Volunteer Connections by Girl Scouts of Nassau County

The proliferation of technology in the last several decades has left in its wake a plethora of gadgets – some useful, some not – and has induced among the citizenry some curious habits that would have left previous generations scratching their heads.  More than a few of us have purchased cell phones and faithfully lug them along in our travels so that we might “stay connected,” but then turn them off so we don’t drown in a deluge of unwanted calls.  Others may claim cell phones are only for emergencies; but if true, we should also be carrying around defibrillators, fire extinguishers, Tibetan-English phrase books, and C-Rations.  After all, you never know.  But technology is not just for yakking and hacking.  In fact, the Girl Scouts of Nassau County’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs use technology as one of its chief means to build girls of courage, confidence, and character.  Our FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics Program, for example, allows teams of Girl S

In the fall of 2010 Girl Scouts of Nassau County began our Strategic Learning process to guide us in setting our priorities and direction for Girl Scouting in Nassau County for the next few years.  The Strategic Learning process was developed by Professor Willie Pietersen at Columbia University and has been adopted and adapted by Girl Scouts of the USA for all Girl Scout Councils across the country.  Board Vice President Diane White lead a Strategic Learning Task Group of 32 people that included Board Members, other Girl Scout volunteers, community leaders who were less familiar with Girl Scouting and staff.  Lori DiMaggio, GSNC’s Executive Coordinator, served as the project manager. The Task Group was broken into five separate teams that examined the needs of Girl Scouts’ CUSTOMERS [ the girls], our STAKEHOLDERS  [parents, volunteers, community organizations, etc.], our COMPETITORS, SECTOR TRENDS [what is happening in not-for-profit organizations, philanthropy, business, technology