Overall, this experience of helping our Utah Girl Scouts to experience the Convention was very rewarding and FUN! Sue Dickey

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1 As an Alternate delegate to the 2017 National Girl Scout Convention in Columbus, Ohio, I was proud and excited to represent GSU. I loved supporting the girl delegates and alternates with the 2017 proposals, the prep work for our 2020 proposal, guiding the girls to meals and sessions, and just being part of the whole experience. The highlight for me personally was watching so many Girl Scouts from all over standing proud as a G.I.R.L. I also loved listening to Chelsie Clinton and Barbara Bush and watching them moderate a panel of fabulous women, especially secretary Jewell. The downside for me (except lack of sleep and eating too much) was not being part of the action! I missed having the opportunity to speak on behalf of Utah girls. In addition, with my 20 year experience in I would have been a strong "pusher", with my to guide our girl delegates to get up and speak at the appropriate time and appropriate microphones. Overall, this experience of helping our Utah Girl Scouts to experience the Convention was very rewarding and FUN! Sue Dickey

2 What an incredible experience it was to serve as a National Delegate for Girl Scouts of Utah for the 54th National Council Session! After spending a year working together as a group, studying the proposals, writing our own for presenting to GSUSA for the next round, learning about Parliamentary Procedure, and reaching out to our local communities, choosing outfits and making S.W.A.P.S., we finally made it to Columbus, Ohio to represent our council. When we arrived at the Columbus airport, Girl Scouts from the local council were there to enthusiastically greet us and help us get situated with transportation to our hotel and the convention center. We attended the Delegate Reception that evening and had the pleasure of meeting other delegates from around the country. We shared with them information about the proposal GSU is submitting for consideration in The next day we spent a full day attending the National Council Session. We listened to and participated in discussions concerning the 3 proposals on the slate, and voted on them. It was exciting to be a part of the discussion and participating in Parliamentary Procedure in action. Some of the proposals had more discussion than others and some were more controversial than we expected. Throughout the day, we continued meeting others and talking with them about our own proposal. After a long day, we enjoyed meeting up for dinner with the other members of GSU who were attending as participants. The next day, we spent the morning in the business meeting to wrap everything up, and then enjoyed the Hall of Experiences. Our last full day was filled with more browsing in the Hall of Experiences, breakout sessions, incredible speakers and panels, and tasty food. Overall, it was a memorable experience that I will treasure. I loved our team, including Peeches and Lisa who kept us on track and handled all the details. I was honored to be selected for this role and hope I served GSU well. Thank you for the opportunity. Carolyn Marzz Johnstone

3 What I liked about GIRL2017 First, the friendship that was created within the delegation. These girls were and are impressive. I thought Lisa and Peeches did an awesome job working and organizing the Delegation. I have never attended a Convention in its entirety. I worked many hours at the 2014 in SLC. What was an eye opener for me, was the National Council Session. It was quite interesting. The convention itself was fun. The Hall of Experience was fun and I was able to be a kid. The speakers were really good and the mini breakout speakers were also good. I want to thank Girl Scouts of Utah for giving me the opportunity to represent them as an Alternate Delegate. I will forever cherish the memories, Barbara Gray

4 I had a wonderful time, and I feel inspired to take what I learned back home with me; to utilize what I learned about female leadership, service, passion, and guts in my community. I also am looking forward to working on our proposal after hearing wide support from women and girls, and I can really see our ideas turning into meaningful change for Girl Scouts that will empower girls and give them an invaluable leadership opportunity. It truly has been an honor to be a National Delegate. The experience has left me excited and empowered to succeed in my life and give other girls this experience and have it change them the way it changed me. Thank you! Katie Nolan

5 G.I.R.L I enjoyed the many sessions at GIRL 2017 in Columbus, OH, both the legislative and girl sessions. In the legislative session I was able to further develop my skills in parliamentary procedure, and learn more about the National Girl Scout Community and their points of view on many different issues. I also made many friends, whether they were adults or girls, from across the country. It alerted me to the many things I can do to improve my community, and other communities around me. It was very inspiring to hear the various speakers, and meet them in person. Specifically, I enjoyed Dr. Mae Jemison s talk, and the seminar on women s suffrage. Dr. Jemison spoke to how we are on a 100-year mission on this earth, and we must live sustainably to continue to survive. It was a very enlightening speech. The seminar on women s suffrage allowed both girls and adults to discuss how being caught up in pageantry and nostalgia is dangerous, and can cause us to forget about the issues in front of us today. It also discussed civic action on current women s and diversity issues, and spoke about if Juliette Gordon Lowe was for or against suffrage. The biggest thing about the convention that I enjoyed was the innate bond between every Girl Scout there. It was a unique camaraderie that I was able to enjoy on a whole new level by being a delegate. Most everyone was respectful, kind, and caring, as well as concerned with creating a safe and fun environment to discuss issues, and just plain have fun! I think I experienced the vision of Juliette Gordon Lowe from over 100 years ago, her vision of sisterhood and engagement in the community and the world around us. I am so grateful for that opportunity! Sophia Dodge

6 My National Convention Experience was amazing. We all put in a lot of time and work to get to where we got. To be a part of the voting process was very amazing. All the people I met and talked with gave me a different view of what Girl Scouts is to them. And to see all the values we hold very valuable being used was quite amazing. On such a large level you could see how Girl Scouts works and how it helps the world around us. We started in the morning with the 2nd proposal being discussed first. It was long and hard to discuss it and all of the things that were a part of it. We were discussed Establishing the NBDC as a Standing Committee of the National Board. We as a group did not to vote for this one. It did not pass. Number 1 was discussed after, this proposal was reducing the Size of the National Board. Our group had decided that we didn t want to have both proposal 1 and proposal 2 be put in action at the same time. If there had been a flaw with one of the plans/proposals we wouldn t know which one. So we thought it would be okay if this one passed. It did not pass though. We convened for lunch and soon we were brought back in. Someone asked if we could revote on Proposal 1 or 2. We all declined and soon started discussing Proposal 3. This proposal was on Lifetime Membership Dues, we wanted this one to pass. People started amending it and changing the wording of it. But finally it was put back into its proper form and we voted on it. It passed which was a happy day for all of us girls, because now we would be able to afford becoming a lifetime member. Our Proposal for 2020 was received warmly by many people. Most people were very shocked that it wasn t a rule already. We talked with many people and they gave us their opinions and told us how they thought we should word it. We were very grateful for everyone who helped us and encouraged us in our idea on this proposal. Now that the idea of our proposal is out there it will be easier to get it voted on. We need to reach out to more people and think of a way to word how many girls should be in each council. Once we have a firm idea we will be able to get lots of people on board. Hannah Yeagley

7 My experience in Ohio was wonderful. It was filled with new perspectives, people, and memories. I was nothing but honored to participate in this year's national convention, and be able to vote on objectives that would directly affect myself, and Girl Scouts in general. I really loved the experience of Convention, with this being my 2nd Convention, other than the one held here in salt lake, this was just as awesome. One thing that I was shocked to see, was that there was slim to nothing for girls my age (18), nothing for girls I would say 13, and up. Everything was geared to the younger girls, i.e. Daisy s, Brownies, and pushing it with Juniors and Cadettes. The activities the provided for the young girls was nice, and exciting to see, I just wish that I could have participated as well. All in all, it was a great experience and I enjoyed every second of it. Thank you. Sincerely, Maeghan Lasley