl delegates and GSLI girls, but also to the adult delegates.
Ms. Alison Levine has climbed the
highest mountain in every continent and led the first women’s Mount Everest
expedition team. We heard a lot about
her climb on Mount Everest. She said
that it was critical to break up the mountain into smaller parts. Because of the huge elevation change, one has
to climb up to a checkpoint, and then climb back down to the base of the
mountain so one adapts to the reduced oxygen levels. She talked about the rapid changes that can
occur on the mountain. She emphasized
that “plans are outdated as soon as they are finished” and one has to make the
best decision they can in that moment.
She went on to say “if the conditions are not right, you turn around,
cut your losses and walk away” because “getting to the top is optional but
getting down is mandatory.” This spoke
volumes to me because no matter how good you plan, your plans always change. Therefore, one should not sulk and becomes
upset if things do not go your away but instead one should move on as best as
possible. Ms. Levine told us that she
did not make it to the top of Mount Everest on her first try because of the
conditions on the day that she was supposed to climb to the peak. She said that one has the “freedom to fail as
long as you learn from it.” She talked
about how she was disappointed that she did not get to the top, but she still
learned from the experience. After
hearing her speak, all of us made our way back to our hotel and slept.
The next morning was the first
delegate session of the convention. I
was actually very excited for it. At
first we took a census to count the number of voters and to make sure our
voting devices worked. On Friday, there
were 1195 eligible voting members in the voting session. During this session, we discussed both the
first and second proposals, but we only voted on the first proposal. The first proposal helped make membership
dues more flexible. This amendment
passed with an overwhelming majority.
We also talked about increasing the
use of technology in Girl Scouts. The
goal was to make it easier for people to join Girl Scouts. It would help enhance the ease for volunteers
to join and lead Girl Scout troops. It would
also help volunteers access the volunteer tool kit faster. Next, we talked about 2015-2018 Strategic
Priorities of Girl Scouts which included: identifying the core experience of
Girl Scouts, how to deliver the core experience effectively, solidifying the
Girl Scouts’ network alignment, a financial model, and others. After this we talked a lot about
membership. There has been a membership decline,
which has resulted from a lack of volunteers.
There are many girls who are wait-listed for Girl Scout troops because
there are not enough Girl Scout volunteers that are willing to lead a
troop. Therefore, Girl Scouts of the USA
has started a national recruitment campaign in the hopes of attracting more
adult volunteers.
In the session, we then transitioned into the
economic side of Girl Scouts, which really interested me. A fun fact that I learned during the
financial report is that the two main revenue streams in 2013 were membership
due and the sale of Girl Scout merchandise.
After a delicious lunch, we broke
off into our GSLI groups. There were
seven different groups: basic needs, self-image, education, teen violence,
healthy relationships, inclusion/diversity, and gender equality. I was in the teen violence group. The GSLI girls had discussions in the morning
while the delegates were in session. The
afternoon sessions consisted more about team building, financial advisory tips,
and an advocacy plan. Each section had a
different speaker, and I really enjoyed it.
We were also allowed a 30-minute break where the people within a certain
group could explore the Hall of Experiences.
However since we, as delegates, had already walked
around the hall, we went to the mall. It
was beautiful! Salt Lake City has an
outdoor mall which is absolutely gorgeous.
We just walked around the mall, but soon we had to go back to the
convention center and we met with all the other girls in our group. Exhausted from an eventful day, we made our
way back to the hotel.
On October 17, the delegate session
was much more exciting. First, there was
a
problem with our voting devices. While
some people were getting their devices exchanged with the other people, we
started singing happy birthday to people and then we transitioned into singing campfire
songs. And eventually, all of the Girl
Scouts ended up on stage singing the songs together. It was so much fun! After that, though, we got back to voting on
Girl Scout policy. The second amendment
to the Girl Scout Constitution changed the reporting relation of the Chief Financial
Officer. This amendment passed with few
comments and passed with an overwhelming majority. The third amendment to the constitution
resulted in the most interested debate by far.
The third amendment would no longer allow past presidents to participate
in the National Board of Directors meeting.
There were many comments about this amendment and two past Presidents
and then current President of Girl Scouts, Ms. Connie Lindsey, got involved in
the debate. Ms. Lindsey and one past
President argued in favor of the amendment, while another past President argued
against the amendment. Many more
delegates stepped up to the microphone to say why they were voting for or
against the amendment as well. In the
end, though, the amendment was passed. To
be honest, I really enjoyed learning about parliamentary procedure and how
debating and questioning works during the delegate session. I also really enjoyed the debates that
occurred during the session.
The delegates then met with the GSLI
girls for lunch and Ms. Connie Lindsey came and I got a picture with her and I
got her patch! I was so excited that I
texted my mom and then texted my friends at home.
We then separated out into our GSLI separate
sessions. This time, we planned our Take
Action project. We talked about where
our project would take place and broke our project down into several steps. We talked about who would benefit from our
project and who we need to talk to in order to start our projects. Lastly, we made sure that our projects would
be sustainable. After we had finished,
each group elected one person to share their project with the rest of the GSLI
girls.
After each group presented, we were
given tickets to the Clark planetarium.
We quickly went back to our hotel, changed from our Girl Scout uniform
into our dresses and walked to the planetarium.
It was amazing! The food was
delicious and we watched an IMAX film about stars. It was so cool! We took pictured pretending that we were on
Mars and I felt like everyone got to know each other better after dinner. We were supposed to go to a dance party after
the planetarium; but since most of us were tired, Ms. Victoria took some of us
to the hotel and Ms. Kathryn took everyone else to the dance party.
There was a delegate session the
next morning, but we did not attend the session. Instead we went and saw the Tabernacle
Choir! It was so beautiful and I really
enjoyed it. We walked back to the hotel
after the performance and made our way to the airport. We ate at the airport and talked about books
we had read, our classes, and funny stories.
Too soon, though, it was time to board the plane. We got back to Atlanta on Sunday night and
said our goodbyes. I can’t believe that
the convention went by so quickly. I met
so many amazing people and have many memories from the experience. I am so incredibly grateful that I got to be
a part of the 2014 Girl Scout National Convention. I learned a lot, met so many people, and I am
excited to begin my Take Action project and to use all the skills I gained from
the convention and implement my project.
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