5/6/2018 Jaquelyn Gadziala: Being a Girl Scout is a life defining experience | Local opinion | tucson.

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Jaquelyn Gadziala: Being a Girl Scout is a life defining

experience
By Jaquelyn Gadziala Special to the Arizona Daily Star 10 hrs ago

Jaquelyn Gadziala
HANDOUT

We all strive to be a part of something influential, or better yet, be the reason something
great happened. I found my place with Girl Scouts, where today I serve as one of two
Girl Representative on the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona Board of Directors.

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5/6/2018 Jaquelyn Gadziala: Being a Girl Scout is a life defining experience | Local opinion | tucson.com

Twelve years ago, I memorized the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Since then, I have lived
in gratitude for the lessons Girl Scouting has taught me. I got my start at camp, where I
learned to build a fire, explored the outdoors and felt free to be myself. Being in a
single-sex environment allowed me to develop and challenge myself, away from the
pressures and distractions that often manifest in a coed group. Through camping, badges
and the Girl Scout Ranger Program at our national parks, Girl Scouts taught me to take
healthy risks, seek challenges, and, if I didn’t achieve what I first set out to do, to dust
myself off and try again — always with the support of my Girl Scout sisters around me.

As I got older, my Girl Scout experiences and life lessons grew with me. My field trips
as an 8-year-old Brownie grew into a troop trip across Europe at 14. My sweaty hands at
first-time cookie booths became strong handshakes at interviews. And my big eyes, full
of questions, found themselves gazing out over the world when I rappelled down a six-
story building at Camp Fury — a unique camp for teen girls to experience the careers of
firefighting and law enforcement, under the guidance of incredible female leaders in
those fields. Where else but Girl Scouts could I have found this kind of opportunity?

That’s why Girl Scouts is girl-led, generating programs that are a vision of what girls
want and need. For instance, as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) have
gained popularity, Girl Scouts has added new badges to teach girls those skills. And the
highest award a Girl Scout can earn, the Gold Award, requires high school Girl Scouts to
take the lead and solve a community problem in a sustainable way. Earning my Gold
Award pushed me outside of my comfort zone, built my network and community, and
further fueled my passion for mental health education.

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5/6/2018 Jaquelyn Gadziala: Being a Girl Scout is a life defining experience | Local opinion | tucson.com

I can’t say enough about what it meant to receive my Gold Award two weeks ago. As all
seven of us Gold Award Girl Scouts stood side-by-side to receive our pins, all I could
think was: although our journeys to the ceremony stage were unique, for each of us, Girl
Scouts provided the road map and toolbox we needed to get there. By giving us a safe,
girl-only space to learn and grow — a space where girls held every leadership role;
where every decision was girl-led; where our voices, our passions, and our priorities
were the focus — Girl Scouts made sure we were always the trailblazers, rather than
tagalongs, with every step we took.

Opportunities like Girl Scouts ensure that girls grow into strong leaders. And the Gold
Award encapsulates what Girl Scouts hopes to instill in all girls: courage, confidence,
and character — qualities I think all people should live by — as well as a dedication to
learning new things, overcoming challenges and doing our best to “make the world a
better place,” just like I first learned in the Promise and Law 12 years ago.

Jaquelyn Gadziala is a senior at Empire High School, where she is a member of the National Honor Society and plays
soccer. An Ambassador Girl Scout, Jaquelyn serves as a Girl Representative on the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona
Board of Directors.

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