Girl Scouts Expands Presence At 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show To Help Girls Imagine A Future In STEM

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Girl Scouts is back at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year with Digital Cookie 2.0, the newly enhanced online addition to the iconic Girl Scout Cookie Program, and a brand new Girls' STEM Summit. Building on last year's successful debut, Girl Scouts is expanding its presence to give girls a unique opportunity to learn from top influencers and present our latest technology at a world renowned tradeshow, as well as showcase all the organization is doing to address girls' involvement in STEM.

At the Girl Scouts Girls' STEM HQ booth (Booth #74760), CES attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Digital Cookie 2.0 and learn about the larger Girl Scout STEM experience. Made possible by Dell and Visa, Digital Cookie 2.0 provides a more robust, hands-on, and entertaining learning experience for girls. Girls from two councils, Girl Scouts of Northern California and Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada, will demonstrate the enhanced cookie website, which has fun new quizzes, games, videos, and other activities for learning about budgeting and resource allocation using a "spend, save, and give" model, as well as the mobile apps. In addition to being among the very first to purchase Girl Scout Cookies using Digital Cookie this cookie season, CES attendees can experience first-hand the updates to the Digital Cookie platform by playing the games and taking the quizzes themselves; take a selfie with STEM props that include all Girl Scout STEM badges; and enter in a sweepstakes by sharing on social media why they support girls in STEM by using #genSTEMgirls. Girl Scouts will also host an interview series during which they ask questions of industry insiders, including influential Girl Scout alumnae. These interviews will be posted on Girl Scouts' social media channels and shared with organizations working to ignite passion for STEM in youth and girls across the country.

"We are so excited to be back at the world's largest consumer electronics show with some of our best and brightest Girl Scouts to show off all our organization does in the world of STEM," said Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. "Girl Scouts was a trailblazer in acquainting girls with the world of STEM, offering STEM badges since 1913, and many notable alumnae are high achievers in STEM fields. Now we are bringing the next generation of innovators to CES, exposing them to the newest big things in the world of tech, and further cementing women, girls, and the Girl Scouts as leaders in STEM."

A Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) study uncovered that 73% of girls are interested in STEM-related fields. But without keeping them engaged and showing them future opportunities, girls are more likely to "drop out" for other careers when they get to college. In addition, the study shows about half of all girls feel that STEM isn't a typical career path for girls, and 57% of girls say that if they went into a STEM career, they'd have to work harder than a man just to be taken seriously. Though gender imbalance at CES has been a hot topic in recent years, Girl Scouts is focused on addressing gender barriers that start during childhood in order to empower the next generation of females in STEM. Girl Scouts' presence at CES is a call-to-action for attendees, exhibitors, and press to support girls in STEM.

For the first time, Girl Scouts will host a Girls' STEM Summit, partly in collaboration with The Girls' Lounge, a go-to destination for women at industry conferences, on January 6, 2016 (this summit is not directly affiliated with CES). Twenty-five Girl Scouts will participate in the summit, giving them the unique opportunity to interact with top brands and innovators in STEM through a floor tour of CES, empowering conversations with influencers, and a behind-the-scenes look at the world's largest consumer technology show. Girls will learn from experts what the hot trends are, see real-life examples of all the ways STEM influences our world, and explore the variety of career opportunities in STEM.

"Only 24% of women work in STEM-related fields," said Sheila Narayanan, Girl Scouts of the USA's chief digital girl experience officer. "In fact, by 2018, the United States will have 1.2 million unfilled STEM jobs due to a lack of qualified workers and, though most girls love hands-on science and solving problems, very few girls see a STEM job in their future. Knowledge like this informs our programming at Girl Scouts. As we've shown with Digital Cookie, we are working to infuse STEM into all of our programming, to help girls connect the experience to their everyday lives. It is important to have a Girl Scout presence at CES—it's a vital step in not only changing the perception of females in STEM, but also in inspiring people in related fields to help girls imagine a future in STEM."

The Girls' STEM Summit will kick off with an innovation breakfast, hosted by Anna Maria Chávez, followed by "The Girls' Lounge Girls Wearable Walkin' Floor Tour" led by TechCrunch and IBM Interactive Experience, and joined by Megan Smith, chief technology officer of the United States. To round out the experience, girls will get VIP time with Megan Smith, participate in mentoring sessions with top female STEM executives, observe The Girls' Lounge: Power Conversations, and see a screening of the movie CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, followed by a Q&A session with Robin Hauser Reynolds, the film's director and producer.

"A key initiative for The Girls' Lounge is to connect today's and tomorrow's leaders," said Shelley Zalis, Founder and CEO of The Girls' Lounge. "Our collaboration with the Girl Scouts at CES will bring together some of the brightest minds in STEM. The importance of STEM for today's girls and future leaders is paramount to their success later in life, and we're proud to play a part in showing girls that anything is possible."  

In addition to activities at the Girl Scouts Girls' STEM HQ booth on the floor at CES, events in conjunction with The Girls' Lounge will be held at The Duplex Suite at the Encore Towers Suites located at 3131 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, Nevada. To learn more about how you can inspire girls to pursue a future in STEM, visit girlscouts.org/STEM. For more information on Digital Cookie 2.0, visit girlscouts.org/DigitalCookie. For additional press materials, visit girlscouts.org/CES2016.

We're Girl Scouts of the USA

We're 2.7 million strong—1.9 million girls and 800,000 adults who believe girls can change the world. It began over 100 years ago with one woman, Girl Scouts' founder Juliette Gordon "Daisy" Low, who believed in the power of every girl. She organized the first Girl Scout troop on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, and every year since, we've made her vision a reality, helping girls discover their strengths, passions, and talents. Today we continue the Girl Scout mission of building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. We're the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. And with programs for girls from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to do something amazing. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit www.girlscouts.org.

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SOURCE Girl Scouts of the USA

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