Discover a world of Girl Scouts beyond your troop by connecting with girls and adults outside of your regular troop activities.

How do you go beyond? Attend a large event, either through a council-operated event or a Service Unit event. These fun activities are a great way to keep girls and adults connected to Girl Scouting and broaden their network.

Events can help girls and adults connect with families, engage the community, gain new skills and build relationships with their sister Girl Scouts!

Here are 5 reasons to add a beyond the troop activity to your calendar this year.

Connect with Others

Girls (and adults!) enjoy meeting other Girl Scouts from their local neighborhood, from across town, and from across the state. The friendships formed at these events broaden their horizons and cross geographical, social, and economic boundaries.

At school they may be separated by constricting labels such as jock, cheerleader, or geek, but at these events everyone is brought together under the inclusive banner of Girl Scouts!

Engage the Family

Events create a stronger connection with Girl Scout families, especially events that draw the family directly into the fun. So invite the dads to Father Daughter Adventure Day, bring the entire family to Family Night, or check the camp section on our website in January for 2016 Me and My Guy/Gal events at camp. You can also talk with your Service Unit members to see what opportunities/events happen in your area to engage families.

Save the Teen Girl Scouts!

As girls grow older and troops get smaller, some teens start to think they’re the only older girls in Girl Scouts. So not true!

Attending a large event geared towards teenagers such as CSA Fall Conference, CSA Leadership Conference (February 13-15, information in program event guide page 36) or organizing a county wide CSA trip reminds our older girls that the sisterhood of Girl Scouts is much larger than their troop or school.

Build Community Awareness

Sometimes the community has no idea what amazing things Girl Scout troops are doing in their own town. How sad is that? So the next time you’re planning a Girl Scout Pinewood Derby Day or a county wide Bridging Ceremony, involve the community!

Include local dignitaries and organizations as derby judges, master of ceremony, event/activity sponsors, or whatever engaging role you can think of to help your community members understand that Girl Scouts are still going strong.

Consider inviting the local media out to report on your event. Through this you’ll create a stronger community presence and maybe you’ll hear fewer “really, we still have Girl Scouts in our community?” comments from your neighbors.

Large Events are Fun!

It’s hard to describe the energy and excitement that gathering a large group of Girl Scouts together generates so we’re going to go with “giant amounts of fun.”  And who doesn’t need more fun in their life? 

Now that you know all of the benefits, what beyond the troop experience will you try this year? Whatever it is, we know it’s going to be awesome!