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Women’s History Month Spotlight: Honoring Dr. Sandra DeLoatch
This Women’s History Month, we’re honoring trailblazers from the Girl Scout ranks who helped to leave their legacy on our mission of making the world a better place. Let’s recognize the late Dr. Sandra DeLoatch, a lifelong Girl Scout who went on to pave the way for many other girls in STEM. Dr. DeLoach was a woman who truly embodied the values rooted in the Girl Scout Law.
Dr. DeLoatch started her journey as a girl living in Suffolk, Virginia, and lived each day as a sister to every Girl Scout. As an adult, she became an active volunteer with Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast (GSCCC) in 2002. During her faculty tenure at Norfolk State University (NSU), Dr. DeLoatch became the first woman Provost and Dean of Engineering and Computer Sciences at NSU. While she served as the Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at NSU, she gave hundreds of volunteer hours to help GSCCC develop a technology plan that would bring us into the 21st century. In 2009, she accepted a position on the council’s board of directors that led her to become the board’s chair from 2009 to 2011. During her time on the board, she helped introduce STEM opportunities for girls, and through several popular programs, like Science Alive, girls explored STEM topics such as robotics and engineering.
Thanks to Dr. DeLoatch, many Girl Scouts were acquainted with the tools they needed to look forward to a future in STEM with courage, even in a world where less than 1 in 3 jobs in STEM are currently held by women.
In 2011, upon her departure from the board of directors, GSCCC created a special STEM patch program in her honor—Explore STEM Honoring Dr. Sandra DeLoatch. In 2012 during the Girl Scout 100th anniversary year, Dr. DeLoatch was invited to share her Girl Scout story on National Public Radio where she spoke about the importance of exposing girls to more STEM opportunities and her Girl Scout history—being a Girl Scout during an era of segregation and how Girl Scouts combatted that with a mission of inclusivity and diversity.
Dr. DeLoatch passed away in 2018; Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast is ever so grateful to have been written in the pages of Sandra’s story and she so much into ours. This Women’s History Month, we are proud to reflect on Sandra’s time with us and how she used the skills she gained in Girl Scouts as a foundation when she held out her hand for others to follow.
