[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H2651-H2652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CELEBRATING GIRL SCOUTS ON THEIR 107TH ANNIVERSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Oklahoma (Ms. Kendra S. Horn) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor 
the Girl Scouts of the United States as it celebrates its 107th 
birthday today.
  On this day in 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded this organization 
for, in her words, the girls of Savannah and of all America and of the 
world.
  As you might be able to tell from the pictures next to me, Girl 
Scouts holds a very special place in my life.
  Girl Scouts prepares girls to empower themselves, promotes 
compassion, courage, confidence, character, leadership, 
entrepreneurship, and active citizenship.
  You see, my life has been shaped, as have many other girls and women 
throughout this country, in large part by the lessons I learned through 
scouting. From my great-grandmother, to my grandmother, to my mother, 
to myself, Girl Scouts and the values that they taught me and the 
strengths that Girl Scouts helped me to achieve have helped carry me 
through life.
  For more than a century, the Girl Scouts have taught girls to be go-
getters, innovators, risk-takers, and leaders.
  Today, with a record number of women serving in the U.S. Congress, 
there are also a record number of Girl Scouts. Fifty-eight percent of 
the women in the U.S. House of Representatives are Girl Scouts and 73 
percent of female U.S. Senators are Girl Scouts.
  Though there are hundreds of Girl Scout alums in both houses of 
Congress, there are three of us who earned scouting's highest honor: 
myself, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, and Senator Tammy Duckworth.
  This award, the Gold Award, is given to high schoolers after they 
identify an issue in their community, investigate it, build a team, 
build a plan, and implement it. These 1- to 2-year take-action projects 
must have sustainable impacts on the community. They can be petitions 
to add playgrounds to local parks, recycling campaigns, building 
emergency kits, and on and on and on, but the one thing they have in 
common is a sustainability requirement. They simply can't be a one 
shot. They must create lasting change.
  Girl Scouts teaches its members to look for the root cause of a 
problem, not simply the symptoms.
  The Gold Award is the highest achievement in all of Girl Scouts.

  Congress isn't the only place as well that Girl Scouts have gone into 
public

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service. Three Secretaries of State, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine 
Albright, and Hillary Clinton, were all Girl Scouts, and virtually 
every single female astronaut has also been a Girl Scout.
  Today, more than 50 million women alive have participated in Girl 
Scouts growing up. I am proud to say that for the Girl Scouts of 
western Oklahoma, there are today 14,000 girls who are members. 
Worldwide, Girl Scouts has 2.6 million current girl and adult members.
  Although Girl Scouts is perhaps best known for the entrepreneurial 
skills it introduces through the cookie program, it does so much more 
to develop leadership skills in girls. It teaches them how to advocate 
for themselves, for others, and it gives them a voice beginning at a 
very young age.
  Programs introduce girls to science, technology, engineering, art, 
and mathematics, or STEAM, often paths where girls might not otherwise 
be encouraged or supported to go on their own. Those STEAM programs 
introduce girls to these important areas and help them to move through 
challenges.
  Girl Scouts can also learn about the outdoors through going on long 
treks, camping, kayaking, mountain biking, and countless other 
activities, all while learning how to minimize their impact on the 
environment.
  Bottom line, Girl Scouts teaches girls the skills they need and they 
might not get elsewhere about healthy relationships, soft skills, 
financial literacy, nutrition and health.
  All of these journeys are designed by girls and for girls, following 
evidence-based approaches that ensure they fit girls and foster their 
growth.
  I am honored today to rise to celebrate the Girl Scouts on their 
107th anniversary as a fourth generation Girl Scout and Gold Award 
recipient.

                          ____________________