Looking Into the Future -- Julie Grossi's Speech
So, good morning. Roberta expressed, really, and shared with you the process that we went through in order to evaluate those locations and what we should do.
The next step in that process was looking, as we are finishing up our first hundred years in Girl Scouting, is looking for the next hundred years and building what programs and what experiences are available to those girls, as we go to the future, which is critical for us both here at GSNEO and at GSUSA, so that we can continue to build and maintain the world-class leadership programs for girls.
And so, based on our survey results, and we took our survey results and Brent, I don’t want to steal your thunder, and then we looked at camps all over the country that had gone through this process and realigned their experiences at their camps so that they could address the types of things that are on this slide, what our girls said and then took input from them on some of the other premier experiences that they were offered, and our goal really is to be able provide all of these things to our girls as a camp, so that they can have both the primitive camping experiences all the way up to the, you know, technology experiences and the more well-rounded opportunities for programs for our girls, so that we really can help; help them through many of the aspects of Girl Scouts. And we looked at the rankings of what the choices were again and making sure that were addressing what the girls want to have[INAUDIBLE] results and preserving this is important to us as, as part of the decision.
What we’d like to do, or what were proposing to do, is to develop some very unique features at a fewer number of camps, so that we can build what we would dream to be some of the best camping opportunities in the nation. So, balancing having a (INAUDIBLE)campus, or an institute on a campsite, perhaps a drama center on the campsite, [Woman in audience: Could you INAUDIBLE the microphone; every time you turn INAUDIBLE, we cant hear back here.] recruiting professionals, as Roberta mentioned, leaders in our communities, to help teach our girls about things, again beyond camping, and then to add some more physical activities, so that we can address the sporting experience to a greater degree. And really what the goal is, again, is to really, is to expand what were doing at our camps, and give opportunities for girls who arent camping now and also, again, to perhaps, have the ability…
Woman in audience: How do you expect to fit all the girls into two camps?
You know what, we’re gonna take questions when we are finished. [ Inaudible ]
Woman: INADUIBLE …else.
Well take questions when were finished, okay?
Woman in audience: INAUDIBLE …questions?
No, that was on the first section.
Okay, so, again, what we are talking about is building what we are calling leadership and camping academies, or call it what you want. Instead of taking away the camping experience, we are adding to it and expanding what were able to offer with the goal of having premier sites for our girls to have access to. The expansion of these programs, I, we all believe, will help, will help increase our membership, increase the utilization of the camps that we have, housing to attract people that are, that are going now but want to go more. We believe, overall, this is, this is the best way for us to focus on the future and to really be able to provide our girls with things that are not available anywhere else for them. And with that….
The next step in that process was looking, as we are finishing up our first hundred years in Girl Scouting, is looking for the next hundred years and building what programs and what experiences are available to those girls, as we go to the future, which is critical for us both here at GSNEO and at GSUSA, so that we can continue to build and maintain the world-class leadership programs for girls.
And so, based on our survey results, and we took our survey results and Brent, I don’t want to steal your thunder, and then we looked at camps all over the country that had gone through this process and realigned their experiences at their camps so that they could address the types of things that are on this slide, what our girls said and then took input from them on some of the other premier experiences that they were offered, and our goal really is to be able provide all of these things to our girls as a camp, so that they can have both the primitive camping experiences all the way up to the, you know, technology experiences and the more well-rounded opportunities for programs for our girls, so that we really can help; help them through many of the aspects of Girl Scouts. And we looked at the rankings of what the choices were again and making sure that were addressing what the girls want to have[INAUDIBLE] results and preserving this is important to us as, as part of the decision.
What we’d like to do, or what were proposing to do, is to develop some very unique features at a fewer number of camps, so that we can build what we would dream to be some of the best camping opportunities in the nation. So, balancing having a (INAUDIBLE)campus, or an institute on a campsite, perhaps a drama center on the campsite, [Woman in audience: Could you INAUDIBLE the microphone; every time you turn INAUDIBLE, we cant hear back here.] recruiting professionals, as Roberta mentioned, leaders in our communities, to help teach our girls about things, again beyond camping, and then to add some more physical activities, so that we can address the sporting experience to a greater degree. And really what the goal is, again, is to really, is to expand what were doing at our camps, and give opportunities for girls who arent camping now and also, again, to perhaps, have the ability…
Woman in audience: How do you expect to fit all the girls into two camps?
You know what, we’re gonna take questions when we are finished. [ Inaudible ]
Woman: INADUIBLE …else.
Well take questions when were finished, okay?
Woman in audience: INAUDIBLE …questions?
No, that was on the first section.
Okay, so, again, what we are talking about is building what we are calling leadership and camping academies, or call it what you want. Instead of taking away the camping experience, we are adding to it and expanding what were able to offer with the goal of having premier sites for our girls to have access to. The expansion of these programs, I, we all believe, will help, will help increase our membership, increase the utilization of the camps that we have, housing to attract people that are, that are going now but want to go more. We believe, overall, this is, this is the best way for us to focus on the future and to really be able to provide our girls with things that are not available anywhere else for them. And with that….