Girl Scouts of America releases 30 new badges focused on STEAM skills

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Girl Scouts of America have released several new badges the organization hopes will inspire new skills and leadership roles.

The Girl Scouts of America have rolled out a set of 30 new badges to start off their new recruiting season.

“It is a huge deal for our organization,” Girl Scouts Heart of the South representative Kimberly Crafton said. “We are the premier leadership for girls across the country and here in the Mid-South. That is so important for our girls to understand.”

Crafton says many of the new badges focus strongly on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or “STEAM.”

“Technology changes, things change. The world that we live in changes, so those badges have to adapt to the world the girls are living in now,” Crafton said.

Crafton says the organization added the badges to encourage young women to be more involved in leadership roles and science. The new badges help girls follow in the footsteps of Girl Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo.

“STEM and STEAM have been something that she brought to this organization and said ‘I want us to push this. I want this to be, you know, something that we do with the girls,’ that kind of thing,” Crafton said.

Some of the new badges include learning about robotics, computer programming and engineering.

The Girl Scouts say the badges will help address some of society’s most pressing needs through hands-on learning.

“Our mission statement is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place,” Crafton said. “That’s what we live for every day and do every day, and I really think that these badges will prepare them to take action and make a difference in the world and make it a better place.”

Girls ages 5 to 18 will be able to take on the badges, which are divided by age group.

The new recruiting season starts with the new school year.