Confused over the STUDIO 2B information?
You’re not alone! Many girls and adults are having difficulty
figuring out what it is and how it applies to what they do
in Girl Scouting.
First of all, STUDIO 2B is not a program. It’s an
approach to working with girls who are 11 – 17 years
old in Girl Scouts. The “approach” incorporates
new program materials, such as Focus Books, magazines, and
Web site activities, but existing program resources–handbooks
and the interest projects book–are just as useful and
valid as ever.
The good news: GSSJC has been “doing” STUDIO
2B for over 20 years! There are several large interest groups
that call themselves names other than “Girl Scouts”
and don’t use the Girl Scout logo, but guess what: the
girls are still Girl Scouts and they’re still being
exposed to time-honored values, traditions, and opportunities.
Girls in Mariners (sailing), SPURS (horses), Green Starlettes
(drill team), Take Note (singing), Shutterbugs (photography),
Puppetry Troupe, and area backpacking groups are living the
STUDIO 2B concept–some are only in Girl Scouts so they
can participate in the interest group, while some are in the
interest group and also in an established troop. All can decide
how much they want to do in Girl Scouts. Some will earn every
award available, others may just focus on leadership opportunities
like Program Aide, Counselor-In-Training or Leader-In-Training,
and many simply want the chance to belong to a group of girls
their own age with the same specific interests. That is STUDIO
2B.
The challenge of S2B comes in realizing that the concept
is an attempt to get Girl Scouting for these older girls back
to basics: “By Girls, For Girls.” Founder Juliette
Low envisioned Girl Scouts as being girls planning, making
decisions, and learning new things that they wanted and needed
in order to become competent, accomplished adults. Unfortunately,
adults sometimes forget that girls this age aren’t little
girls. They really CAN make decisions and plans, with adults
there to guide and advise. The goal is for the adults not
to do all the planning and then become frustrated when the
girls lose interest and drop out of Girl Scouting –
at the very develo |
get Girl Scouting for these older girls back
to basics: “By Girls, For Girls.” Founder Juliette
Low envisioned Girl Scouts as being girls planning, making
decisions, and learning new things that they wanted and needed
in order to become competent, accomplished adults. Unfortunately,
adults sometimes forget that girls this age aren’t little
girls. They really CAN make decisions and plans, with adults
there to guide and advise. The goal is for the adults not
to do all the planning and then become frustrated when the
girls lose interest and drop out of Girl Scouting –
at the very developmental stage in their lives when they need
the ‘belonging’ and values that come with being
a Girl Scout!
Some folks are having a tough time dealing with the name
“STUDIO 2B.” Shakespeare had it right: “That
which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Girl Scouting isn’t about the name: it’s about
the ideals and FUN that make the movement great. This age
level has been known alternately as Mariner, Older Girl, Intermediate,
Wing, Cadette, and Senior Girl Scouts over the past 92 years.
The mountains haven’t crumbled, the sun still rises
in the east, and girls are still having fun and learning new
things. (Interestingly, when the Cadette name was added over
40 years ago, doomsayers were predicting that it would spell
the end to Girl Scouting for that age level girl.) With this
new approach a troop can call itself Cadettes or Seniors,
STUDIO 2B Girls, the Dancing Poodles, that’s entirely
up to the girls, it’s their choice!
Other girls and adults are struggling with the misconception
that STUDIO 2B is |
 at
odds with ‘traditional’ Girl Scouting. Not so!
It is the purest form– girl planning, girl interests,
and girl choices. Girls will still sing songs, gather around
campfires, form friendship circles, and live by the Girl Scout
Law. In fact, the revamped Silver and Gold Awards now put
direct emphasis on living and relating to the Law through
required activities, and by breaking down the four program
goals into terms everyone can understand– Become, Belong,
Believe, Build.
In the coming months a STUDIO 2B Council task force will
be conducting girl and adult surveys, contacting other councils
throughout the country to share ideas and pool knowledge,
and plotting a course of action for implementing the STUDIO
2B concept throughout our Council’s boundaries at the
troop, service unit, and Council level. Be looking for more
information on STUDIO 2B in The Golden Link, on the Council
Web site, and through announcements on CIN.
To paraphrase part of a speech made by the executive director
of a sister council, we need to remind everyone that as we
try to inspire girls with the values of Juliette Low (J-Lo
the First), we have to be mindful that girls aspire to be
like Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo the Second), and to be successful,
we need to be contemporary in our practices to still appeal
to girls today. THAT is the focus of STUDIO 2B. |