Genevieve Nutting’s current enthusiasm for pageantry wasn’t likely born of a latent desire to wear a tiara and sash on stage.  Although today she holds the title of Miss Idaho 2011, she said growing up she was more enthusiastic about camping and Girl Scouts. But Nutting has found a rewarding connection between the national pageant association and the world’s most recognizable service organization for girls.

Nutting was a Girl Scout through her high school years. As a Senior Girl Scout she aspired to and was awarded its highest honor: the Girl Scout Gold Award. The Gold Award is only awarded to Girl Scouts in high school who have completed a number of requirements as well as a project that has a sustainable and measureable impact on their community or beyond.

Nutting’s Gold Award project was a self-esteem workshop for girls. She developed the program with the help of adult advisors and then delivered it to schools and small groups throughout the Treasure Valley.  Nutting said, the program focuses on the importance of taking care of oneself, setting and reaching goals, and showing respect for oneself and others.  Nutting said a major emphasis of the program is the importance of community involvement.

Girl Scouts of Silver Sage Council CEO Shelli Rambo Roberson says that community service and training specific to the current needs of girls in each stage of development have been hallmarks of Girl Scouting since its inception.

In 2012, Girl Scouts of the USA celebrates the 100^th anniversary of its founding, and a long tradition of encouraging and awarding both personal accomplishment and community involvement.  The name of the Gold Award has changed over the years, although the dual emphasis on community impact and leadership has remained.    Today’s Gold Award is an achievement that requires a minimum of 80 hours spent identifying an issue, investigating it, building a team, creating and presenting a plan, gathering feedback and educating and inspiring others.

Rambo Roberson said Girl Scouts regularly initiate impressive Gold Award projects that reflect a broad range of community service. Building libraries for children in rural South Africa, establishing GED pre-test tutorial options for different types of learners, constructing protective nesting boxes for predator-threatened Wood Ducks, collecting toothbrushes and creating oral health educational binders for Peruvian youth, and recording oral history information on Wagon Wheel Days for the Idaho Historical Society are some recent Gold Award projects.

The range of projects, says Rambo Roberson, shows that girls with varied interests can continue to expand their horizons through Girl Scouting.

“I believe the most exciting aspect of Girl Scouts throughout the last century has been to remain relevant to the girls we are serving today,” Rambo Roberson says.

The process of earning a Gold Award can enhance college and scholarship applications. As Nutting found out, it can also be a useful launch pad to other volunteer leadership opportunities.

The summer before her senior year in high school, Nutting was invited to participate in a Miss Idaho Outstanding Teen Pageant by the mother of a friend who was involved in the program.  Nutting said the thought of doing something new and different was appealing, but she especially appreciated how much the pageant program’s emphasis on community service had in common with Girl Scouting.  Miss America organization’s scholarship program appealed to her as well.

She wasn’t sure how well she’d fare in the competition—until the judges announced the winner.

“When they called my name, I didn’t hear it at first.  I wasn’t expecting it,” Nutting said.

In June she became Miss Idaho, and in January 2012, she will compete in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas.

Every competitor in the Miss America series of pageants selects a community service-based platform.  Nutting said her selection of Girl Scouting as her platform wasn’t popular with pageant officials at first, who suggested it was not one to which people could relate.  But she insisted on promoting the benefits of Girl Scouting, and said that since then other contestants have adopted similar platforms.

“Girl Scouting helps girls learn about themselves through activities such as earning badges and camping,” Nutting says, adding that even selling Girl Scout cookies incorporates educational aspects like planning, marketing, customer service, and money management.

Overall, Nutting says her experience as a Girl Scout and as Miss Idaho 2011 have shown her how the two programs are complementary.
“They’re so similar,” says Nutting. “Miss America is the largest scholarship organization for women in the world, and Girl Scouting is the world’s largest service provider [organization] for girls.”

Currently, Nutting makes frequent public appearances as Miss Idaho, and continues to produce her Gold Award-winning self esteem program, this time fulfilling the community service requirement of her title, a program and platform which stemmed from her days as a Girl Scout.

Beth Markley is a freelance writer and consultant for nonprofit organizations.  She is also a lifetime member of Girl Scouts, and while she holds no official pageant title, she does own a tiara. She lives in Boise with her husband and two sons.

The Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place,
and be a sister to every Girl Scout.