Jr. PA's (Program Aid)

Anyone who has a Girl Scout or leads Girl Scouts will eventually hear about PA's. What is a PA? The PA is a Program Aid who receives leadership training which teaches them to assist younger scouts at events and at camp. What age level can girls attend PA training and become PA's? Girls in 7th grade and older are qualified to become PA's, according to GSUSA. However, girls can attend PA training toward the end of 6th grade, since many Girl Scout summer camps need PA's to assist with their programs. The camps are also a great opportunity for the PA girls to begin their leadership experience actually leading younger scouts. I have a pilot program idea however, that addresses the needs of today's girls and could help our tween girls stay in scouting. In 2014, GSUSA reported that there was a decline in membership of over 400,000 girls and adults. The result equates to a 6% decline in girl members in 2014.
    As a service unit manager, I have watched as area service units struggled to keep girls interested in scouting past 5th grade. When I took over my area service unit a little over three years ago, I set out to change that pattern. As a mental health professional, having counseled many hundreds of teenage girls, I knew that keeping girls connected to Girl Scouts is a step in the right direction. Girl Scouting assists in giving our girls opportunities for  positive peer and near-peer experiences to help foster increased confidence. Of course, we know that confidence is only built from increased competence and the more experience girls have in leadership roles, the more they can build competence and confidence in their leadership abilities. I have observed that 5th and 6th grade Junior Scouts are hungry for more leadership opportunities and according to GSUSA standards, they are able to mentor younger scouts and earn Bronze awards so why can't they begin to learn PA skills? When I was a girl, middle school didn't begin until 7th grade, but these days, most middle schools begin in 6th grade. In addition, research proves that girls are starting puberty younger and due to many school districts rolling back the kindergarden cut-off date, girls are starting school at a slightly older age than previous generations. What all of this adds up to is frustrated 4th, 5th and 6th graders, who want more leadership roles and often denied enough opportunity to be seen as young leaders. Many girls at this age begin dropping out of Girl Scouts because they get bored or they have other activities that seem more important to them. GSUSA is not adequately addressing the needs of these tween girls.
    My proposal is to officially begin a Jr. PA Program, allowing 4th and 5th graders to earn a Jr. PA patch that teaches them leadership basics and requires them to mentor a younger troop through a patch activity with the guidance of a leader and some older PA girls. Since PA girls are always needing more leadership experience, the Jr. PA program would be another great place for PA girls to mentor girls younger than they are. The 4th and 5th grade girls love working with older scouts and my pilot program inspires them to want to stay in Girl Scouts, especially when they see that many older girls are staying in scouts. Jr. PA's feel empowered by being allowed to start to gain leadership skills and experience and they love the title of Jr. PA! Girls finishing 5th grade are then allowed to attend official PA training in their councils, one year early. This motivates our 5th graders in more ways than one. They make more of a commitment to scouting because they are invested as Jr. PA's prior to beginning middle school and they aspire to become official PA's, one year later. They would not receive their PA pin until they are in the 7th grade however but instead receive a Jr. PA patch which is worn on the front of their vest. Girls who have completed the 5th grade and who have attended the PA training, attend their summer camps as campers but with Jr. PA status. Camp Models can add components to their programs to allow some leadership opportunities for the Jr. PA's while older PA girls mentor and guide them. This way, the Jr. PA girls have time to shadow PA girls while still being campers. Research proves that near-peer leadership models have the most impact for our youth, so this helps our girls entering middle school develop increased leadership confidence. This model also helps them get to know older girls through being mentored by older PA's and thus they begin middle school with increased confidence. Ask any girl completing 5th grade if she likes still being a "camper" at Girl Scout camp and 9 out of 10 will grimace and say NO!
    The Jr. PA program benefits everyone! It benefits younger scouts as young as Daisies and Brownies because they see their slightly older sister scouts getting to be Jr. PA's versus the current model which looks to them like waiting till 7th grade to be leaders, seem like eternity! Watching 4th and 5th grade girls be leaders is much more inspiring and makes them want to stay in Girl Scouts to become Jr. PA's. The Jr. PA Program is something they perceive as doable and not so far off or out of reach as the current model. Like in sales, you always want to motivate and inspire everyone level to reach for something. Once they are PA's, they can't wait to stay in and become PA's. Also, the more middle schoolers we can keep in scouts, the more the girls inspire younger girls to want to be Girl Scouts. We are in a child centered society. If the child wants it, the child gets it. The girls sell Girl Scouts, not the adults. If a child observes many of her peers and older girls in her area in Girl Scouts, then she pressures her mom to become a scout and in some cases, she will pressure her mom to become a leader if there is no troop available at her age. Girl Scouting needs to focus on what the girls are asking for today and often, I find that Girl Scouting stays stuck in out-dated models of thinking. Juliette Low started Girl Scouting to help girls dream big, in a day and age when women couldn't even vote. Let's give our girls the best and most opportunities to aim high and have a voice. Let's not wait until they are 7th graders to give them opportunities for PA status, when by then, it may be too late if they've dropped out of Girl Scouts. I guess I have a dream... a dream to help our girls love being girls and to yearn find their own unique voice. My pilot program is one way to address the growing needs of the girls we serve. We must shift, assess and possibly change when needed, to keep up with the girls of today.