Tenant Highlight: Girl Scouts of Central Indiana

Girl Scouts is an organization started more than 100 years ago by founder Juliette Gordon Low. The organization started as a way to promote young women to be compassionate, courageous, confident, and so much more! When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana needed a quiet place to continue their mission. This is how they came across The Studebaker Studio.

We sat down with Melanie Maxwell, the Recruitment Manager for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, to hear more about their organization and how they got started with The Studebaker Studio.

What is the mission of Girl Scouts?

Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

How did you get started at The Studebaker?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Girl Scouts of Central Indiana launched a new community-centric service model to provide greater support for members, volunteers, and families. The council relocated all membership field staff to different co-working spaces within their communities, and that’s how I started at the Studebaker Studio. Our local troop leaders love it too! I know one who got a membership because having kids online for classes and two people at home for work, wreaked havoc on their home internet access, so now, they load up and venture to the studio.

What are your responsibilities and what territory do you cover?

As membership manager, I cover Decatur, Ripley, Fayette, Franklin, and Switzerland Counties. We support the troops and our volunteers as well as spread awareness about Girl Scouts in our areas.

What have you enjoyed about having a coworking space?

I love the flexibility and the ease of utilizing the space. We’ve hosted service unit meetings with leaders from throughout Decatur County, troop meetings, programs, and more at the Studebaker. We’ve even had some local Girl Scouts in doing a Zoom yoga class. Plus, the technology is first-rate and easy to plug into and you can’t beat the coffee bar!

Tell us more about your event coming up!

On Saturday, May 8th, Girl Scouts will be doing a “ribbon-cutting” or a housewarming day at the Studebaker Studio. We’ll have a brief ceremony, offer tours, and we’ll also have an Operation: Cookie Drop drive-thru booth for local first responders to come in and pick up donated Girl Scout Cookies! We so appreciate their service. Older girl troops who have been utilizing the studio for a variety of activities will be quite active that day.