This past weekend, I had the joy of teaching another series of comic storytelling workshops with the Girl Scouts as they worked toward earning their badges. I led sessions for both the Brownies and Juniors, as well as the Cadettes, and each group reminded me exactly why Shero Comics exists.
With the younger Girl Scouts, we traveled back in time to explore what girls their age were doing in ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece, and the Maya. From there, they created their own characters and brought them to life through four-panel comic stories. They also had the opportunity to write dialogue and story ideas onto comic pages I had prepared, including pages from my own books. Watching them step forward to share their stories with the group was incredibly rewarding. Many pushed past their nerves, stood at the front of the room, and read their stories aloud — and later proudly earned their badges.
One moment in particular made me gasp. As part of my presentation, I teach one of the most important fundamentals of storytelling: every story has a Beginning, a Middle, and an End — the B-M-E. When you’re teaching a workshop like this, things move quickly, so to see one Girl Scout carefully outline her entire story with a clear Beginning, Middle, and End took me by surprise. She didn’t just hear the lesson — she understood it. She came up and read her page with me, and it was a powerful reminder that these lessons are landing in ways that can shape how they see themselves.
With the Cadettes, we explored the full process of creating a comic book page, and I introduced them to the Shero Squad — the team behind our comics. After showing examples from my own work, they created their own original comic concepts using their imaginations and personal experiences. Watching them step into the role of creator was inspiring.
Experiences like this also make me reflect on my own path. Sometimes I wonder what my teachers from high school would think if they could see me now. They spent years grooming me to become a school teacher. I didn’t follow the traditional path, but in many ways, I became exactly that — just in a different kind of classroom.
Workshops like these are at the heart of Shero Comics. They’re not just about comics. They’re about helping young people find their voice, trust their ideas, and realize they have the power to create their own heroes.
