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Girl Scouts building new high-tech learning facility

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Girl Scouts of Central Indiana are trying to transition into the 21st century.

The organization is hoping a new multi-million dollar “Leadership and Learning Center” at Camp Dellwood will help.

The organization has been planning the new, updated facility on the west side of Indy for eight years.

They broke ground in September.

Piles of dirt and cleared off land might not look like much, but to two Girl Scout leaders, it’s the future of their organization.

“For me it’s really a dream fulfilled,” Girl Scouts of Central Indiana CEO Deborah Hearn Smith said.

Hearn Smith said this facility is desperately needed.

“Currently what we do is rent and beg and borrow space to do our adult learning,” she said, “We need a place where we can do it all the time.”

“When they see the technology that’s going to be available in this building, they’ll want to log on right away,” Girl Scout Troop Leader Diana Sullivan said.

Years of planning have gone into the new $7 million learning center.

“We will have our retail shop, a place where girls and leaders will come and buy badges and insignia. We will have classrooms,” Hearn Smith said.

It will also feature state of the art technology.

“It’s very much not only to keep us relevant, but to get us ahead of the curve,” Hearn Smith said.

It will offer distance learning for volunteers across the region.

“A leader in Terre Haute will be able to log into this center and be able to get the resources she needs,” she said.

“Whether the girl is from Richmond or Muncie or Bloomington, the leaders will be able to go to the same place and get the answer,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan is excited for the facility’s potential to train their 18,000 adult volunteers.

She said that’s a critical element to making the program interesting for kids in the 21st century.

“We have to make sure that our adults are as literate in those areas as those girls are,” she said.

The building is expected to be completed by fall of next year, depending on weather this winter.