Travel

Girl Scout Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors! Let’s talk about travelling!!!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  Mark Twain

Travel IS education.

Meeting people from other countries, other continents – even from other states within our own country - opens up a new world of discovery where we find that we are more alike in our humanity than we are different. And with all the strife and war going on in the world, what better time to come to the realization of the commonality of our human condition!

Ten years ago, my family sponsored a 13-year old girl named Saoirse, from Belfast, Northern Ireland through a summer program designed to get Belfast youth out of harms way during the “troubles”.

We recently took a trip to Ireland and visited Saoirse and her family for a day. They are poor and struggle to make ends meet. Saoirse is a mother herself now, but has never forgotten her 8-weeks in “America” and how she came to appreciate the value of travelling. Her mother told us that she also had an opportunity to go to America when she was young, but that ultimately circumstances prevented the trip that she said “would have changed my life”.

In Girl Scouting we recognize that we are citizens of a global community. We have World Centers in Mexico, India, Switzerland and England. We have our Destinations program that brings girls together, nationally and internationally, for programs of interest.

Please take this opportunity to explore the possibilities of participating in one of the Destinations programs offered! In 2010 there are 47 national and international opportunities!! The link to learn more about this is http://www.gscsnj.org/travel.php. Your Council Destinations contact is Lauren Gaynor at lgaynor@gscsnj.org. Lauren can answer any questions you have and will process your application.

It’s a big world out there, with lots of friends waiting to be discovered!

As Mark Twain said, “Explore. Dream. Discover”!!

Mary Connell, CEO
mconnell@gscsnj.org