- By most outward measures, California's 3 million girls are thriving, graduating, leading, achieving.

But the numbers in The State of Girl report tell a different story.

Nearly 4 in 10 are living with serious psychological distress - roughly double the rate for boys.

Girl Scouts Heart of Central California CEO, Doctor Linda Farley and Girl Scout Amelia Reyes-Stone join us to share their reflections on the study and on scouting today.

Linda, why did California's Girl Scout CEOs come together and issue this report at this particular moment in time?

- Yes.

Well, thanks, Scott, for having us.

And yes, we haven't done a report on the State of the Girl for probably a decade.

And we all certainly know that post-COVID, things really shifted and certainly during COVID.

And so we worked with Mount Saint Mary's Center for the Advancement of Women, and they actually conducted the study for us.

But there are eight Girl Scout councils in California, and we care very deeply about what is impacting girls, how our program might need to change to meet the needs of girls.

And the best way to know what to do is to go out and find that research where people have actually talked to girls and better understand what they're dealing with today.

- And speaking of what they're dealing with today.

Amelia, thank you so much for coming on the show.

And I'm curious, this report is really about an era that you're personally living through right now.

When you heard about this report.

What is it that you hope- you were hoping that it would cover and tell the rest of us about what you and other girls in California are dealing with?

- A lot of today girls are dealing with a lot more mental health issues.

Mental health issues have increased amongst teens in the past decade, I would say.

So we're all dealing with insecurities, depression, anxiety - anxieties from climate change, anxieties from going to school, anxieties from post-COVID stuff where some of us are still dealing with the repercussions of COVID and the lack of socialization that it gave us.

And I was hoping from the report that the... the adults and people that can support girls would see where we need help and how to help us.

It also gives us-- gives adults better understandings of why... why we feel these ways or what's going on to cause these... these feelings.

- Well, it was very interesting to me when reading the report, and it was talking about how there's so much pressure to perform, it seems like.

Pressure from school, pressure in just keeping up, pressure from some... some girls taking care of their families.

When you think about your... your friends and your friends in scouting as well - when you guys are having conversations amongst yourself, what... what things tend to like come up a lot that the report talked about and that we really all just need to know about?

- Well, a lot of things that me and my Girl Scout peers have talked about is we feel like as if we are not doing enough for scouts.

We feel like there's like this pressure to do all these awards, but we don't have the support to do it.

We don't know who to ask for help.

We don't know where to go.

But I've noticed recently that there's a lot more like, hey, reaching out to girls and a lot more like talking one on one with girls and a lot more support with like getting awards and performing better, um, in Girl Scouts.

And they don't have this pressure to like, “Oh, I have to do this, this, and this.” I'm like, “Oh, I can do this, and I've the option to do this, but I don't have to.” - Linda, you know, when you... when you think about not just the girls of California, but you think about the role that scouting, that Girl Scouts has played for so very long, for so many decades.

Today, what is it that you and your colleagues know that the rest of us don't that you think needs to be highlight-- highlighted in addition to what Amelia has shared with us so far?

- Yeah.

I think what we have found, because we have been around for over 100 years, is that-- it's that out of school time that is so critical and important for girls.

And I think what girls are doing when the school day ends and that formal curriculum ends, is so absolutely critical.

And so our partnerships with schools, our partnerships with volunteers is so important because we want to give girls these other opportunities that are not the pressure of taking a test or reading or reading a book and getting that done and all that.

So it's really about more life skills.

It's about getting outside, getting in the outdoors, which is huge for us.

And I know Amelia has been at our camp a number of times.

Um, but just... it's very interesting seeing girls in the outdoors and what they leave behind those phones primarily.

- Well, you know, it's interesting you talk about the outdoors because when you think about Girl Scouts, you do think about all of those activities.

And from looking at your vest, you have been involved in a whole bunch of them.

Those activities are kind of counter to where our culture is right now, in that everything's electronic, everything's on our phones and all that sort of thing.

When you get out and you get outdoors, what is it that that means to you?

Amelia?

- It feels like a big disconnection cause on the media, you see all of this like, you have to look this way.

You have to eat this way, you have to talk this way.

But when you finally get outside and you get off that phone, you feel like, “Oh, I can just... I can just breathe.” You feel like you can breathe and you can relax and you can take time for yourself.

And that's-- that's like the best thing to do.

Take time for yourself and take time for others and invite your friends to go outside.

It's very nice.

- Well, that's something that people from a different generation would have just taken for granted that that was part of living.

But, you know, one of the things that the report talks about is how the prevalence of technology and the creeping influence of AI in providing, you know, almost like counseling for girls, online companionship advice, all that sort of thing.

When... when you see those things and they're collected, you know, in terms of a study or things like that, you know, we as caregivers, as parents, as... as... as friends, as loved ones, where is it-- where's the point where we should be stepping in?

Where is that-- what's the message to us?

- Well, that was one of the things that we wanted to put forth in the report were... were really some calls to action for key adult groups, because one of the things we learned from the report is that girls are speaking, we're hearing their voice, and they want adults to listen.

Am I right, Amelia?

They want adults us to listen.

And so in the report, we do have five key constituents, if you will, saying to caregivers, here's what you can do, saying to educators, here is what you can do and saying to funders, because less than 2% of funding is actually goes towards girls and what girls are doing.

So to increase funding to support more girl projects and girl activities and girl organizations.

And you know, really it's listening, it's supporting girls disconnecting and getting outside.

So as a as a council and the councils throughout the state, we... we provide many opportunities to get outdoors.

In April we had an outdoor adventure camp out.

Where you at that Amelia?

- Yes, I was.

- Yeah.

So we had this outdoor-- adventure camp out at Lake Comanche, and we literally took over the campgrounds.

- Wow.

- We had 800 girls and adults plus, so more... more like a thousand people there.

And when I got there, I actually worked in the horse arena for a little while, and then I drove around because it's huge.

And I saw girls learning to fly fish.

I saw them out on paddleboards.

I saw them in the lake swimming.

I saw them using solar ovens to make smores, so they didn't need a campfire, Scott.

I saw all of this happening and what I didn't see were girls like this looking at their phone, and it was just so heartwarming and so hopeful that girls can leave their phones behind.

It's not that hard.

Leave it behind and get outdoors and experience so many different things.

And what I love about that event is you never know what's going to spark interest in a girl.

So a girl may walk away from that weekend going, “Oh my gosh, I want to really learn how to fly fish.

And I want to do that with my brother or my uncle or my father, or I want to do more paddleboarding.

I never knew what that was like.” And so we're encouraging-- we're hoping to spark interest and encourage them to then do more in the out of doors, because literally the phones go away then.

And it really is kind of a scary thing with AI.

What girls-- some girls are using it for, like you mentioned, you know, it's kind of that simulating companionship, getting advice and without the guidance of an adult.

- So thats where the adults really come in.

- Sure.

- Especially caregivers, really guiding girls to understand and discern when they're online.

I know when I'm online and I'm on Instagram or whatever, I'm like, "I don't think that's a real person."

You know, and it takes a little bit for me to go.

That's not a real person.

So I can't imagine what it might be like for somebody much younger to have that discernment.

You know, we work a lot, again, with schools in the after school programs.

And the state of California is pretty incredible for the money that they commit to after school programs and extended learning.

And we work, we partnership with school districts to have Girl Scout clubs in school so that girls who maybe don't have a mom or an anti or a grandma who can lead a troop, they get that Girl Scout experience right there at their school during their after school time.

And the state of California supports that.

And we're so grateful for the dollars that are in the budget to do that kind of work, because it's helping girls move beyond their phones and get out of their classrooms and do other things.

- That- that's wonderful to hear I am curious, in talking about getting out of the classroom and all that.

You've obviously been involved with Scouts for a long-- Girl Scouts for a long time.

How many years have you been?

- Um, I'm going on my 13th year.

- 13th year.

So you started out as... - A kindergartner, which is a daisy.

- A daisy.

I was going to get that wrong and say brownie, but okay, a daisy.

Now, a lot of times girls get involved, okay?

And some of them, you know, kind of like they're involved for a couple of years and then they meander off.

What captivated you about Girl Scouts that has kept you involved all these years?

- When I was in middle school, I was going to be one of those girls who faded out because middle school was my COVID years and I felt like a Girl Scouts was like, not Girl Scouting anymore.

But what really kept me going was the adults in my life and seeing other girls achieve many cool, incredible things.

Um... and I got-- I was very, very excited to start working on my Rose Award and my and I'm currently working on my Gold Award.

And I was just like, I must-- - What's the-- tell me what the Gold Award is?

- It's the highest achievable award that girl can get.

- Really?

- Yes.

- How close are you?

- I'm almost done.

It's going to be done in September.

- And only 5% of girls across the country actually achieve their Gold Award.

So it's a big deal.

- Yes.

- It's a big deal.

- You know what... All right.

- Thank you.

- She's done a lot of work to get there, right?

- Yes, a lot of work.

- So I want to be balanced here because the report, which was really interesting to read, talked about, you know, the challenges that girls are facing.

But at the same time, there was good news too.

Tell us a little bit about some of the achievements and the... and the progress that girls have made recently.

- Yeah, well, we know that the graduation rate has gone up, which is incredible.

Usually that's a marker of much concern.

And we know that the teen pregnancy rate has gone down.

So that's a great marker.

So there... there are those things that are happening.

And I think what we want to continue to do is give girls what I say, the Girl Scout advantage and giving girls those skills and the problem solving opportunities and the decision making opportunities, again, outside of a traditional curriculum, so that they have the desire and the motivation to go on to college or into a career.

STEMs been a big thing for us.

And so that's-- that continues.

We see so many girls who are interested in all the aspects of STEM because it's... it's so broad and that helps them deal with... with the challenges of AI and deal with the challenges of social media, because they're... they're really learning how this science is working in technology, etc.. So there's lots of good things happening.

And I think we, you know, I feel so blessed that I get to see it in the work that I do in meeting and getting to know girls like Amelia.

We have almost 10,000 girls in our council alone.

- Really.

- So there are about 100 and more than 125,000 girls in California who are Girl Scouts.

And we represent-- we're in every single zip code, every single county in California.

So it's hard to kind of get to know - all those 10,000 girls.

- Right.

- And it's so amazing, those that I meet.

I just I kind of let out a sigh of relief like, oh, our world is in good hands because these girls are really moving things forward.

And, you know, Amelia's Gold Award and the work that she's done, it's really incredible.

They need to do a sustainable project.

It's not a one and done.

She needs to make sure that this project is sustained long after she's in college or in her career.

So it's really quite incredible.

- When-- if there was a girl and her caregivers, her parents, her loved ones who were watching us right now and they were a little bit on the fence about, um, the role that being in Girl Scouts could play for her.

What would you what would you share with them?

- Well, I feel like Girl Scouts has handed me so many opportunities like I'm on TV today.

I have the opportunity to receive scholarships because I'm a Girl Scout and I've achieved awards.

But other than that, I feel like I've learned how to like public speak.

I've learned how to form relationships and bonds throughout my Girl Scout career.

Some of my best friends are in Girl Scouts, and I feel like I've learned so much about different people and different cultures because of Girl Scouts, and I feel like it's such a big learning opportunity that can lead into such bigger things.

- I wanted to talk to you a little bit about one of the things in the report that was talked about was cyberbullying, and the pressure that girls have in order to, you know, be accepted.

So there was one, um, one story in there that I read talking about how getting a ping back, you know, that somebody liked a post that somebody made is such a big deal.

Give us a sense of, you know, the pressure that is going on and how this cyber bullying affects, you know, friends of yours or people, girls that you see out in the community.

- Well, cyber bullying is very prevalent.

I myself, I get excited when I get a like on one of my posts, but with cyber bullying and like commenting on someone else's post like “Oh, you look fat,” like... - Oh my gosh.

- Is insane.

It's a-- it's an-- and it does affect people because like there's someone sitting behind a screen just.. give-- absolutely hating on you and you feel like you weren't good enough.

And it's and it's very bad.

- Cyber bullying.

It just brings like all this like fear and pressure because everyone's on social media.

Like, I... I probably follow half of my school on social media and everyone seeing my stuff.

So it's like you have to appear in this way as a way you would want to appear in front of... in front of a crowd.

And if someone says that you... you aren't pretty enough or you aren't-- you don't-- that's a weird post.

Then it's like, oh, okay, then what's the point in posting why... I don't feel like I'm good enough because I didn't do good enough on this post.

- Oh, my... wow.

- Yeah.

- You know... one of the-- in reading the report and reading about what Amelia is talking about, what struck me about it is how often as caregivers, parents, loved ones, friends, whatever, whatever it is that we might observe, you know, someone like Amelia on their phone, sitting somewhere and not even thinking to comment or ask.

And so in surfacing-- in the reports, surfacing things like that, it kind of makes you pause for a second... - Yeah.

- Because you're like, I wonder if I missed something.

- Right.

Because you don't... you don't really know and you may not be expressing it.

You may not be expressing it, Amelia, what's actually happening.

But 1 in 3 girls is cyberbullied.

And it's more than boys.

Boys tend to be physically bullied, but more girls are bullied.

And 1 in 3, that's a lot.

- I mean, that is a lot.

- That's a lot.

And it's you don't really know because it's such a silent you're in your own world, you're on your phone and you're kind of disconnected and disengaged from everybody around you, unless you're maybe sitting with your girlfriends sharing things.

But I just can't imagine, even as an adult, seeing people who-- where comments are bad and... and adults will post those comments and talk about them.

And I think, “Wow, as an adult, that's hard to take.” I can't imagine and being, you know, 13, 14 or 10 or 11 and receiving those comments.

- Well... well, I think that that's the part that really sort of stands out because if you get a... a negative post or negative reaction to something, even we adults, you know, take that very, very seriously.

And so with a young person so much, so much more so.

Amelia, the other thing that I wanted to ask you is this is that it seems to me that Girl Scouts, along with the activities, being outdoors and all that, but if you if you kind of go a little bit deeper, it's about like finding a community, about being part of a community.

Tell me, tell us a little bit about the relationships and friendships that you've made over all the years you've been involved.

- Well, um... to start, my best friend and I have always been in Girl Scouts together.

She is a Girl Scout down in the Bay area, and I'm a Girl Scout here.

So we get to share different experiences and different like camping stories.

Um... So and we've been friends since kindergarten as well.

So, um... And I've met girls across the country, I've met Girl Guides in Canada, and I talk to them regularly, and it's nice to catch up with them and share stories or just like, you know, talk as friends, talk about our stories.

And honestly, Girl Scouts gives you lifelong friends and it gives you a community of people you can always turn to.

And I would say I really like that about Girl Scouts.

- When you think about that building of community, what is it that in terms of the experience for you and your colleagues who build and administer these programs?

What is it that you're hoping that the girls involved gain in the experience of scouting and leave when they finally, you know, graduate out right and start to move into adulthood, what they take with them?

- Oh, gosh, there's a lot.

And I think that sisterhood is big.

I have to tell you, I was a Girl Scout growing up, and I still am in touch with one of my brownies.

- We were brownies together.

- Really?

- Yes, yes.

And I have a picture in my office of my troop, and we're planting poppies out at Folsom Lake, and my mom's there in her 1960-something uniform.

And so I'm still in touch with her.

And we have volunteers who are now grandmothers.

So they were volunteers when their daughters were young.

They don't want to leave.

So now they're volunteers and their granddaughters are Girl Scouts.

So that's sisterhood is very, very strong.

And I think there's a sense of belonging.

We want every girl to feel like she belongs, no matter where she's coming from, no matter how she was raised, none of that, it all kind of disappears.

And I know it disappeared in my troop when we were out camping.

It didn't matter because we just had to build the fire together somehow and, you know, keep that tent up and all of that.

And so there is that sense of belong-- belonging we would love every girl to live-- to leave with.

Now there is research that shows that girls who stay in Girl Scouting at least three years or more apt to be involved in their communities when they're older.

Will go on to college.

There's just certain things that they're more apt to do because they were a part of this program.

They're probably going to take on leadership roles, that type of thing.

So there's a lot and I think girls just having that experience and again, I call it the Girl Scout advantage.

I want them to leave our program with an advantage in life, whether it's to help you in school or to help you when you're out on your own and, you know, be prepared.

It's still a motto.

My sister was also a Girl Scout and we are like, so prepared.

We are just the most prepared.

Two women, right?

We are Girl Scouts and we live that motto.

And so there's going to be things that girls keep and take throughout their lives, depending on their experience.

- And one of those things that I assume that you're-- you are preparing Girl Scouts for is that, you know, life can be challenging sometimes and that, you know, it's even raised in the report, the whole issue of burnout because, you know, achieving, achieving, achieving.

And, you know, I look at your vest and I am very impressed.

You look like a general in the military because you got so many awards on it.

How is it that you balance, um... you know, obviously you're very committed to what you're doing and you've got plans for yourself and all that.

How, uh, what skills are you learning so that that way you keep a balance between, you know, getting more medals and... and achieving all these wonderful goals, but also replenishing yourself and... and taking good care of yourself.

- I honestly... I do it because I find it fun.

I don't do it because I want-- I have to do it.

I do it because I'm like, “Oh, that sounds so interesting.

I have to do that.” And I find the fun in it.

And I don't do like the strict-- I don't do like strict-- a step by step by step.

I do it by, “Oh, let's do this step and then let's do step number five, because that sounds fun.

It connects to what we just learned.” Um... And then if I'm tired and I'm burnt out from Girl Scouts, I take a break and I focus on my other things I'm doing in my life.

But then I get right back to it because I find it fun.

And it is fun.

- That's... - And... and Scott- One of the important things that Amelia just mentioned is that she says, “You know, I'll do step one and then I'll skip to step five.” We really want the Girl Scout programing to be girl-led.

So it's not the troop leader saying, hopefully, “Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to do it this way and fall in line.” Especially at Amelia's age, that it's really the girls deciding what they want to do.

Here's the framework here.

All these different things that we're providing for them to do, and we really want the troop leader to almost step back, ensure that everything's safe.

But for the girls to decide, “We don't want to do that.

We want to do this over here.” Okay.

That's great.

So that's really important.

- Well, what a... a wonderful way to end this particular conversation with giving girls the agency that they deserve in order to make their own choices and chart their own courses.

Amelia, we... we look forward to seeing more great things come from you.

Good luck on your gold.

What's it called?

- The Gold Award.

- Your Gold Award.

Look forward to hearing about that real soon.

- Thank you.

- And Linda, for you and your colleagues, thank you for... for doing this wonderful report and look forward to hearing more.

- Thank you Scott.

Thank you.

- All right.

And that's our show.

Thanks to our guests and thanks to you for watching Studio Sacramento.

I'm Scott Syphax.

See you next time right here on KVIE.