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Turning Dreams into Reality—One Microphone at a Time
Exciting. Eye-opening. Educational. Empowering. This is how Girl Scouts and a media industry expert describe GSWISE’s Media Girls program.
Launched in 2023, the Media Girls program is a unique opportunity for Girl Scout Juniors through Ambassadors to explore career options in the media industry, connect with local professionals, and gain practical skills in public speaking, writing, and digital content creation. Meeting once a month, nearly 30 Girl Scouts have learned from local pros—like TMJ4’s Susan Kim, WISN12’s Joyce Garbaciak, Milwaukee Magazine’s Brianna Schubert, and Amanda Busack of the Racine County Health Department. They have been behind-the-scenes, touring Audacy and recording ads with radio personality Alley Faith, reading from teleprompters at FOX6 with meteorologist Lisa Michaels, and participating in a branding strategy panel at Mueller Communications. Media Girls also serve as the official faces and voices of the council, doing media interviews, speaking at council events like the Celebration of Volunteer Achievement, and creating social media and blog content.
“How many eighth graders can say they’ve been on TV five times already?” quipped Girl Scout Cadette Lauren as she recounted one of her favorite Media Girls activities—doing live TV interviews to demonstrate the impact of the Girl Scout Cookie Program. “This is an opportunity that I wouldn’t have gotten outside of Girl Scouting.”
Lauren loves the advanced opportunities available to Girl Scouts as they get older; she has worked as a Program Aide at GSWISE Day Camp, leading activities with younger campers, and is currently earning her Silver Award by creating bat boxes for Camp Alice Chester. Now, in her second year of Media Girls, Lauren marvels at the countless opportunities the program has provided.
“I joined because I’m interested in pursuing a career in broadcast. Through hands-on activities like recording a radio ad, creating a mental health ad campaign for teens, participating in a magazine story for camp, and writing a speech for a council event, I’ve gotten to practice my public speaking and storytelling skills while learning how to project my voice on issues I’m passionate about, capture different audiences’ attention, effectively share key messages, and inspire others to action.”
Girl Scout Cadette Helena is also in her second year of Media Girls. Helena attends summer camp, sells Girl Scout cookies, participates in annual community service projects with her troop like making decorations for nursing homes, and is working towards earning the Silver Award by creating lending libraries to make reading more accessible in her community. What drew Helena to the Media Girls program was her curiosity to explore different fields and navigate what she may want to do when she’s older. What has kept her in the program is the welcoming and supportive space it’s created for her to feel confident in expressing her ideas, raising her voice, and making new friends.
“I’m only 12 and I get to share my voice on TV, practice different communication skills, and learn insights from reporters, public health advocates, and travel bloggers,” remarked Helena. “I loved when we got to practice informational interviewing techniques with volunteers from the Milwaukee Brewers staff and Girl Scout sisters. We got to prep questions to develop the best story angle, practice answering the interview questions, and take the lead asking questions.”
“Through different activities—like recording radio commercials, learning how to put together soundtracks for commercial breaks, and doing live TV interviews—I’ve gotten to hone skills in speaking with different audiences, practice how to clearly get questions and answers across, hold a smooth conversation, and discover what platforms are best for marketing and communications,” said Helena.
Girl Scout Cadette Brooklyn has also participated in Media Girls for the past two years. Brooklyn enjoys council events, working on badgework, exploring Camp Silver Brook, and selling Girl Scout Cookies. Brooklyn joined Media Girls because she loves technology, photography, and videography and was curious to learn how to turn her passions into a future career. Throughout the program, Brooklyn has enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes work that goes into bringing a story to life and values the connections made with guest speakers and other Media Girls.
“I’ve loved meeting smart, accomplished female leaders in the field who are doing great things in the community,” reflected Brooklyn. “Some of my favorite moments in the program have been engaging with Joyce Garbaciak and creating a news report from a prompt with TMJ4’s Stephanie Brown. This program has connected me to others who are enthusiastic about this field, both Girl Scouts and local industry experts, who have mentored me and could possibly serve as professional recommendations as I pursue my own career in the field. Meeting female professionals has made me feel empowered; if they can do this, I can do it too.”
Lauren has already utilized her learnings in other aspects of her life, such as getting out of her comfort zone to ask Home Depot to donate supplies for her Silver Award project. Helena uses the skills she’s learned to boost her cookie sales and has felt a growing sense of maturity and responsibility by attending the monthly meetings, answering emails, and completing assignments. Brooklyn has built confidence and actively practices speaking clearer and using nonverbal cues to better share messages and captivate audiences.
“Girls are our future,” said Montse Ricossa, a Girl Scout alum and current bilingual news anchor and senior producer at Telemundo Wisconsin and CBS58, who served as a guest speaker at a previous Media Girls meeting. Montse presented to the Media Girls about the differences between being a news anchor, reporter, and multimedia journalist and encouraged the girls to try out their “news voice” by practicing reading scripts with a microphone.
“Participating in this program was important to me because I want to do my part to inspire girls and show them that they can be anything,” added Montse. “Growing up, I watched a lot of news and didn’t see anyone on screen who looked like me. I wanted to highlight media as a career option, make it more accessible to girls at a younger age, and empower girls to reach their full potential. My activity stressed that their voices, and what they have to say, matter. The energy in that room was electric—they were so engaged, asked thoughtful questions, and stood up straighter as they held that microphone. It was a really fulfilling experience for me.”
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