During our annual meeting, we were delighted to welcome Liza Crisafi
as Girl Scouts San Diego’s new board chair! Liza, a dedicated board
member and volunteer, was an Urban
Campout chair in 2016 and 2017. For her first official act, she
presented her predecessor, Regina Buckley, with the Thanks Badge (story),
the highest honor for Girl Scout volunteers.
Nearly 150 GSSD members attended the gathering, which brings
together board members, delegates, and members-at-large for a
state-of-the-council address.
This year, members voted to accept the amended and restated bylaws.
They also unanimously elected Liza and her fellow officers Machel
Allen (vice chair), Rita Datko (treasurer), and Claudia Silva
(secretary); members-at-large Carmen Vann (second term), Marsha
Chandler, Suzanne Frontz, Janice Kurth, Angie Lasagna, and Woody
Ledford (first term); five Board Development Committee members (for
their first three-year term): Immediate Past Chair Regina Buckley,
Jeanette Day, Tange Gavin, Patricia McQuater, and Kevin Munkholm; as
well as Julia Brown (second term).
We also thanked and showcased the important work accomplished by the
following board members who have completed their terms: Andy Gallagher
(treasurer), Barbara Lamb (secretary), and members-at-large Suzanne
Schlundt, Denise Scott, and Bill Whelan.
CEO Carol Dedrich presented an update regarding our three-year
strategic plan, and Regina outlined the overall strategy. Carol
provided a state-of-the-council address, which included our work to
support Girl Scouts of the USA’s national key objectives.
Fiscal Year 2018 (FY2018) achievements by key objectives included
the following (details in annual report):
- Reach more girls—During FY2018, with 2,000 troops and 23,000
girl members (including 3,800 in our staff-led Outreach program), we
were recognized by GSUSA as a growing council.
- Higher
impact—We are focused on providing the Girl Scout Leadership
Experience to girls in K-12 through our four program areas: STEM
(science, technology, engineering, math), entrepreneurship, life
skills, and outdoors. During FY2018, we welcomed the addition of 23
new badges that engage girls with the outdoors and STEM.
- Increase investments—As part of our mission to develop a culture
of philanthropy, we raised over $230,000 to support our STEM Pledge. We also continued to have strong
financials.
- Stronger brand—We increased our media presence
with stories showcasing our organization as the
#BestPlace4Girls.
- Effective operations—We continued to make
the volunteer experience as easy as possible by providing enhanced
technology platforms like the Volunteer Tool Kit, as well as
launching and engaging volunteer-driven Go Teams (below).
Five of our Emerging
Leader Girl Scouts showcased highlights of the past year (annual report) sharing their personal stories
pertaining to the following topics:
- Gold Award—Gold Award Girl Scout candidate Isabella Catanzaro
spoke about the highest honor and introduced a public service announcement showcasing girls
who have earned the prestigious accolade.
- STEM
Pledge—Isabel Silva announced that local Girl Scouts participated in
21,057 STEM activities, as part of GSUSA’s national pledge to add
2.5 million girls to the STEM career pipeline by 2025.
- Life
skills—Cadence Dobias reported on local girls earning nearly 61,000
badges while exploring new interests and expanding their horizons.
Makayla Mayor—our third-ranked 2019 Elite Cookie Entrepreneur, who
marketed 4,010 packages of cookies—rounded out the life skills topic
with impressive statistics about the 2019 cookie program (infographic).
- Outdoors—Julia Davis
described how thousands of Girl Scouts from San Diego and Imperial
counties took part in these aspects of our outdoor programs:
- Almost 3,500 girls attended our day and resident
campers.
- Approximately 500 explorers hiked through
mountains, chaparral, and deserts.
- Nearly 300 older
girls progressed in leadership as counselors-in-training, day
camp aides, and wilderness backpacking trainers.
Last year, Girl Scout adult members identified four priority areas
they felt needed addressing. From this information GSSD established
our first “Go Teams.” Team leads described work accomplished over the
past year. Leslie Catanzaro presented on highest awards, Michelle
Mullen on training, Beth Nelson on communications, and Stephanie
Kwiatkowski on new leader experience.
In addition, Nichole Peterson, a member of our Promise Circle and
Juliette Gordon Low Society Committee, provided an update on
philanthropic activities benefiting our council.
