About Girl Scouts

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience is Girl Scouting

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) is a series of fun activities for girls to do, think about, and discuss. It’s the basis of everything we do in Girl Scouting.

Flexibility through Pathways

The GSLE is designed with flexibility to meet today’s busy schedules through six distinct “pathways.” Simply defined, pathways are the different ways girls and volunteers participate in Girl Scouting and include: Camp, Events, Series, Troops, Travel, and Virtual.

Journeys

Each level of the GSLE, Daisies (grades K-1) to Ambassadors (grades 11-12), takes girls on a “journey” - a coordinated series of activities grouped around a theme. Each journey is tied to some of Girl Scouts' 15 national outcomes for girls. Each journey culminates in awards, which reinforce the adventures and discoveries girls made along the way and help them to see just how far they have come. Click here to learn more about the journeys available to girls through the GSLE.

Three Keys

At the heart of the GSLE are three very simple keys.

• Discover – Girls understand themselves and their values and use their knowledge and skills to explore the world.
• Connect – Girls care about, inspire, and team with others locally and globally.
• Take Action – Girls act to make the world a better place.

When you put them all together, they add up to Leadership.

Three Processes

It’s not just “what” girls do, but “how” they are engaged that creates a high-quality Girl Scout experience and makes Girl Scouting unique from school and other extracurricular activities.

• Girl Led – Girls play an active role in planning what they will do, where, when, how, and why they will do it. They lead the planning and decision making as much as possible.
• Learning by Doing – Girls learn best when they have the chance to do things for themselves. They ask themselves questions, find answers and develop new skills.
• Cooperative Learning – Girls work together towards shared goals in an atmosphere of respect and collaboration

Outcomes

The work of the Girl Scout Research Institute ensures that within the fun and excitement of GSLE, girls are growing and developing their leadership potential. Journeys guide girls down a path of intentional learning which leads to 15 primary outcomes which tie directly to the Three Keys and are achieved by adhering to our Three Processes.

Discover

• Girls develop a strong sense of self.
• Girls develop positive values.
• Girls gain practical life skills
• Girls seek challenges in the world.
• Girls develop critical thinking

Connect

• Girls develop healthy relationships
• Girls promote cooperation and team building
• Girls can resolve conflicts
• Girls advance diversity in a multicultural world
• Girls feel connected to their communities, locally and globally

Take Action

• Girls can identify community needs
• Girls are resourceful problem solvers
• Girls advocate for themselves and others, locally and globally
• Girls educate and inspire others to act
• Girls feel empowered to make a difference in the world.

These 15 primary outcomes are broken down further by program level into specific measureable outcomes. All of which, ultimately shows the tremendous impact Girl Scouting has on girls’ lives and, in turn, the impact girls have on their communities, locally and globally.