FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contacts
Andrew Keating, Director of Communications, 406.657.1104, media@rocky.edu
Jill Washburn, Community Involvement, 406.238.7394, jill.washburn@rocky.edu
Kelsey Nix, Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming support manager, 800.736.5243, kelseyn@gsmw.org 

Girl Scouts Cross Path with ‘Bears’

BILLINGS, April 19, 2017 — Signing up for Girl Scouts means selling cookies, earning badges, and going camping. And, if you’re lucky, you might even get to see a few bears.

On April 22, Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming will get to interact with the Battlin’ Bears at Rocky Mountain College as part of the “Operation Higher Education” program.

The program, which originated with the Girl Scouts, is designed to not only introduce a variety of different career paths for the girls, but also to spur-on interaction with RMC college students in sharing inspiration for the future, explained RMC’s Community Involvement Coordinator Jill Washburn.

Once on campus, fourth through eighth-grade girls are given a front-row seat into what the aviation, physician assistant, and ROTC programs are all about.

“It’s not just getting a tour of the campus,” Washburn said. “The girls will be spending an hour looking into college programs to get a glimpse into future career opportunities.”

Kelsey Nix, a volunteer support manager for Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming, says exposure to these programs helps in the high disparity of girls entering the STEM fields.

“We want them to be able to be able to pursue their interests weather the fields are more traditional for boys or girls, and show them that they can succeed no matter what,” Nix said.

“We want to show them more of their options in STEM fields in particular,” Nix said. “There is a significant drop when you look at women in those fields.”

And, while the Girl Scouts get to see and hear about different fields of interest from professors and students at RMC, the program participants will be earning a Higher Education Patch.

“We are the only college in the U.S. that works with the Girl Scouts to provide a Higher Education Patch,” Washburn said.

The program is open to all Girl Scouts in the fourth-eighth grades, and will begin in the small gym in the Fortin Education Center at 9:00 a.m.

--END--