2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Keywords: Pre-college, Gender, Engineering, Undergraduate

Title: Building a Future in STEM: The Girl Scouts and a University Partnership

The persistent underrepresentation of women in engineering and other STEM fields underscores the urgent need to enhance recruitment and retention efforts. This presentation explores the potential of partnering with the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) to create a strategic pipeline addressing this gender disparity in engineering.

Despite women earning 57% of all bachelor's degrees in the United States, they account for only 24% of engineering degrees. To combat this, GSUSA can be a critical partner in encouraging young girls to pursue engineering by providing early exposure to STEM disciplines. This partnership offers mutual benefits: universities gain access to an established network for outreach without the logistical burden of independently managing minors, while Girl Scouts gain access to university resources and mentorship from engineering students, staff, and faculty.

The collaboration helps universities manage resource constraints and navigate stringent regulations associated with working with minors. Girl Scout troops, led by trained leaders and chaperones, provide additional support to help the girls successfully complete tasks and are responsible for their oversight. The Girl Scout organization is responsible for recruiting for the event using their established marketing channels and managing event administration. Additionally, university students benefit from mentoring roles, which help combat imposter syndrome and enhance retention.

For the Girl Scouts organization, the partnership alleviates the intimidation troop leaders often feel about offering engineering badges. Access to university laboratories and equipment, along with university student mentors, provides girls with hands-on experiences and inspiration to pursue engineering careers.

The GSUSA’s own longitudinal study shows that just one STEM activity increased STEM interest and confidence at all age levels. They also found that "75% of Girl Scouts in middle and high school who did multiple STEM activities were interested in taking STEM classes in college, compared to only 50% among those who did not do STEM activities." These are powerful statistics.

This presentation will also share some specific badges and activities facilitated through the partnership with Girl Scouts of XXX at the University of XXX, including the Roller Coaster Badge for Daisies, the Computer Science Badge for Brownies, and the Engineering Journey for Juniors. Through these examples, we highlight the successful integration of university resources and Girl Scouts programming to foster a robust pipeline of future women engineers.