Girl Scouts adds 23 STEM badges in biggest rollout in nearly a decade
Girl Scouts of the USA rolled out 23 new badges in STEM and the outdoors on Tuesday, putting scouts one step closer to their eventual destiny of saving the world and everyone in it.
"The new Girl Scout programming builds girls’ skills and encourages their interest in STEM and environmental conservation from an early age—areas girls are not typically encouraged to explore outside Girl Scouting—increasing their confidence in an all-girl, girl-led environment where they feel comfortable to try new things, take appropriate risks, and learn from failure," the organization said in a statement.
Among the new offerings are badges focusing on robotics, coding, aviation design, and meteorology. One badge involves scouts going on an environmentally conscious camping trip.
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The badges were created with input from organizations like GoldieBlox, the Society of Women Engineers, and Code.org -- and, of course, from Girl Scouts themselves. (The Girl Scouts website proudly touts the new offerings as "girl-tested and girl-approved!")
Per the Associated Press, CEO Sylvia Acevedo hopes the new badges will inspire girls to "think like a maker" -- to feel that they can influence the technology landscape rather than simply participate in it.
"For a lot of girls, they need to have that hands-on experience so they feel confident," she said.
Girl Scouts also introduced a cybersecurity badge last month.
Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
