Today is a big
day for Girl Scouts in Washington D.C.
Not only are we officially welcoming all the new members of the 114th
Congress to Troop Capitol Hill, Girl Scouts’ honorary Congressional Girl Scout
Troop made up of all female members of the United States Congress, but today
also marks the first time our National Board President Kathy Hopinkah Hannan will meet
with our leaders in Congress as the highest ranking member of the Girl Scout
Movement.
Troop Capitol
Hill connects Girl Scouts everywhere with their leaders in Congress, and each troop
member serves as a role model for girls across America. By participating in
initiatives like our Portraits in Leadership series of interviews, Troop Capitol
Hill members make themselves available to girls, offering them the guidance and
support they need to move ahead in the world.
Today is also
special because Troop Capitol Hill, and other members of Congress in
attendance, will get to meet one of our outstanding girls who aspires to follow
in their footsteps: Girl Scout Gold Award recipient Lauren Prox, from
Virginia’s Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast.
Lauren will share
the impact of Girl Scouts on her life, the importance of serving as a role
model, and how, through her own work in science, technology, engineering, and
math (STEM), she is serving as a mentor for future generations. Lauren earned
her Gold Award for a STEM project she created involving a series of workshops and
workbooks for young girls who are interested in the mechanics of flight.
When Lauren
takes the podium today, it will be as both mentor and mentee, and her story
will inspire the Congressional leaders in the room, and give them a glimpse of
what Girl Scouts is really all about. As an aspiring leader who wants to one
day hold elected office herself, she will be standing among the men and women
whose ranks she hopes to one day join.
That is the awesome power of Girl Scouts!