Girl Scouts may be something familiar to many expats. But as a third culture kid born in Beijing, I’ve never known much about the Girl Scouts, all I knew was that they sold delicious Girl Scout cookies. I only recently found out that they have a location in Beijing, curious, we decided to find out a bit more from Amy Kennedy on what they do and how girls can get involved.

What are Girl Scouts?     

Girl Scouting builds girls who have courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girls can earn badges by doing activities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), the Outdoors, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills. Two adult leaders lead a small troop of up to twelve girls. Girls choose from a wide variety of badges in STEM, Outdoors, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills. Troops are girl-led so every troop works on slightly different activities based on the girls’ interests. Girls can design “Take Action” projects that help improve some aspect of their community.

When did the Girl Scout program start for Beijing?

It started back in 1925 in Shanghai, Girl Scouting overseas has been supporting over 12,500 girls in over 90 places in the world and has now been operating in Beijing for over 20 years.

I heard Girl Scouts originates from the US, so from your experience, what’s the biggest difference with Girl Scouts here in Beijing compared to the US?

Here in Beijing, the girl scouts are a part of the USA Girl Scouts Overseas council. We have meetings and events just like Girl Scouts in the US, but one big difference is – we don’t sell cookies due to import regulations. On the plus side, we go hiking on the Great Wall of China, which most Girl Scouts in the US don’t have the opportunity to do.

Are there different groups of Girl Scouts? If so, how are they organized?

Girls can join when they start kindergarten, and we go all the way through grade 12. Girls are grouped in troops made up of two grades. Daisy Girl Scouts are in K-grade 1, Brownies are in grade 2-3, etc.

What is the ultimate goal for Girl Scouts?

We have Highest Awards for girls in grades 6-12. Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Many high school level girls strive to earn the Gold Award which is an eighty-hour community service project. It is comparable to the Boy Scout Eagle Scout Award and an honor within Girl Scouting. Last year, two high school seniors at International School of Beijing (ISB) earned the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Is there a schedule for Girl Scouts? How does that work?

We start up troop meetings in the fall and meet, usually twice a month, through the school year. In years past we have had annual events – Fall Hike, Winter Dance, STEM Day, Campout, and Bridging Ceremony. This year may look a little different in regard to our annual events due to COVID-19. We run through the school year and as most of our membership are expats and leave Beijing for the summers, we do not offer any summer programming. Girls develop friendships over time since many troops stay together for a number of years.

I heard that you only accept expats. Would you ever consider opening a program to Chinese passport holders?

Currently, girl scouts only accept expat girls. They also run Girl Scouts as an after-school program at Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) and ISB, so any girl enrolled at either school can join, and girls who’d like to join must also be comfortable English speakers as well.

How can people join Girl Scouts?

The most challenging part is finding adult volunteers who are ready to jump in and lead girls or join our Leadership Council. Beijing is a busy place for expats. We provide excellent online learning and support, we have a strong program and most of our volunteers are parents of young girls – so therefore, already experts on what girls enjoy doing!

Parents and interested adult volunteers can email beijinggirlscouts@usagso.org to find out more. One caveat – the only way to make sure your daughter has a place in a troop, is to volunteer to lead a troop yourself! Leading a troop is a great way to form bonds with other parents and have fun doing meaningful activities with your daughters. The more interested and excited a parent is, the more the girls will get out of it.

Volunteering with Girl Scouts, either as a leader or a member of the leadership council is a very rewarding experience. You get to meet other adults you might not normally get to meet, make lifelong friends, and often times, learn some new skills along the way. And teaching leadership skills to young girls is an amazing opportunity!

KEEP READING: Khan Academy: How Free Online Math Courses Helped Me

Photos: Courtesy of Amy Kennedy

Two years ago, when I was preparing to make the transition to an English-language middle school, I faced a realization: up until that point in time, my entire primary education had been in Chinese. I had learned everything I knew about math in Chinese only, and I didn’t even know the English words “addition” and “subtraction”!

My parents and I realized that if I were to start middle school math in English, I’d have an uphill climb. So, the year before I transferred, I started using the online math courses at Khan Academy. Founded as a totally free, not-for-profit online learning resource back in 2008, it has exploded in popularity ever since, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The site now offers courses in a range of subjects including science, economics, reading, and history but is still best known for its world-class math courses. 

Studying math with Khan was hard at first, I knew how to do all the problems in Chinese, but I just couldn’t understand it in English. In order to build up my familiarity with the English terminology, I started with the lowest grades first.

I set a goal of doing a minimum of 20 minutes per day, at least five days a week when I found out I would be transferred to the Western Academy of Beijing (a school that follows the IB curriculum and is English based) for the start of middle school. As I practiced, I began to understand math in English more and more. Soon enough, I understood all the skills that I learned in elementary in English. When I entered sixth grade, I was no longer worried about my math. From then on, I’ve been able to keep my math grades up with the support of Khan Academy fairly consistently.

Here are some tips from one Khan academy learner to another:

1. Make sure you set a reasonable goal for yourself! Set a few skills that you’d like to practice within a reasonable amount of time. If you’re going to work on Khan Academy for a long period of time, make sure you remember to give yourself breaks. Also, make sure that you have a goal for the long term, so you won’t give up easily. For example, my goal is to keep my grades up in school and familiarize myself more with vocabulary in English.
2. Watch the instructional videos. I’ve made the mistake of skipping over these many times, but the videos are super important. In many cases, they show you how to master the skill in many different ways, and they are clear and easy to understand. Without them, I’ve gotten very frustrated over problems.
3. It’s a great review of tests and classwork. If you ever get stuck on a concept of skill in class, Khan Academy is a great resource. The videos explain themselves wonderfully, and if you get a problem wrong, you can see the step by step explanation for the question.
4. Make sure the skills that you’ve practiced are mastered before you move on to other skills. It might be difficult to remember a skill that you just learn without practicing it a lot. I tend to get distracted by other problems a lot but sticking to one skill will definitely help you master everything faster.

Overall, having Khan Academy to practice math with has been great. It’s motivated me because of its features that allow you to acquire achievements, to track your own progress, and to master different skills. I would recommend Khan to anyone interested in practicing math outside of school to strengthen their understanding of math.

KEEP READING: Free Printable Holiday Learning Resources for Beijing Families

Images: Khan Academy, Unsplash