Where Confidence, Character Grow
Photo by Lawrence Tabudlo
It’s all about helping today’s youth become tomorrow’s community stalwarts with Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i and its CEO, Kanoe Nāone.
When people think of Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the group’s famously delicious cookies. But the organization is so much more than that. It serves as a vessel where girls can make lifelong friends, explore their interests, impact the community and learn new life skills.
As the oldest council west of the Mississippi, Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i has a rich history. For more than a century, it has strived to build girls of confidence, courage and character.
According to Kanoe Nāone, who assumed the role of CEO earlier this year, the organization supports more than 3,800 girl and adult members statewide. Despite never being a Girl Scout herself, Nāone still recognizes the value of Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i. It’s an organization she’s naturally proud of being a part of today.
“My goal is that every single girl in Hawai‘i who wants to be a Girl Scout has that opportunity,” she says. “That’s our focus for the next 10 years, is how do we get to serving 10,000 girls by 2034 … so that all girls have the opportunity regardless of what their home life and situation is like.”
Nāone, who has a doctorate in political science from University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, was eager to join the Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i team because of the many opportunities it provides for young women. The organization is made up of four pillars: entrepreneurship, life skills, STEM and outdoors. Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i also stresses the importance of friendship.
“It’s like story after story after story when you ask, ‘Have you made a friend in Girl Scouts?’ (They say,) ‘I’ve had a best friend since Brownies,’” says Nāone. “That’s very common because our attention and focus is on building those positive special connections with each other.”
There are various Girl Scouts levels each offering an assortment of activities. From planting a garden and designing a website to going on road trips and learning how to change a tire, every Girl Scouts level allows participants to explore age-appropriate interests. Girls are welcome to begin in kindergarten and continue all the way through 12th grade.
Scouts are taught the importance of community service at a young age. Some projects that troops may participate in include beach cleanups, beautifying benches, or repainting hopscotch and dodge ball squares at schools.
While most people may see Girl Scouts out and about during cookie season, there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes in the organization’s Cookie Program, which is the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world. Through the program, girls learn goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.
Whether they’re heading to Broadway camp or going to NASA base camp on the mainland, once the girls select their goal, they set a budget to determine how much it will cost, then sell cookies to help pay their way there.
“I got upselled so hard at the cookie booth this year,” recalls Nāone, laughing. “I was like, wow, those are some serious skills. You would be amazed what these girls can do with budgeting and finance.”
Beyond fostering relationships and inspiring budding entrepreneurs, the organization also encourages girls to learn about environmental stewardship and to enjoy being outdoors. Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i strives to prepare girls for every situation, such as learning how to build fires or how to tie knots.
But the possibilities within the Girl Scouts don’t stop there. It also introduces girls of every age to the world of STEM. Located on O‘ahu’s North Shore, the STEM Center for Excellence at Camp Paumalū is a 135-acre laboratory that provides year-round opportunities in robotics, cybersecurity, astronomy, botany, computer coding and more.
To support its high-quality STEM engagement, the organization works with national partners such as NASA, Raytheon and The North Face.
“We have a STEM festival with more than 200 STEM partners every year. That’s huge with amazing opportunities,” Nāone says. “And if you look at the girls who are still Girl Scouts in high school, the majority of them are STEM majors when they go to college.
“There’s an I’m an Engineer Camp that Daisies and Brownies and Juniors go to,” Nāone continues. “We partner with (Pearl Harbor) Aviation Museum to get simulator hours and do aviation opportunities there. They’ve got a program where you can get your private pilot’s license between (ages) 16 and 21, and we send girls to do that.”
An important facet of the Girl Scouts is goal-setting and earning badges. According to its website, there are a ton of badges to collect, such as Animal Observer (where girls learn about animals by watching them), Archery (where girls practice a sport that requires strength and focus) and Behind the Ballot (where girls investigate the ins and outs of voting). There are also Hawai‘i-specific patches like the Queen Lili‘uokalani Patch and the Hammock Camping Patch. The Girl Scouts’ highest accolades are its bronze, silver and gold awards.
“People think it’s all about cookies, but the reality of it is, it’s a very broad experience,” Nāone shares. “One of the cool things I was a part of this year is the gold award. We have a gold award that is so much more difficult to get. One, because you have to create a project that is brand new — so it’s never been done before — and then it has to be sustainable.
“The neat thing about it that I learned was on your admissions application to college, it gives you a leg up,” she continues. “And then, if you go into the military and you have a gold award, you are automatically given rank.”
A new program called Camp C-Suite will launch early next year. The mentorship opportunity links 30 high school girls with 30 executive leadership females in the state. During the camp, scouts will have the opportunity to spend time with their mentors, learn about their job positions and explore how they, too, can land roles like that in the future.
“The opportunity to work on behalf of our next generation of female leaders feels fulfilling and feels like a privilege,” Nāone says. “I love being around the girls. They’re inspirational and I’m hopeful for the next generation, for sure, as a result of the girls we have in Girls Scouts.”
Visit gshawaii.org.
