The Girl Scouts have created a patch for girls to earn a badge in video game design. The organizing groups announced their badge program last week, and they’ve got another event coming this weekend.
Women in Games International and the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles are holding an event on October 1 from 10 am to 4 pm at the Sony PlayStation Santa Monica Studio in Santa Monica, Calif. The move comes three years after the Boy Scouts created a merit badge series in 2013. But better late than never.
At the event on Saturday, Girl Scouts will have the chance to learn what it’s like to work in the video game industry from a professional, create a physical prototype and a digital prototype, and test their designs.
WIGI spearheaded the L.A. initiative in order to prompt other Girl Scout councils across the nation to partner with local WIGI chapters to secure sponsors and develop similar programs. Eventually, WIGI also hopes Girl Scouts of the USA will be inspired to add a video game design badge to its list of National Proficiency badges. (Current tech-proficiency badges for Girl Scouts at the national level include Computer Expert, Digital Photographer, Entertainment Technology, Geocacher, Product Designer, Digital Moviemaker, Netiquette and Website Designer).
Both GSGLA and WIGI want to show girls possible career options in the video game industry, driving their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.
“Girl Scouts has a long history of developing pioneers in the fields of science and technology. This workshop is not only fun for our Los Angeles area Girl Scouts, it’s a chance for girls to explore and experience STEM in a supportive environment,” said Lise Luttgens, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles CEO, in a statement.
“By creating a STEM-aligned video game patch program for Girl Scouts, we’re helping young women see what opportunities are open to them in these fields,” said Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI, in a statement. “WIGI promotes diversity in the video game industry, and spearheading this effort means that women have more opportunities to be better represented in the next generation of video game creators.”