The first round of journeys had the tag line "It's your World: Change It" and received a mixed and often-cool reaction from experienced Girl Scout leaders. The second round has the tag line "It's your Planet: Love It." The focus of these journeys is the environment. For the Daisies, the program is described as follows:
Between Earth and Sky
The flower friends take a cross-country road trip that invites Daisies to explore what sprouts up across the country as they learn how to protect what needs protecting. As Lupe and her flower friends zip along in Lupe's petal-powered car the Daisies witness some wonders and woes of nature and are on their way to earning their Clover (Use Resources Wisely), Blue Bucket, and Firefly awards.
Uh, yeah. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that's all about, particularly the "clover, blue bucket, and firefly" awards. I suspect the girls will not be building flower cars, although that's what I envision when I read this description.
The second Brownie Journey has this description:
WOW!
The Brownie friends explore the Wonders of Water and Ways of Working as a team. Brownie ELF is back for the Very Wet Elf Adventure. In real life, the Brownies might just hold their own "Green-Tea" for the Blue Planet as they earn their Love, Save, Share and Wow awards.
This reads like a white water raft trip for the girls, ending with a tea party to earn something called a "Wow award." (And, yes, I know this is more likely to be about water conservation and water cleanliness, but that's not what it says, is it?) Unfortunately, there is nothing that even approaches the level of a run through the sprinkler for the Brownies within this journey, which is unfortunate, since the major complaint I have heard about the journeys is that they require too much sitting and reading and that girls don't like the "school-like" feel of them.
The awards associated with this journey are even worse than those outlined in the Daisy description. I can just imagine pitching a "Wow award" to potential Girl Scout parents versus the "Ready, Set, Go Camping" or the "Science Wonders" try its. At least with the latter, you have a vague notion of the topic.
The Junior Journey is described as follows:
Get Moving!
Girls explore the energy inside them, the energy used in their places and spaces and the energy of getting themselves from here to there. A new comic story "Vamos Ya!" will inspire the action (walking school bus, anyone?) and Dez, the fashionista spider, is back with some wit as she tries to figure out life "off the grid." Along the way Juniors can earn Energize, Investigate, and Innovate awards!
Dez, the fashionista spider, apparently is a new Girl Scout role model. Juliette Low is rolling over in her grave as the organization appears to have been trolling the Bravo channel on television for its ideas. The award names aren't getting any better as the girls age. The idea of earning something called an "Energize" award sounds like a ridiculous waste of time.
Breathe!
Cadettes engage all five senses as they clear the air—-their own and Earth's. While measuring air quality, and acting to improve it, girls also find their flair, think about "Hair," and perhaps try an eclair. From cigarette smoking to deforestation, they get an aerial view of many issues. As girls become more Aware, they Alert others, and then Affirm their impact as they add these three uplifting awards to their collection.
The majority of my girls are Cadettes and my stomach rolled over as I read this description. Try as I might (and I did), I couldn't get the girls interested in the first journey, and I actually thought its central theme of relational aggression was well worth discussing. I can only imagine pitching "find your flair, think about hair, and perhaps try an eclair" to them and offering up an Aware award. No way, no how are they going to go for this when they have camping, archery, climbing, canoeing, and community service as alternatives.
For Senior Girl Scouts the second journey offers this program:
Sow What?
Girls investigate the food network (No, not cable--the real one that gets each piece of food to the table). As they ponder the dirt on land use around the world (corn's a big issue) girls think about who and what they can cultivate en route to earning the Harvest Award.
If any leader is lucky enough to survive to the Senior level, this is one of the best journeys available. However, unless girls are working on higher level awards, I can guarantee you that the girls are not going to waste their time earning a Harvest award. They are focused on putting things on their college applications that have meaning. It's bad enough that the Girl Scout Gold Award, which at least has a respectable name, doesn't have the respect of the Boy Scout Eagle Award, but now we want our girls to go out and earn something called a Harvest award in lieu of something more substantial sounding, like the Gold Leadership Award? No, I do not think this is progress nor do I see this as an improvement over the old program.
Last but not least, the Ambassadors second journey description is as follows:
Justice
Through the ages and across the world, people have yearned for justice. And yet justice-for Earth and all its inhabitants—continues to elude us. As Ambassadors do the math and create their own unique equation for justice, they will find that they are also networking and gathering ideas for college and careers. Ultimately they can add the Sage Award to their list of accomplishments.
This top-level journey description is so vague as to be useless. Perhaps the point is to be vague so that to truly understand the journey, troops have to purchase the books. We did that as a troop for the first journey, though, and it was an expensive waste of hard-earned dollars. My fear is that girls are going to be forced to use these new materials either as pre-requisites to the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, but until that day, my troop won't even be glancing at these new materials anymore.
Between Earth and Sky
The flower friends take a cross-country road trip that invites Daisies to explore what sprouts up across the country as they learn how to protect what needs protecting. As Lupe and her flower friends zip along in Lupe's petal-powered car the Daisies witness some wonders and woes of nature and are on their way to earning their Clover (Use Resources Wisely), Blue Bucket, and Firefly awards.
Uh, yeah. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that's all about, particularly the "clover, blue bucket, and firefly" awards. I suspect the girls will not be building flower cars, although that's what I envision when I read this description.
The second Brownie Journey has this description:
WOW!
The Brownie friends explore the Wonders of Water and Ways of Working as a team. Brownie ELF is back for the Very Wet Elf Adventure. In real life, the Brownies might just hold their own "Green-Tea" for the Blue Planet as they earn their Love, Save, Share and Wow awards.
This reads like a white water raft trip for the girls, ending with a tea party to earn something called a "Wow award." (And, yes, I know this is more likely to be about water conservation and water cleanliness, but that's not what it says, is it?) Unfortunately, there is nothing that even approaches the level of a run through the sprinkler for the Brownies within this journey, which is unfortunate, since the major complaint I have heard about the journeys is that they require too much sitting and reading and that girls don't like the "school-like" feel of them.
The awards associated with this journey are even worse than those outlined in the Daisy description. I can just imagine pitching a "Wow award" to potential Girl Scout parents versus the "Ready, Set, Go Camping" or the "Science Wonders" try its. At least with the latter, you have a vague notion of the topic.
The Junior Journey is described as follows:
Get Moving!
Girls explore the energy inside them, the energy used in their places and spaces and the energy of getting themselves from here to there. A new comic story "Vamos Ya!" will inspire the action (walking school bus, anyone?) and Dez, the fashionista spider, is back with some wit as she tries to figure out life "off the grid." Along the way Juniors can earn Energize, Investigate, and Innovate awards!
Dez, the fashionista spider, apparently is a new Girl Scout role model. Juliette Low is rolling over in her grave as the organization appears to have been trolling the Bravo channel on television for its ideas. The award names aren't getting any better as the girls age. The idea of earning something called an "Energize" award sounds like a ridiculous waste of time.
Breathe!
Cadettes engage all five senses as they clear the air—-their own and Earth's. While measuring air quality, and acting to improve it, girls also find their flair, think about "Hair," and perhaps try an eclair. From cigarette smoking to deforestation, they get an aerial view of many issues. As girls become more Aware, they Alert others, and then Affirm their impact as they add these three uplifting awards to their collection.
The majority of my girls are Cadettes and my stomach rolled over as I read this description. Try as I might (and I did), I couldn't get the girls interested in the first journey, and I actually thought its central theme of relational aggression was well worth discussing. I can only imagine pitching "find your flair, think about hair, and perhaps try an eclair" to them and offering up an Aware award. No way, no how are they going to go for this when they have camping, archery, climbing, canoeing, and community service as alternatives.
For Senior Girl Scouts the second journey offers this program:
Girls investigate the food network (No, not cable--the real one that gets each piece of food to the table). As they ponder the dirt on land use around the world (corn's a big issue) girls think about who and what they can cultivate en route to earning the Harvest Award.
If any leader is lucky enough to survive to the Senior level, this is one of the best journeys available. However, unless girls are working on higher level awards, I can guarantee you that the girls are not going to waste their time earning a Harvest award. They are focused on putting things on their college applications that have meaning. It's bad enough that the Girl Scout Gold Award, which at least has a respectable name, doesn't have the respect of the Boy Scout Eagle Award, but now we want our girls to go out and earn something called a Harvest award in lieu of something more substantial sounding, like the Gold Leadership Award? No, I do not think this is progress nor do I see this as an improvement over the old program.
Last but not least, the Ambassadors second journey description is as follows:
Justice
Through the ages and across the world, people have yearned for justice. And yet justice-for Earth and all its inhabitants—continues to elude us. As Ambassadors do the math and create their own unique equation for justice, they will find that they are also networking and gathering ideas for college and careers. Ultimately they can add the Sage Award to their list of accomplishments.
This top-level journey description is so vague as to be useless. Perhaps the point is to be vague so that to truly understand the journey, troops have to purchase the books. We did that as a troop for the first journey, though, and it was an expensive waste of hard-earned dollars. My fear is that girls are going to be forced to use these new materials either as pre-requisites to the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, but until that day, my troop won't even be glancing at these new materials anymore.
