Thursday, October 1, 2026
Ask a girl in Elmont, Freeport or Hempstead what she did last weekend, and chances are her answer would sound a lot like that of girls across Long Island. She spent time scrolling on her phone. Maybe on social media. Maybe texting friends. Maybe watching a show.
What she likely wasn’t doing was exploring the outdoors, or simply lying in the grass and watching the sky. June is National Great Outdoors Month, and as CEO of Girl Scouts of Nassau County, I want to say something plainly: Girls need to spend more time outside, unplugged and reconnecting with the world around them.
The good news is we already have the solution, one that has been working for more than a century. According to the Outdoor Foundation, participation in outdoor recreation among girls ages 13 to 17 has fallen to roughly 50 percent. Research published in the Journal of American College Health confirms that screen time is a significant predictor of higher anxiety, depression and stress in young people, while time spent outdoors predicts lower rates of stress and depression. Nature is good for girls, and the absence of it is doing harm.
What makes this urgent is that girls are disproportionately affected. Studies show that girls spend less time outdoors than boys, and that the drop-off accelerates sharply in early adolescence — the years when confidence, identity and resilience are being forged. At a time when we’re already grappling with a youth mental health crisis, this is a trend we can’t afford to ignore.
Outdoor experiences don’t just reduce anxiety. They actively build the skills girls need to lead. The Girl Scout Research Institute has found that girls who regularly spend time outdoors are better problem solvers, more likely to seek out challenges and stronger environmental stewards. They develop leadership skills, forge deeper friendships and report greater happiness overall.
For girls from lower-income communities, access to the outdoors is even more transformative. Research shows that they are significantly more likely to credit outdoor experiences with helping them become leaders.
Nassau County Communities are home to thousands of girls who deserve every opportunity to experience the outdoors. Many of them face real barriers, including fewer green spaces, limited transportation and tighter family budgets. The idea of sending a daughter to sleep-away camp in the Hamptons can feel like a luxury that belongs to someone else’s life.
Every girl, regardless of Zip code, family income or whether she has ever seen a tent stake, deserves the chance to discover what she’s made of when the Wi-Fi is gone and there are stars overhead.
Across acres of woods, trails and private beachfront, girls spend summers canoeing, swimming, building fires, sleeping under the stars, and doing something that is increasingly rare in young people’s lives: being fully, completely present.
The girls I see during the school year undergo a transformation at camp. They become — dare I say — wild and free. They are independent, curious and brave. The girl who was nervous about sleeping away from home discovers she can navigate a trail. The girl who thought she was “not outdoorsy” finds herself paddling a canoe across open water and realizing she loves it. These are moments that shape who a girl believes she can be, and that belief follows her home.
Every girl should have the chance to get outside in a meaningful, supported, joyful way. Not just girls whose families can easily absorb the cost of summer camp. Not just girls who already love hiking or have spent weekends on trails. Every girl, including the one in Elmont who has never left Nassau County, the one in Hempstead who thinks camping sounds miserable, the one in Valley Stream who just needs someone to hand her a canoe paddle and say, “You’ve got this.”
Heading into summer, I’m asking Long Island families, school leaders, community organizations and businesses to join us in making the outdoors accessible to every girl in Nassau County. Because the research is clear, the need is urgent and the girls are ready.
The girl who builds a fire, sleeps in a tent and wakes up to birdsong instead of notifications isn’t just having a fun summer adventure. She’s becoming a leader for Long Island, for our communities, for the future. Those leaders start here.
Rande Bynum is CEO of Girl Scouts of Nassau County.
