Girl Scouts learn new survival skills

Girl Scouts who attended overnight camp in Northeast Ohio this summer learned a lot more than making knots and climbing rocks. They learned about survival - not so much in the woods as in the working world of a 20-something.

About 800 girls, members of the 18-county Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, were asked to picture themselves as 25 year olds. Each young woman then had the chance to choose a career. Fashion modeling is always a big favorite.

Then the Scouts learn how much money they will make when they are working in their chosen careers.

That is when reality sets in, says Scout program manager Stacey Gardner-Buckshaw. While it may be true that top models make top dollars, the girls learn that the average starting salary for a model is less than $13,000 a year. On the other hand, they learn that jobs that require more education pay a high salary. For instance, they learn that a chemical engineer makes more than $47,000 annually to start.

The Scouts have one chance to make a career change before the real learning begins.

With a chosen career and the salary that goes with it, the girls calculate how much money will be withheld from their pay for taxes. With what is left, they must figure in the cost of rent, utilities and transportation and determine if they could live alone or would need to share costs with a roommate. They get to pick a city in which they wish to live, but they must compare housing and food costs to their "hometown."

The personal money management lessons are from a financial literacy program known as Cent$Ability, which is being supported by a grant from The Burton D. Morgan Foundation. It was taught this summer at three residential camps as well as at some Scout day camps. It will be taught this fall during Scouting sessions at more than 30 school districts in Northeast Ohio.

Cent$Ability is just one of the financial literacy programs being implemented by the Girl Scouts. Younger girls - in the Daisy and Brownie groups - learn about pennies adding up to dollars and the value of saving.

"Financial literacy is not new or foreign to Girl Scouting," says Daisy Alford-Smith, CEO of Girl Scouts of North East Ohio. "Our Girl Scout cookie program is a strong example of our long-standing commitment to helping girls gain skills in money matters. Now we are strengthening this commitment by making financial literacy a top programming priority."

For Scouting leaders, financial literacy is a key to training strong, independent women who can support the economic growth and development of Northeast Ohio.