Welcome
to the first installment of “On the Road with Anna”, where we follow Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna
Maria Chávez.
As
I travel around the country, I not only get to meet the most amazing girls and
volunteers, but also the council teams who help make Girl Scouts a powerful
force for change. I want you to be able to share these experiences with me, so
every so often, I’m going to send you updates from the road.
Recently,
I got to spend some time with the wonderful team at Girl Scouts Texas Oklahoma
Plains. They shared their excitement about how we’re innovating on behalf of
girls, and gave me an inside look at how Girl Scouts is helping to propel girls
at Fort Worth’s Cesar Chavez Elementary School toward a brighter future.
At
the council, I met the amazing Ruth Owen—92 years young and still proud to call
herself a Girl Scout volunteer after almost 30 years. If you ask her why she
still volunteers several times a week, she has a simple answer.
“There’s
just so much that’s good about Girl Scouts. It truly pleases me to get to do
this as much as I can.”
Ruth
is an amazing woman, someone who has dedicated herself to our Movement, and who
has helped develop generations of leaders!
During
my afternoon at Cesar Chavez, I also spent some time with Principal Monica
Ordaz, who makes sure that the school’s hallways are filled with banners from
the best colleges and universities. Principal Ordaz works every day to inspire
her students, many of whom come from neighborhoods where they face big
challenges, and to make sure they know that education has the power to take
them wherever they want to go in life.
But
even the best educators need a little help putting their students on a path to
success. For the girls in her school, Ordaz believes in the power of Girl
Scouts.
“As
an educator, why wouldn’t you partner with the Girl Scouts? We both want girls
to step out of their comfort zones and try new things. It’s great opportunity
to partner with a community organization, to partner with parents, to make
girls feel special—that’s what I want for my girls and what Girl Scouts helps
me bring to my school.”
Finally,
I learned a new kind of “pattycake” from some of the 50 Daisies, Brownies, and
Juniors who participate in Girl Scouts through Cesar Chavez.
Until
my next stop…