The Chester County Council, Boy Scouts of America (CCCBSA) recently held its second-annual Girls in Scouting summit.

The event began last year as a way to bring together scouts and volunteer adults to discuss the challenges we still face while welcoming girls into the time-tested programs offered by the Boy Scouts of America, while celebrating the great strides already made.

The gathering began with dinner and mingling. Networking is a vital component to supporting new scouts and leaders within the program.

Keynote

This year’s keynote speaker was New Jersey wellness coach Hilary Russo.

She is a holistic practitioner and public figure who appears regularly on NBC, PBS, and QVC. She is also a professor of communications at St. John’s University, Queens, New York.

Russo spoke about venturing outside of a comfort zone and creating a sense of belonging in doing so. She illustrated the point by relating her experience as an Outward Bound participant while in college.

Her message was that we can be more powerful when we give ourselves and each other a safe space from which to operate.

Workshops

The rest of the evening consisted of workshops relevant to the participants who were there to promote and strengthen scouting for the youth in local communities.

For the youth, sessions included:

• Opportunities Outside Your Troop
• A Life to Eagle Seminar
• Programming Planning for Youth Leaders

Adult volunteers attended talks about:

• Establishing new traditions and policies
• How to develop a good Cub program
• The benefits of linked boys’ and girls’ troops

A Top Priority

“Continuing to educate the public about girls at every age now being able join all programs offered in the BSA remains one of our top priorities as many families are still not aware,” said Jeff Spencer, Scout Executive & CEO, Chester County Council, BSA.

“We know there are many girls in our communities who desire to experience what our programs offer, such as outdoor adventure, learning leadership skills, and becoming Eagle Scouts. We need to make sure they have the opportunities to do so and this event has helped us be more effective with that effort.”

The CCCBSA was grateful to have Wegmans sponsor the event.

Full information on scouting in Chester and Cecil Counties is at the CCCBSA website.

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The 2019 announcement of girls’ admission to the Boy Scouts of America made national news.