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Student Spotlight: Anne Bauer - From Girl Scouts to USF

By Jamie Boyle

Anne Bauer

ST. PETERSBURG (March 8, 2021) -- Anne Bauer, a double major in finance and personal financial planning, has always been an active member of her community. At USF, Bauer is on the rowing team and running club, participates in USF WLP, and holds leadership positions in the USF Financial Planning Association, Zeta Tau Alpha and Students for Life Club. She credits the Girl Scouts for cultivating her passion for community service from an early age. She is now a lifetime member and continues to volunteer her time, attending events, and participating in community activities organized by the Girl Scouts.

Bauer joined the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida in kindergarten and continued her membership through her senior year of high school. Bauer left her mark on the organization by establishing the Career Cafe for her Gold Award Project (highest level of achievement in the organization).  Career Café is a free job fair event for young women aged 16-23. Organizing the initial event included fundraising over $13,000 in sponsorships from local businesses and working with a local company to brand the event with logos and marketing. Bauer also recruited some of the top local business women to lead workshops on resume building, networking, personal branding, and mock interviews. Launched in 2017, on the USF St. Petersburg campus, Bauer turned the project back over to the Girl Scouts so they could continue to offer the program to young girls in the community every year.

In addition to starting this annual event, Bauer received a scholarship of $50,000 from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018 that contributed to both her college tuition and running the program in the years ahead.

In the past year, due to the pandemic, Girl Scouts has seen a decrease in the number of girls participating. Last year the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida served 3,148 girls, this year they are serving about 532 girls through their Outreach Department. The significant drop means a decline in cookie sales, despite the digital cookie-selling platform available. Bauer reflected on her experience with the Girl Scouts, “People think Girl Scouts is just young girls selling cookies, but if you stay with it, there are so many opportunities I have had that I would have never experienced without it." Bauer said Girl Scouts gave her a chance to serve on the board of directors, travel to the national convention and explore many leadership opportunities.

Being a community leader has helped Bauer in her career development. She has already served as an executive assistant for Boutique Realty Florida, interned for Pilot Bank and worked as a customer service representative for Titan Technologies.