By Cassidy H, Girl Reporter

From June 8 to June 12, a group of twelve Girl Scouts explored different career paths at the From Dreams to Reality: Career Discovery Day Camp. This was funded by Boeing as a part of the STEM program here at GSSGC.

On Monday, June 8, 2015 the Girl Scouts started their journey into career exploration by visiting the San Bernardino IT Department and the Riverside DA office. At the San Bernardino IT, the group took a tour of the place and got to do a little bit of coding. In the Riverside DA office, the girls learned what district attorneys do, went inside a courtroom, and talked to one of the judges, Richard F.

The next day the girls went to the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District and the Yucaipa Valley Water District. At the Conversation District, they learned about the ecology field in and out of office. They also got to take a pot of poppy seeds home to plant. After that, they went to the Yucaipa Water District, where the girls learned how water is processed and recycled throughout the city. They also got an assignment to look at drought restrictions and where water comes from where they live for a prize. They went on a small hike near some basins near Yucaipa then went home.

On Wednesday,  Girl Scouts visited Johnson CAT and the Vocademy. At Johnson CAT, there was a talk about the different ways the people working there got to where they were today. Some of them had great college educations, and some didn’t, proving to the girls that you don’t always need to go to a good college to get a great job. After the talk, there was a tour of the place. Once the tour was over, the girls got to see what type of equipment they sold and even ran a few of them. They had lunch (provided by CAT), got both a hard hat and a regular hat, then went on to Vocademy. The girls learned about one woman’s journey with her invention, then got a tour of the place, learning what they could do there with or without membership, like laser cutting wood and welding. Then, they all made keychains with LED lights in them.

Thursday the girls stayed at the GSSGC Council to tour the executive offices, before visiting the Rialto Fire Department. At Council, the girls learned about non-profit career paths from guest speakers before taking a tour and talking with Ms. Cynthia Breunig, GSSGC President and CEO. At the Rialto Fire Department, the girls listened to a firefighter talk about what their daily lives were like before gearing up in uniforms to perform a few firefighting activities. The Girl Scouts also got to learn more about the equipment in an ambulance and what paramedics are able to do there.

For their last day of camp, the Girl Scouts went to the Fontana CHP Command Center. The instructor, Steve C., told the girls his journey of becoming an officer and what it was like to be an officer. Then, they went to the dispatch room, where the girls learned how 911 calls were taken and handled.

A delicious In-N-Out lunch was treated to the girls before heading back to council. There, they did a few activities to wrap up the week and had prizes handed out for various reasons. Alexis W., a girl in the program, thought it was “interesting.” Another girl, Alicia S., thought it was “educational and fun.” Carrie R., who ran the program, said, “At the beginning of the week, the girls were really quiet. They were very comfortable with each other at the end of the week, and it was nice to see that change.”

The From Dreams To Reality day camp was a great educational opportunity for the girls to learn more about non-traditional career paths for  women, inspiring the Girl Scouts to pursue their own dreams no matter the gender stereotypes surrounding them.

Originally published in Food For Thought Magazine, Fall 2015