A Government of Girl Scouts
By Eleanor Anderson
This past February, St. Kate’s formed a partnership with Girl Scouts River Valleys aimed at providing scouts opportunities and resources as they consider higher education. The intention was to highlight the influence of a women’s college for those who may have found their community amongst other young women in Girl Scouts. On Monday, Nov. 10, several Katies from the Political Science club helped to bring this agreement to life for an even broader audience by leading a local Girl Scouts troop of fourth-graders in earning their Government badge.
Five student leaders spent several weeks developing activities that would not only educate the 9- and 10-year-olds about the three branches of government, their functions and the role of government in society, but would also entertain their energetic young bodies for 90 minutes after a full school day. The cohort landed on three activities: a MadLibz reinterpretation of the preamble to the Constitution to lay the groundwork for a fictional government; a crash course in lawmaking with checks and balances; and a mock election to determine the national Starburst flavor using ranked choice voting.
Senior Julia Schmitt-Mischke ‘26 (Economics, Political Science, Women and International Development) was one of the Political Science Club members leading the charge for this initiative. Leading up to the event, Julia shared being “intimidated by… how they would respond,” but ended up being “really surprised at how enthusiastically they engaged with all of the activities.”
Each of the Girl Scouts was assigned a role in the government - in the House or the Senate, as the President, or as a judge on the Supreme Court - for their country named “the Town of Maebe” (honoring a troop member who was sitting in the front row). Throughout the activities, the girls lamented about how slow the government works, how complicated voting can be and also how fun it was to make the rules when anything is on the table – remarks highly reminiscent of actual public service work.
“I guess we actually know how to teach,” said Schmitt-Mischke. “We’re able to engage in and speak about the parts of our government, which is a good thing for PoliSci students!” Even after the meeting ended, parents shared their Girl Scouts’ recalling several key elements of the branches of government and the election process.
While Katies challenged their ability to explain the basics of government to a young audience, the Girl Scouts learned about the foundations of government, something extraordinarily relevant to life today, though not always covered in elementary school curriculum. By truly leaning into the activities, the Girl Scouts and St. Kate’s PoliSci club worked together to bring government to life in a whole new way.
