ALBANY – The Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia threw a celebration last week for the grand opening of its second in-state DreamLab at an unlikely location — the Walmart Supercenter on Ledo Road in Albany, Georgia.
Girl Scout DreamLabs are spaces that have evolved to meet potential interests of girls today. The Albany space provides an audio sound booth space, STEM activity lab and areas for girls to collaborate or hang out. Albany’s DreamLab is the seventh such venue to open in the U.S. and the first to open inside a Walmart.
Sue Else, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, said the goal is to reach more girls in southwest Georgia, a region that is expansive geographically.
“This is a large area for us to try to cover,” she said. “We want all girls to have the opportunity to be a Girl Scout. With 3 million people walking through this Walmart, so many people will be exposed to Girl Scouting.”
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
Young girls and their families gathered in front of the Walmart Supercenter on Oct. 4 to hear performances from Albany State University’s band, get temporary tattoos and snack on freshly made s’mores. They got a chance to tour the DreamLab space and try out some of its facilities.
The DreamLab will be open Monday-Saturday and offer daily programming on topics like financial education, robotics, lab work, 3-D printing, entrepreneurship, outdoors and more.
Else said the Girl Scouts want to meet girls where they’re at by providing accessible spaces for them to cater to their interests. Any girl is welcome to explore the DreamLab while her caregivers shop in Walmart. Upon her third visit, she’ll be asked if she is interested in becoming a Girl Scout.
Kanijah Holliday, a 17-year-old Dougherty Comprehensive High School student, said the space will be a place to meet up with friends and make new ones. Holliday has been a Scout for five years. She said it’s led her to incredible experiences and helped her to build confidence and character.
The DreamLab will help her do that even more, she said, as well as help her more deeply develop her interests in audio and visual work. Holliday was already in the podcast room during the grand opening.
“It definitely elevates the Girl Scout experience,” she said.
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
Valerie Brown-Williams has been a local troop leader for about 15 years. She started when her daughter became a Girl Scout and continued the work even after her daughter moved away.
Brown-Williams said the troop camps, learns life skills and travels to places like the Kennedy Space Center and even internationally to Europe and Costa Rica. She said this DreamLab will offer her girls exposure to resources they didn’t have before.
Her troop currently has about 20 members from kindergarten to high school age. She said the number ebbs and flows. At times the troop has dropped down to less than 10 girls.
Brown-Williams said she hopes the new DreamLab will lead to more exposure.
“When we sell cookies, we’ll have people say, ‘I thought Girl Scouts didn’t exist’ or ‘all you do is sell cookies,’” she said. “We do a lot more than sell cookies.”
Bonnie Barczykowski, the CEO of Girl Scouts USA, said the DreamLab will be a space where Scouts can come together and curious girls can dip their toes and learn what scouting is all about.
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
Credit: Lucille Lannigan
The Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia has been around for more than 100 years. It extends from North Georgia to the Okefenokee, to the Chattahoochee Valley. The Georgia council serves more than 7,000 girls and 3,000 adults in 122 counties in Georgia, two counties in South Carolina and one in Alabama. The founder of Girl Scouts, Juliette Lowe, is a Savannah native.
Barczykowksi said Georgia Girl Scout membership is up 15%, and they want to keep attracting more.
“For so many older girls, they’ll tie what they do in life and their career back to their experience as a Girl Scout, so we realize that girls who never get that experience might miss out,” Barczykowski said.
She said she wants every girl who wants to be a Girl Scout to get that opportunity.
Those interested in learning more about the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia can visit www.gshg.org
Credit: Albany Herald
Credit: Albany Herald
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Today’s story comes from our partner the Albany Herald. The Albany Herald publishes in print and online at albanyherald.com, providing coverage of community news, events, and sports in Southwest Georgia.
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