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Season 2 of “Stop & Talk” has arrived! This season, dive deep into the themes of purpose and opportunity, guided by the insights of leaders in the arts and culture, sports, philanthropy, finance, and innovation fields. Together, we'll celebrate local achievements and envision what's possible in San Diego County. Let's converse and inspire one another.
Hey, Crystal.
Crystal Page:Hello, Grant.
Grant Oliphant:How are you doing?
Crystal Page:I am cool.
Grant Oliphant:That's an appropriate intro for the conversation we're about to have, which is with Carol Diedrich, the, CEO of Girl Scouts of San Diego, and this is actually going to be a really cool conversation. We're gonna get into Girl Scouts and what they do, their continuing mission, what's different about Girl Scouts today from what maybe many of our listeners remember. I'm excited about this conversation.
Crystal Page:Me too. I would say the only interaction I've had with Carol is I went to the cool women's luncheon this year Which is led by a series of high school Girl Scouts who are incredibly professional. I walked away ready to hire them all to come work at Prebys immediately, but it also made me think back to childhood. Like, why didn't I wanna be a Girl Scout?
Grant Oliphant:Yeah.
Crystal Page:So I just am so impressed by what they do and how they empower, girls and women.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. Well, and you did, by the way, when you came back from that lunch and talk about all the all the people you'd met, the young girls that you'd met that you wanted to hire.
Crystal Page:Exactly.
Grant Oliphant:It it clearly is an inspirational set of of, young women and girls, and, I think that we we get a sense for why in the course of this interview. I I should warn folks that if you are here for the cookies, we're not gonna talk about cookies, because we really wanted to go deep on what it is that Girl Scouts are doing and how relevant their mission is to today's world in San Diego. But I do wanna acknowledge that the Girl Scout Cookies program, is I think the largest entrepreneurship program for kids in the country. It's an extraordinary aspect of how they teach young women and girls entrepreneurship and sales and all of that. But we're gonna talk about other efforts that they have ongoing.
Grant Oliphant:I think it was important to mention that though at the outset.
Crystal Page:I think that's a good disclaimer, Grant, because I think this conversation will show Girl Scouts are so much more than the cookies. Right? That's just a a form of growth for them, but I would say anyone who's listening, if they wanna pull up their own Girl Scout cookies and munch on them as as we talk or as you talk, that would be great.
Grant Oliphant:Definitely go out and buy some. And I would also wanna acknowledge upfront that, the Girl Scouts were are a youth well-being grantee of Prebys, and, we're gonna get into that. And the connection between youth mental health and the Girl Scouts may surprise you, but I think by the end of this interview, people will really understand why it's important.
Crystal Page:Let's dive in.
Grant Oliphant:Alright. Let's do it.
Grant Oliphant:Alright, Carol. Thank you so much for joining us. Really is a pleasure to have you here.
Carol Dedrich:Thank you for inviting me. It's great to be here as well.
Grant Oliphant:Right before we started, you and I were chatting a little bit about your background, and I I asked you a question about being a captain in the US Army and how you got there. And I wanna start there actually because I think it's important to the conversation we're going to have. So why did you go into the military? How'd that come about?
Carol Dedrich:Oh, interesting. So I came from a family of 5 kids. Grew up in the Midwest in, Michigan, a lower income, middle income family. You know, you never know what income you are when you're growing up.
Carol Dedrich:Right? Right. Right. Family did the best we could. Many times dad did not have a job, worked in job shops, but always said that education was important.
Carol Dedrich:So was promoting us along the way to whatever we wanted to do in college was there, but they could not afford to send us. So we had to find our own way. Brothers and sisters, several of them went to community college and I wanted to go to a 4 year school. And so I applied for various scholarships, got a lot of partial scholarships, and one of which was an ROTC scholarship that I applied for and I ended up getting a full ride. So that is what took me to school, to college, and getting a 4 year degree.
Carol Dedrich:When I was going through ROTC, I found that I learned so much about leadership, about camaraderie, about esprit de corps, about working together on a common mission, and the values were aligned with my values and felt very strongly about this career choice. So when I finished my 4 year degree and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, I went into the military and chose to be a combat arms branch officer and there was only 1 combat arms branch at the time that was available to women in the army and I became an air defense artillery officer and a patriot missile officer, and so I served, overseas and went to Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Grant Oliphant:I was gonna say you went to both of those operations.
Carol Dedrich:Yeah. I was one of the scud busters if you remember that time.
Grant Oliphant:I do. I remember it well, and, yeah, hats off to you for amazing service.
Carol Dedrich:Thank you.
Grant Oliphant:And I wanna just start there because I'm I'm curious about what you you know, the women who I have spoken with and know who served in the military, particularly in combat roles, feel like they experienced a lot, both through and at the hands of the military, and they learned a you you just referenced a couple of the things that you took away from that experience. But now you're working with in a role that is all about training the next generation of young women, and I am curious what you think you took away from your military service that is relevant to this very different role of working with, young girls and women in girl scouts.
Carol Dedrich:So many. I one of the things that propelled me to want to go to work for girl scouts is, one, I grew up as a girl scout. So I knew how valuable and important that experience was as a child and how it served me in building my sense of community and community service, my sense of building friendship, looking to and with and for out for each other. You learn that in the military as well. Right?
Carol Dedrich:You serve each other, as well as the mission and take care of each other as well as the mission. And I think that serves me in my in my current role as a leader and throughout my life, doing that. One of the other things that has really compelled me to get involved in an organization that is focused on women and girls is that when I was going through my career, my mentors were men. I didn't have a lot of female mentors. In fact, there it's almost was like a scarcity mindset that, women who were above me in certain roles felt that there was only maybe 1 or 2 roles open. And if they supported and helped the next, then that would eliminate their role and put them out. So there was this scarcity mindset that I felt when I was going through my career. As I was developing into a leader, and this applies in the military as well because I was the only female officer in my unit.
Carol Dedrich:So I had to look for, male mentors to do this. What I also saw was that when women came together and supported each other, there was nothing that we couldn't do together. So the combination of understanding, scarcity mindset and how that could dissuade women from helping and supporting each other to educating women on the power and the importance of supporting not only their, their peers, but also those that are coming up behind them and helping to guide them into whatever challenges they may face or opportunities and opening the door for them.
Grant Oliphant:There's so much there. You've just laid out several themes that I think could take us through the rest of the podcast. Let's see how we can do with this. First of all, thank you for your reflection about that, and I do think it's incredibly powerful in the context of the work that you're now doing. Many people might be surprised to hear that organizations like the Girl Scouts are still relevant in the way that they are.
Grant Oliphant:And before we get to that, I'd just like you to say a little bit more about your experience having been a Girl Scout yourself. You, you know, you described the sense of community that you got, the sense of empowerment that you got. What else did you get from the experience that you think, is important to today's girls?
Carol Dedrich:I think friendship and connection. I think in in society today, there's a, there's almost a lack of connection. There's an isolation factor that's happening out there that is affecting mental health of a lot of young people. And so I feel strongly that Girl Scouts promotes that connection and builds healthy relationships because we also know that bullying has been a part of childhood for a long time.
Carol Dedrich:Right? And so Girl Scout even in Girl Scouts, that could that could rear its head as well. So we're teaching about how to identify bullying, what it is, and then how to what do you do when that happens? So we have anti bullying, journeys that the Girl Scouts go on so that they can understand. What do you do in this situation, and how do you handle it?
Carol Dedrich:How do you support yourself, and how do you support your your friends? And maybe even individuals that you don't even know. How do you support them?
Grant Oliphant:Did you find a connection at all, from the experience you had in girl scouts to helping you be better prepared to be in the military?
Carol Dedrich:Oh, I think there were so many things. I think one is relying and trusting on others. Right? Because that's a big part of the military that you have to. Everybody has a role in the military to play, and supporting each other is a is a major component of not only completing a mission, but even survival.
Carol Dedrich:You know, it's life and death. So I think learning, like, when we went camping, you know, as a girl scout, all of us took a role in setting up the tents Right. And preparing the meals, and everybody played a role. And it became not only, efficient in we getting it done, but it was also fun.
Carol Dedrich:And we learned skills, you know, as we're going through it. I think the other thing is community service. I think as a child who grew up in a family that, you know, were barely making it at times, going out and serving others and supporting others was a big component of of getting out of maybe a stuckness that we felt, maybe an insecurity that we felt that now presented itself in a way that says, I can make a difference in the community. I don't need to have a lot of wealth to do that and still make a difference and an impact.
Grant Oliphant:Do you, do you in fact encounter people who are surprised to find out that girl scouts play the role that they do still?
Carol Dedrich:Yes. And I think the bigger surprise is how much we continue to evolve as an organization. The reason why we've been around for over a 110 years is because we evolve with the times. And so when, you know, I was growing up as a as a girl scout, some of the badges, were, you know, getting us outdoors, but they weren't the extremes, adventures that we're on right now, which is, you know, doing all kinds of of hiking and mountain climbing and, assorted adventures. You know, ours was getting out and setting up a tent and preparing a meal, which are also very important to it.
Carol Dedrich:So I think it's Some of us should start there, by the way.
Carol Dedrich:This is true. This is true. But I also think STEM, you know, science, technology, engineering, and math has become a big, growing program area for girl scouts and has been around for, you know, a decade or more now and is making a significant impact on how many girls are going into the tech industry.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I was I was gonna ask, so, remind me where you grew up.
Carol Dedrich:Michigan.
Grant Oliphant:Okay. And in a rural or urban setting?
Carol Dedrich:Suburban.
Grant Oliphant:Okay. And and how did you get introduced to Girl Scouts?
Carol Dedrich:My mom was my troop leader.
Grant Oliphant:Oh, okay.
Grant Oliphant:Well that's a pretty persuasive case. How do you find most young girls today hear about girl scouts? How do they find their way there?
Carol Dedrich:In some cases, it's through their friends who are already girl scouts. In other cases, it's the parents. Our our challenge and our struggle, and I think this is across nonprofits as well, is that, the dynamics of volunteerism is changing. Right? So there was, a decline in the trends of of the number of volunteers as well as the amount of time that people are volunteering.
Carol Dedrich:So, you know, back in the day where it was easier to get people to lean into the experience, now we're we're, struggling with that a little bit, and we're also taking it as an opportunity to look at what is the value of volunteering. What is the value to that caregiver, that adult, or even somebody who doesn't have children to be a volunteer with girl scouts? What are the skills, learning, experience, and even the heart filling joy that they are craving that they can get in girl scouts? So shining a light on those components with adults is an encouragement to get them involved in volunteer with girl scouts.
Grant Oliphant:It's interesting. I hadn't even thought about that dynamic and what it must be like to try and rely on yeah. Because volunteers are so important to the process of what you're doing. It makes me think about an article I recently saw on Robert Putnam who is the author of Bowling Alone and who predicted decades ago that we were going to end up as a society pretty much where we are, which is in a place where because people are joining less often and becoming, less and less frequently part of civic organizations, that there's more isolation, and we're experiencing more mental health challenges, and kind of a decline in in the the civic space that keeps us all together. Volunteerism is a big part of that.
Grant Oliphant:So how do you work with adults to get them to understand? I I mean, I love the fact that you're thinking about how to pitch this to them. How do you do it?
Carol Dedrich:Mhmm. Yeah. So, traditionally, it's really about their daughter. Right? What's in the best interest?
Carol Dedrich:And that's how we pull a lot of them in. But recently, that is not necessarily the pull because time is the challenge. Right? So
Grant Oliphant:Time is so scarce for everyone to really be honest.
Carol Dedrich:So now we're looking at how do we develop a different delivery model so that we can be much more, out in different communities throughout, you know, San Diego and throughout the country, actually? And so we're looking at we have something called the girl scout outreach program where we're, we have staff going into schools. Mhmm. And these are in communities that are not traditionally well equipped for girl scouts.
Carol Dedrich:Let's put it that way. And so not a large group of volunteers that are, you know, willing to step in or do not have an experience of girl scouts. So they don't know what they don't know, and they're not gonna lean into it. So our our girl scout outreach program, has staff going into the schools, and it's an after school program where they're actually troop leaders for these girls. So the girls are right there at school receiving the girl scout experience.
Carol Dedrich:And we're looking at modeling that because right now, we're in maybe 4 or 5 weeks at a time. And we see the relevance and the significance of that, but we also know how much deeper we can go if we could do it year round. Right? So working with the schools and in an after school space to provide that and then taking it one step further. So as I talk to other CEOs, for profit and non for profit, what we're finding is that the the younger generation coming into the work world do not have some basic skill sets.
Carol Dedrich:Right? And some of the coping skills are not necessarily as strong as they need to be in order to deal with a variety of challenges in the in the workspace. Right? So what we're also considering and looking at is how do we develop this model where now we build a skill set in in the next generation that's coming up for maybe a year or 2. They are working for girl scouts to get certified in a variety of different skills.
Carol Dedrich:Right? And then we launch them into the work world. Wouldn't that be a magnificent, you know, model? So it does a couple things. 1, it introduces them to the working world.
Carol Dedrich:Right? 2, it gives them certifications that they can use on their resumes to build this out. You know? And maybe we're working with collaborators in the workspace. Right?
Carol Dedrich:Work workplace partnership or something like that where they they probably have certification programs. And then what it does is it it allows us to go into, schools throughout San Diego and Imperial Counties regardless of the number of volunteers. What it also does, it allows the parents and the caregivers to step in as volunteers, but not hold the burden of maybe all the administrative stuff or all of the, you know, the care and feeding of, you know, what what are we gonna do today, right, and planning it out. It's there. They can show up.
Carol Dedrich:They can have the experience of learning. They can get training as well, but they can have the experience of learning alongside or with their daughter or even witness the change of the dynamics with their daughter.
Grant Oliphant:That idea. That's a great idea. I'm curious, though, focusing on the parents still for a second, how you work with them in this era given how scarce time feels for and, you know, we have couples both couples working or we have single family household or single parent households households where the parent is maybe carrying more than one job, could be 2 or 3 jobs, volunteering feels like a a real stretch. How do you how do you reach parents parents like that and give them opportunities for engagement without making them feel guilty for not being able to do more?
Carol Dedrich:Yeah. And I think part of it is the community spirit around girl scouts so that if there's a sharing. So some of our troops, when they have, you know, 12 to 15 girls, every parent takes a role in being a troop leader, right, in some capacity. Right? So they're coming in and maybe they're they're sharing.
Carol Dedrich:Like, 1 month, I got the the troop meeting or the outing. The next month, you know, these individuals have it. These parents have it. So it's a sharing of that, and it's a building of community because what that also does is strengthens their relationships.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I like that model.
Carol Dedrich:So when they're challenged, they rely on each other to pull through. So that's one of the ways we do it. The other way is inserting more of the staff approach and then bringing the volunteers in slowly, and then and then having, volunteer mentors that work with the the volunteers so that if they're feeling ill equipped, not ready, they have somebody that they can rely on.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. You spoke a moment ago about the, the outdoors and getting girls into the outdoors. And one of the, interactions that we've had is that the Prebys Foundation was pleased to support your work in supporting youth mental health, which some people may be surprised to learn as an aspect of what the girl scouts have been focusing on. For us, it made a lot of sense in terms of how you're connecting them with nature, but let me let you speak to that. Tell me how you how how you interact with, mental health issues and what your focus is in this work.
Carol Dedrich:So if for those that have grown grown up as a girl scout and and so I'm speaking to all of the women out there. If you look back at your childhood, you're not looking at it from a child perspective. You're looking now you're looking at it from an adult perspective. You were outside. You were camping.
Carol Dedrich:You were building relationships. You were in connection. You were having free play. You were learning along the way. You were building your courage, your confidence, your character.
Carol Dedrich:You were making mistakes and learning to overcome them. All of that has been a part of girl scouts since its inception. Right? We're still doing all of that. And the outdoors is a big component.
Carol Dedrich:It's a cornerstone of girl scouts camping. So, you know, going up to camp and and being around the girls, you go to the pool. And what are they doing? They're jumping in the pool. They're getting back out of the pool to jump back in the pool.
Carol Dedrich:And they're laughing and they're giggling and they're screaming and they're having a blast. That's pure joy. Right? That's mental health. That's feeding their spirit.
Carol Dedrich:That's feeding their soul. That's feeding them in a way that, you know, being online, being in social media does not. Right? So so having that and continuing with that is an important component of what Girl Scouts is doing. The other part is the connection.
Carol Dedrich:Right? Having girls come together with other girls in a safe environment with trusted adults so that they can try new things.
Grant Oliphant:Mhmm.
Carol Dedrich:They can build their skills. They can build their interests. They can explore new opportunities that they never thought they would ever be interested in.
Carol Dedrich:I had a girl scout who, you know, joined, a robotics team because all her friends did. Well, she was an artist, and she said, well, I'll do the marketing.
Carol Dedrich:I'll do our t shirts. I'll, you know, put the slogans together. I'll do all that. And as she got involved with the robotics team and going to competition, she's like, that's not enough. I wanna learn how to code.
Carol Dedrich:I wanna learn to to win this competition. She not only joined the team, became a critical member of the team. She became the captain of the team, and that team was in the finals for and won an award for teamwork, and she was the captain of that team. So that's what Girl Scouts does. It expands what they already know, but does it in a way that's a safe space so they can learn and make mistakes and have fun.
Carol Dedrich:Because fun is also a critical component of mental health.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I think that's such an important statement that I, I'd love for you to say more about that because I really do think we forget about that as part of youth. You know, part of what we all enjoyed growing up was as we were jumping into the pool and jumping out of the pool and running around in the woods was we were also having a good time, most of the time. You know? Why is why have we forgotten about fun as part of the equation, do you think?
Carol Dedrich:It's interesting. You know, I think a lot is is to do with the sense of accomplishment and achievement, the sense of, you know, what is the right thing to do for your child in order to get them to whatever stage, whatever school, or whatever college. Right? Right. And there's a path there that is related to achievements
Carol Dedrich:And doing certain things that get you there. But maybe fun is not on that list, and maybe colleges need to put fun on that list. Yeah. How do you have have fun? How do you relate to others in a way that inspires them?
Carol Dedrich:Yeah. You know? I think that might be part of it.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. Well, I, you know, I think I think parents are navigating so many challenges these days and trying to figure out I mean, you just you just described it well. They're trying to figure out how to put their feet down in just the right way so their kids get to where they hope they will be able to get to, and and it can be exhausting, obviously. One of the tensions that I think parents struggle with is, giving kids freedom to be outdoors and to explore the outdoors in the way you were describing, because it's a big scary world out there, and the media is full of lots of terrible stories, and girls are especially vulnerable. And so parents think about all of that.
Grant Oliphant:And then there are the other priorities that come up in our society. And you mentioned STEM, which arguably has gotten a disproportionate amount of attention over the course of the last couple of decades. And and I loved your story about the the girl and the robotics and the coding program because that's sort of the positive expression of technology. The negative expression is social media and the whole online world, which absorbs so much of our kids' time, and for a long time felt like the safer alternative to letting them be running around outside on their own. What we're now learning, of course, through the work of sociologists like Jonathan Haidt and others is that that is actually terrible for our kids' mental health.
Grant Oliphant:And I'm curious as Girl Scouts thinks about all these things you're putting together, so technology and the outdoors. How are you managing the balance of those worlds and helping parents navigate these very complicated choices?
Carol Dedrich:Such a complex question, and so important right now. So there's a variety of things that we're looking at and doing, and one of them is educating. So we held most recently a panel, with, individuals that are focused on child psychology, right? And, they came in and shared with a group of, a lot of parents, some of our donors, some of our board members about what social media is doing to the the child brain, you know, the youth brain and how it is disrupting their sense of of wonder and their curiosity and their growth in a way that is not adult.
Grant Oliphant:Right.
Carol Dedrich:Right? Right. Because they're getting exposed to content that is adult Right. And not necessarily child. So, through those kind of conversations where, you know, we're doing more of that to educate the parents.
Carol Dedrich:The other component of that is to, I think, take away the stigma of mental health so that caregivers and parents can lean into learning more. Because the first thing that a lot of us are finding out in reading these studies is that being on the screen is not the best way to raise a child, right, or to have a child come into the world. Some of it's going to have to be there, but how do they do less of that? The significance of the amount of time that they're spending on it, and they're just now studying the effects on the brain. And how do we get that out to the parents?
Carol Dedrich:Because it's really the parents that are gonna help with that. To take it a step further is how do we equip the parents to know that, these mental health challenges that are that are occurring with their children, their daughters, and those of their friends, it's it's walking into a conversation and being available to them without worrying about what to do or what to say or all of that. And the way that we're doing that is through the money that we receive from Prebys, which is youth mental health first aid and opening up that subject so parents and caregivers and adults can learn about what do you say, how do you react, what do you not say, what do you not do in situations, And how do you identify the signs and symptoms that a child could be in struggle? Right? And hopefully identify before they go into crisis mode.
Carol Dedrich:Right? So we all have a part to play in that, and being able to teach that and train that in adults would magnify, and also spread a ripple effect that could change our community for the better as people step into it.
Grant Oliphant:Well and, thank you for the shout out about Prebys. We're actually pleased to support this work. We think it's, important and in a really, invaluable context because of the connection that you have with with young people. If it's successful, what do you hope will come from it?
Carol Dedrich:I hope that, parents and caregivers and adults will lean into more of this understanding and building this awareness so that they- you know, was part of it. I'm hoping that they'll understand the the detriment of social media. They'll understand how play and getting, kids more active and involved with each other in activities is more important than having them spend time on a screen. Right?
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. Yeah.
Carol Dedrich:So it's all of that. And and also the understanding of when is the right time to introduce social media and a phone to a child. When it what is the timing of that? And the fact that if adults and caregivers are on their phone all the time, who's watching them?
Grant Oliphant:Right.
Carol Dedrich:Our kids are watching us. Right? So we can say, you can't be on the phone. Take it away. But then they're watching us do it.
Carol Dedrich:And where is that connection then that we have with our youth? And where is that connection we have with each other
Grant Oliphant:That's right.
Carol Dedrich:If we're modeling that behavior that we're trying to get them to stop doing?
Grant Oliphant:Right. Right. Such an important and powerful question, and I think one that's going to be part of a long and uncomfortable social reckoning, I'm afraid. But I've gotta ask you what it's like. I want you to talk for a moment about girl scout summer camp.
Grant Oliphant:And how do you help girls detox from technology and social media in that context?
Carol Dedrich:You know, it's so simple. It's really getting them out of what they do on a daily basis and taking them to a beautiful place like we do, you know, at our camps, Winnetka and and Whispering Oaks, and having them be with other girls in in a variety of activities. So going on a hike, you know, going stargazing, learning about the environment, planting a tree, going surfing, all of those going into a pool with your friends and, again, jumping in and jumping out, going into the dining hall. Right? So when we set up for lunch, each of the, groups will have a turn at preparing not preparing the food, but preparing the, the dining hall for the other campers to come in and eat.
Carol Dedrich:Right? Putting out the condiments, putting out the spoons and the knives and the forks and all of the things. Right? Setting it up. And so all of that gets them away from their they don't miss their phone then because they're doing all of these fun things, and they're out in nature.
Carol Dedrich:And nature, come on. Let's face it. It's a magical place.
Grant Oliphant:Right.
Carol Dedrich:Being away from, the cements, being away from the screens, and being out there and looking around, and my goodness, we're in a one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Getting them outside and enjoying it with others who are also having a good time, that's how we do it.
Grant Oliphant:I so appreciate that vision and your description. I, part of what you have just described is that if we trust kids to their relationships with each other and to a relationship with the natural world, then they will find their path, and that they don't need to be hiding behind screens. And I think that's such a powerful notion.
Carol Dedrich:That's a beautiful way of putting it, and it's so true. I mean, don't we all feel that way too? I mean, take a moment and go for a walk.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I think we do. I mean, we know that it's one of the best things you can do is hit the reset button by going and taking a walk when you need to sort of check-in and and, yeah, get a hold of yourself, and it's powerful. I think it's powerful for adults in the same way as it is for kids. But somebody needs to tell them about that and give them exposure to it.
Grant Oliphant:So I appreciate that you're doing it in such a thoughtful way. I still wanna I still wanna reflect on the the difference, and similarities between the Girl Scouts that those of us who are older may hold in our minds and the Girl Scouts of today. When you think about the girls that you're working with in today's group, how do you see them facing different challenges and different opportunities than what you faced?
Carol Dedrich:That's such a great question. So I think part of this is the fact that we keep evolving the program and the experience based on what becomes, you know, relevant in today's world. So to give an example of that, our highest award is the gold award, and girl scouts in in high school earn this high achievement, and it takes about 2 years to earn it. And they have to take on a a project, a cause that makes a sustainable, not just a difference, but a sustainable difference in the community.
Carol Dedrich:Right? So I'll give you an example of a gold award project. Alright? So a girl scout whose family is from India goes to visit family in India. And in the community in which she's visiting, she sees some of the girls not going to school.
Carol Dedrich:And she asked the question, why are they not going to school? And they say, because we're afraid. What are you afraid of? We're being afraid we're afraid of being attacked. So they don't wanna go to school because they're afraid of being attacked.
Carol Dedrich:They want to go to school, but they're afraid. So what does she do? She comes back, and she, she she learns martial arts. And not only does she learn it, she learns to train it. And then she goes back so this is her gold award project.
Carol Dedrich:She goes back to India to train the girls on martial arts. And what makes it sustainable, because it's not just about that, what makes it a gold award project is that she's training the girls who are becoming seasoned in it as trainers so that they can train the next grades coming up so they don't have to be afraid to go to school. Wow. That is a gold award, girl scout.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. What a great example. As you think about projects like that, and the opportunity to help girls develop through, through developing projects like that, you have set an intention to be the leading partner for the development of leadership among girls in in San Diego. Tell us how you got to that and what that looks like for you.
Carol Dedrich:Another really good question, and I appreciate you asking it because leadership and leadership development has been a part of Girl Scouts and the movement for about 10 years now. Mhmm. And when we first started using that language, our parents pushed back on it because leadership at the time, if you can think back about 10 years ago, meant, like, CEO.
Grant Oliphant:Right.
Carol Dedrich:It meant something different than it means today. Right? It's much more broader in scope today. So what we did here when we were going through our strategic plan and looking at it, we thought it's not just about being a leader. It's about the how behind that.
Grant Oliphant:Mhmm.
Carol Dedrich:And part of it is it's it's beyond traditional leadership. It's about building the well-being and fostering the well-being in each of the girls so that they can be the best possible self as they handle the challenges. So it's a little nuance, but I think significantly different. Because in today's society, what do we need more than anything right now? We need our young people to grow up with a sense of self that is is full of courage, confidence, character, but also a strong self esteem, right?
Carol Dedrich:And so to just focus on leadership, good, important, but without that component, are we developing the type of leaders that we want in this world? Right. Right? Right. One that have stronger EQs, one that are are leading by example with compassion and sensitivity and cultural sensitivity.
Carol Dedrich:Ones that, can step out of their comfort zone to show how it can be done if you have a little bit of courage and you bring people along and you collaborate.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah.
Carol Dedrich:Right? Yeah. So it's more than just leadership. It's about the how of leadership. It's about the the the essence of it.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I I think that is huge, and and incredibly powerful. I mean, really, what you're describing is leadership not as a positional authority, but leadership as a behavior. And, yeah, anybody can be a leader in that sense. What they need is a sense of agency and power and confidence as you said.
Grant Oliphant:So, and so when you think about the role of girl scouts in being the leading partner in helping develop that, how do you how do you orient your organization to be that?
Carol Dedrich:Yeah. Yeah. I think a large part of it is looking at what we're not doing well. Mhmm. Right?
Carol Dedrich:So, you know, when we look at our demographics, it doesn't mirror the demographics of San Diego. Mhmm. We can do better. Right? And so why doesn't it?
Carol Dedrich:Like, let's look at that. Why doesn't it mirror it? Right? And so it's our delivery model. It's it's
Grant Oliphant:I was gonna ask, does it track the what you were saying earlier about the volunteers and the and the community representation.
Carol Dedrich:That's a that's a big component of it. And it's also like, what I was talking about earlier is how do we do a better job of getting into the variety of communities that are out there working with partners like the school districts, right, who already have them and they're struggling with, you know, kids and attendance and behaviors and things like that that we deal with. We build that agency of what's the what's the way that you respond and react to, you know, your your peers and your friendships and things like that. Right? And do it in a way where they're also learning.
Carol Dedrich:Right? But having fun too.
Grant Oliphant:Right.
Carol Dedrich:I mean, that's a big component of it. So, yeah, it's it's a big challenge. The other the other way is to look at what and who are the partners out there that we should be working closer with. Right? We don't we're not gonna be doing everything right.
Carol Dedrich:We know girls. Right? We know that. But maybe we don't have the cultural sensitivity of of one of the many cultures or several of the many cultures here. But there's communities and there's organizations that do.
Carol Dedrich:How do we learn from each other, and how do we share resources and leverage that so that we build a stronger community?
Grant Oliphant:I think that's such well, it's an invaluable question for a nonprofit organization to be asking, and it's the essence of how community can work together. So I appreciate you doing that. I wonder if there are lessons, this is a bit of a digression, but are there lessons in how you're, approaching the work for organizations that work with boys? Are there less Do you ever do you ever get asked about about how boy scouts, for example, can learn from girl scouts?
Carol Dedrich:Not usually. Mhmm. You know, usually, we get compared between the 2 organizations, and, boy scouts has recently, changed their model to include both boys and girls. And we looked at that, and we stand firm on the importance and the relevance of being a girl only organization. If you look at, like, the CDC report that came out and and shared that 5 out of, or 3 out of 5 girls felt hopeless or persistently hopeless and sad, I mean, that's a significant number.
Carol Dedrich:That's the double the rate of boys. Right? So there's something different between girls and boys. I mean, come on. Let's face it.
Carol Dedrich:There's a lot of things that are different. Right. The developmental stages of a girl is different from a boy. There's many things that, we need to take care of and focus on, and we that's that's our that's what we do. And so standing firm and being a girl only organization that serves girls is really important to society.
Carol Dedrich:Because if you look at it right now, you have a handful of organizations that are single gender. Right? And there is a challenge with our girls right now, and they need our support more than ever.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. Well, I have to say I appreciate the clarity of that answer, and I think the fact that you've investigated it and come to the conclusion that you have, expresses your commitment to your mission. So, and to what you're seeing with the girls that you're working with. So I appreciate that. You have this fabulous luncheon called the cool girls luncheon.
Carol Dedrich:Cool women.
Grant Oliphant:The cool women luncheon. I was referred to in my office as that. And, I have to say the the folks who went to that luncheon came back with such enthusiasm and such so many smiles on their faces. How did you come up with that as a model for how to build community support, and why is there such it appears to me that there's very strong community support in San Diego for Girl Scouts. How did that come about, and and how did the luncheon come about?
Carol Dedrich:Well, I will say that I stand on the shoulders of greatness. There have been several CEOs before me that have paved the way and set a strong foundation for this organization. And when I, had the, the blessing of taking over this organization and being selected as the CEO, I looked at many of the things that we were doing here and thought, okay. This cool women event is is awesome. And yet, I want every event that we do focused on the girl, and how do we do that, right?
Carol Dedrich:So the cool women event, as it says in the name, cool women, is focused on honoring 5 incredible women in our community that get nominated and selected. And then the, we have something called emerging leader girl scouts, and these are high school girl scouts that apply to be a part of the emerging leader girl scout program.
Grant Oliphant:Mhmm.
Carol Dedrich:And so we marry the 2. So the the emerging leader girl scouts go through orientations. They learn things about self branding. They learn about information interviews. They learn about asking questions.
Carol Dedrich:They learn about networking. Did you ever learn about networking when you were in high school? How to walk into a room, how to go up to somebody and and ask a question, how to reach out and shake their hand and say
Grant Oliphant:Lord, no. And I wish I had. Right? It would've saved me a bunch of years.
Carol Dedrich:That's what girl scouts is doing for these emerging leader girl scouts. We wanna prepare them so that when they go into the cool women event, this is their event. So I think it's that reason that it's about the girls. It's about the mission. And everyone in that room, we want them to tap into why this organization is critical to San Diego and to and to the world.
Carol Dedrich:And they get that experience because they get to see these girls in action. They get to see them networking. They're the ones that are going up on the stage and introducing the cool women because they went and met with these amazing women. Okay. So here's the other thing.
Carol Dedrich:They're meeting with CEOs who are in prominent positions in the community, and they're in high school doing that.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah.
Carol Dedrich:Think of the courage and the confidence that they're building out of that experience. And then they go up on stage with over 500 people in the audience, and they introduce that woman to everyone else. Right?
Grant Oliphant:Yeah.
Carol Dedrich:So that I think that's the magic of why so many people love that event because they get to bear witness of strong women who we all look up to, and they're great role models, but then have the hope of the future because of these women these young women coming up.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. That's fantastic. When you, when you think about, the support that you get in San Diego outside of that luncheon, how many volunteers do you have would you say?
Carol Dedrich:So we have about 9,000 volunteers.
Grant Oliphant:Wow. And that's extraordinary. I mean, that number is is significant right there. And and then, when you when you look at the financial support you get from the community through that lunch and and other mechanisms, and, of course, everybody talks about the girl scout cookie drive. And, why is it important still?
Grant Oliphant:When you're talking to people about here's what I want you to know about the girl scouts and why it matters that we are a target for your philanthropy. What do you want them to know as, you know, in your 30 second elevator pitch about why philanthropy for Girl Scout matters?
Carol Dedrich:The most important thing is that they are the next generation that is gonna take us into the future. And if you look at how many women are in the workforce, it's over 50%. Right? So if we're not taking care of this next generation of girls to step into those roles, we're not doing our society and our future justice.
Carol Dedrich:It is our responsibility, all of ours, to feed, nurture, care for, mentor, support, and challenge this next generation so that they are ready for the future and taking on the challenges of the future.
Grant Oliphant:It's a fantastic message. You know, I wanna I wanna honor the fact that you were a leader and you are a leader obviously, but you were a leader also in the military and going into the roles that you went into. I know from having spoken to other female US army captains that that is not an easy role, especially in a combat position, and you were a pioneer. Many of the girls that you're working with not be pioneers, they will be, I'm sure they'll be pioneering in their own ways, but they'll be walking in a pathway that you and others have helped create for them. And sometimes the messages that we get about young girls and and women and children, young people in general in our society is about the challenges they face and about the the the kind of the negatives.
Grant Oliphant:I would love for you to conclude by just saying something about what inspires you about this generation of young people and young girls, and what you hope the rest of us will will take away as a memory of this conversation.
Carol Dedrich:I think the biggest thing is just see them for who they are, appreciate them, and allow them to step into their potential. Right? Because they have so much to give and they are so thoughtful. And this generation coming up wants to make a difference. They want to help.
Carol Dedrich:They want to serve. We just need to be there as guides and just offer, you know, ourselves as as as mentors and those that can help to serve them so that they can step into whatever, life holds for them. And I think the, the most important thing for us to know is that when we when we look at this next generation coming up, the hope and promise that they are is is within them, and it's our responsibility to help them to explore it, experience it, and not be afraid of it.
Grant Oliphant:I love that. That's beautiful. Alright. Well, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed this conversation.
Grant Oliphant:It's been a it's been a pleasure.
Carol Dedrich:Thank you for having me. This was wonderful. Yeah.
Crystal Page:Yeah. I want to be a dress code.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. That was that was a pretty incredible conversation. I there's so much here, and I I think important takeaways for all of us in the community, even those of us who weren't a Girl Scout and never could have been. I was struck by Carol's reflections, first of all, on her own military experience and what she saw similarities with what girls get from the from the girl scout experience. You know, a sense of community, a sense of confidence, a, a sense of their power together, and their, you know, the that collective agency and individual agency. She talked about leadership as a behavior.
Grant Oliphant:I loved all of that and really came away with a sense that, the the mission of the modern girl scouts is really about empowerment of young girls in a in an age that may feel very different from when they started, but they've learned how to adapt their mission over time.
Crystal Page:Yes. And the piece that she talked about where she talked about 3 to 5 girls felt hopeless or sad, imagine taking those folks and then helping build the confidence that you were just talking about. And it seems like those outcomes for, hopefully, a lot of those girls who become young women who become women, are a lot better. You know, we won't know what's what. Was it the Girl Scouts that did it or some other opportunity?
Crystal Page:But I I think it's a beautiful vision and, execution.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. Well, I'm so when you said I wanna be a girl scout, tell us why.
Crystal Page:You know, I went to sea camp in middle school and it was life changing for me, sea camp at Catalina Island. But if someone had told me that I could have focused on having fun, one, I was too serious of a child. But if someone told me I could have fun and go to camp in the summer, I don't think I put 2 and 2 together. So the fact that she takes, young women to, Julian and they get to camp and just be friends and have a good time, I think sometimes I think I'm of that the the eldest millennial who it's about accomplishments. What are we accomplishing?
Crystal Page:What degrees are we getting? And it's like, oh, you can still learn stuff and have fun. I mean, you know how I feel, Grant. Even at this job, you remind me to have fun. And I was like, oh, I didn't know.
Crystal Page:Wait. What? Yeah. So it it just doesn't compute. And I think that's sometimes where we lose our humanity.
Crystal Page:We treat ourselves like robots.
Grant Oliphant:Right. Yeah. We that's exactly right. And you know what? For me, I begin to notice themes that begin to emerge, from interview to interview, and here we're talking with the head of the girl scouts who's talking about, mental health for young girls, and how resonant it was with the interview we did with doctor Ben Maxwell where we were talking about youth mental health.
Grant Oliphant:And you know some of the common themes were around getting off of screens and getting off of social media and getting a break from your technology. Getting into nature and getting, in the case of the girl scout girl scouts, a sense of mastery over nature by being able to actually interact in it and operate in it in a way that maybe many didn't know that they could when they started. And, yeah, that theme around fun, you know, that we we live in this time where we take ourselves so seriously, and and everything's supposed to be obligation and duty and responsibility and getting the job done. But really without that sense of wonder and awe and exploration that fun opens up for us, we really can't accomplish much of anything. And I so I was really struck by that
Grant Oliphant:In this interview.
Crystal Page:Well, you're reminding me too. Right? This episode harkens back to doctor Ben Maxwell. It also hearkens back to Irwin Jacobs because he talked about, you know, as people as we evolve in our time and our work, we're gonna have more free time, and what do we do with that free time? And Carol was very much on it about making sure that we are volunteering and committed to our communities and services just as part of being in the community.
Crystal Page:And I know some folks are still out there volunteering every day. I can't say I do it as well as I used to, so I love the community and culture that she's talking about with girl scouts and and how we use that free time that Irwin has referenced or doctor Maxwell has talked about. You know? Because we're just using our cell phones to fill that void. Right?
Carol Dedrich:So
Crystal Page:yeah. Yeah.
Grant Oliphant:And she's really pointing in that thank you for bringing that up because she's really pointing in that too to a phenomenon that we're seeing across the board in the in in the nonprofit sector, which is the challenge that organizations face to get volunteers, and the challenge that civic organizations face to get members. And it's you know I referenced Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone, but we really are in this new era where people's time is much more fragmented and our interests are much more atomized. And so we're just disconnected and these organizations that bring us together suffer from that, and then they face very real challenges, the girl scouts do as do many similar volunteer dependent organizations, to to be able to get a share of their parents' time, because they depend on that to help work with the girls in the way that they do, and then to train them, which is a challenge they face in getting into all the communities that they need to get into so that they actually reflect and represent San Diego County. So we're we're we're operating at a at a really challenging time for models like theirs, but I loved the way that she talked about putting those pieces together and figuring out and making it work.
Grant Oliphant:And you were commenting on this afterwards, but they they may face challenges working with volunteers and yet they have 9,000. So they're doing something right. I I also was really struck, you know, to come back to the mental health piece of the conversation that they are engaging parents and training them in, in working with girls and young women and helping them see the signs and recognize the signs of mental health challenges and knowing what to do about that and also using girl scouts as a vehicle for a healthy preventative response.
Crystal Page:Yeah. What I love about that is she point Carol pointed out that parents can intervene sooner. Right? They see their kids every day. So if they know how to identify it and they're just available.
Crystal Page:They're not feeling the pressure to have the all the right answers, but how to have those conversations. We know that that won't just benefit that parent and their kid, but it's gonna benefit the kids around that community. Right? Right. I'm sure many of us had parents who were that parent for other kids.
Crystal Page:So I think that vision was beautiful and also how she frames what the youth bring in terms of the assets. Right? Instead of just saying, you know, kids these days or or whatever, old saying we use, it's much more like this is our future, and when we give them opportunity and potential, look at all the beautiful things that can happen. And and that's hopeful and energetic and inspiring, and, hopefully, that inspires some of us to volunteer with these folks and get more involved.
Grant Oliphant:Yeah. I was taken by that too and I, well, we were talking a moment ago, before, as we were saying goodbye to her about the example that she gave, on the gold award, of the young woman who taught martial arts and trained teachers in martial arts, back in India so that her her fellow girls could go to school and feel comfortable going to school. You know what you what you realize is there's so much ingenuity, and creativity still waiting to be unlocked in every generation. And I think I think one of the mistakes we all make is to- I loved your friend, you know, the way you describe kids these days. One of the mistakes we all make is we we sort of reach a point where we think we have learned all the things there are to learn, and we know all the answers.
Grant Oliphant:The problem is the questions keep changing, and the and the generations keep changing. And in a way, each generation has to keep inventing the model that works for them. And I what I what I really enjoyed about this conversation was how Carol talked about how they're helping girls of this generation respond to today's challenges. Because it would be so easy to sort of see them as a creature of a different generation in a different time. And by the way, on that score, I give her a lot of credit.
Grant Oliphant:I give the Girl Scouts a lot of credit for being able to, improve by learning what's not working. And she used that phrase that, you know, they're willing to learn.
Crystal Page:Yeah. I think there's empowerment in one, I love the gold awards story, but the idea that the young woman looked at that situation and she decided that she could actually do something about it. Like, how powerful I don't care if you're 9, 14, 45. But if you can look at a situation and say, I'm gonna do something about this, and she built out her 2 year plan and got her gold award and made a sustainable difference. And I think in the same way, whether it's with the adults training the adults or, you know, as you just talked about her saying, let me look at my organization as a team and figure out where we can be better and grow from that.
Crystal Page:Those are all positions of power. She's choosing to look and be better and stronger for the future. So I I think it's all beautiful. I think you did a great job in this interview. You covered so many topics, Grant.
Grant Oliphant:We covered we covered a lot.
Crystal Page:But, yeah, I think it's worth a worth a few listens. So I think we have lots to think on, and hopefully we can tie it with future episodes as well.
Grant Oliphant:Well, thank you. And as always, thank you for doing it with me. It is a pleasure.
Crystal Page:Likewise. Thank you, Grant.
Grant Oliphant:This is a production of the Prebys Foundation, hosted by Grant Oliphant, and co hosted by Crystal Page. The program is co produced by Crystal Page and Adam Greenfield, and it's engineered by Adam Greenfield. Production assistance is provided by Tess Karesky, and our new theme song is by mister Lyrical Groove, a local San Diego artist. Download episodes at your favorite podcatcher or visit us at stop and talk podcast.org. If you like this show, and we really hope you do, the best way to support it is to share, subscribe, and review our podcast.
Grant Oliphant:Thank you for your support, your ideas, and most of all, for listening. This program has been recorded at The Voice of San Diego Podcast Studio.