Senior has exciting adventure in New York City

by Kaitli K., Senior Girl Scout

In June I attended the “Healthy Living Strategy Development Session” at Girl Scout headquarters in New York. It was an exciting opportunity and I was glad to be a part of it. The girl representatives from across the country were an outstanding group. The meeting format was an open forum; we went over the proposed points of a Healthy Living plan and we were free to get up and make comments, ask questions, and present our opinions to the group. Ideas flourished and were welcomed and encouraged. It was amazing and empowering to be able to represent my friends’ and fellow Girl Scouts’ needs and interests to people who not only wanted to listen, but also wanted to make changes in national policy to better serve us.

When we were in session, bouncing ideas off each other, talking about issues on a global level, it felt that if we wanted it enough, we could truly “make the world a better place” “for every girl, every where.” That was the best part for me: to be in a room of adults and leaders who knew that if they wanted to make positive changes, they had to start with us, the girls, and let us lead them. We showed them what we were looking for in the program, what changes they needed to make, and why other plans have failed. The strategy session was serious, but it was also fun. I was able to meet the CEO of Girl Scouting, Kathy Cloninger, and I must reiterate here that we were at the National Headquarters in New York city! In the middle of Manhattan!

It was my first time to the Big Apple and I wanted to see everything. So, my leader and I hopped aboard the subway and off we went! We saw the Statue of Liberty at sunset from the Staten Island Ferry, the former site of the World Trade Centers at night, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway (and had our playbills signed by the actors), a view of the city from the top of the Empire State building at night, Central Park, and we finished off the trip by visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art the morning we left. Of course, those are all the standard “must do when you are in NY” kind of things. We also ate pastrami on rye in a deli at 1 a.m., talked a couple of nice looking NY police officers into posing for a picture, and got ourselves completely lost in Central Park a few times, all of which are unforgettable experiences.

At the end of the session we had come up with a general framework of ideas for a National Healthy Living plan. We all agreed that it must be flexible enough to help every girl obtain physical, mental, and emotional health based on her own needs. Overall, I think that it was a great session and I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of it.