Be the Change Leadership Conference

Girl Scout Olivia, a Cadette in Troop 2223, attended the Be the Change Girl Scout Leadership Conference in October at Miami Dade College’s IDEA Center. She shared about her experience and what she learned with us for our Tropical Talk Blog.

Hi, my name is Olivia, and I am from Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida Troop 2223. I am a Cadette and would love to tell you about an amazing event I attended called “Be The Change Girl Scout Leadership Conference for older Girl Scouts.” Attending Girl Scout Council events is really inspiring. Meeting WOMEN in different fields lets me know that I can do that too.

One of the activities was to learn how to persuade or influence others. I liked that I was going up to do a challenge with my Girl Scout friends at the event. The challenge was to create a song that explains “Why Clowns Are Scary.”

This was really fun because we got to learn more about each other, work together as a team, and came up with a really funny song.

We also got the opportunity to talk to some of the advocates who presented at the event. We heard from two sisters who began the organization, Heart Charged. This organization brings awareness to sudden cardiac arrest in young people - especially girls.

We learned that girls are less likely to get prompt CPR help because we have breasts. These two sisters have a condition and one of them went into sudden cardiac arrest in her teens but because of a device she lived.

Here we were talking with the advocates from The CLEO Institute. CLEO brings awareness to climate change and the eco system. In this round table, we talked about the events that are happening around the Miami Zoo and how there are plans to build a water park in that area. There are animals that live and depend on that area for survival. I was excited because I was given the name “Talking Queen” because I asked a lot of good questions, shared ideas, and was involved in the conversation.

This is Julissa. She was one of my favorite speakers and advocates. She went through a lot to get where she is now. Julissa is from Puerto Rico and had to learn English and a new school system to reach her goals.

I liked that when I saw and learned about her, it helped me realize that since she got to her goal I can get to mine. She speaks two languages just like me. Loves science and space just like me.

She also never gave up but kept going forward no matter what. I can see that she is tough and that is an inspiration to me.