I know Arlington has some kind of special fire fighter classes just for girls (sorry no more information, I have boys so I didn't really pay attention). Maybe contact your local EMS and see if they know of anything?

Anonymous wrote:Look at the Student Conservation Corps -- student jobs witht he park service in national parks. Great experience to get an idea if the ranger life is for her, and great on college apps if she decides to pursue it.

PP here. It's actually the Student Conservation Association:
https://www.thesca.org

I know kids who've done it and found it fantastic.

Look at the Student Conservation Corps -- student jobs witht he park service in national parks. Great experience to get an idea if the ranger life is for her, and great on college apps if she decides to pursue it.

Arlington Magazine just profiled this young woman:

Natural Inclination
Julianne Meany isn’t exactly a homebody. You’re more likely to find her out paddling a sea kayak, scaling a ropes course, hauling a backpack over mountain trails or rock climbing. These and other outings recently led the 16-year-old to earn the prestigious Ranger Award, a coed honor issued by the Boy Scouts that’s akin to—and, some say, tougher to earn than—Eagle Scout. A student at H-B Woodlawn and resident of Country Club Hills, Meany is a member of the coed troop Venturing Crew 2473. She is believed to be the first person in Arlington to earn the medal.

“She’s extremely resourceful, and has carried an emergency kit everywhere she goes since third grade,” says her mom, Heidi Daniel. “We beg her to leave it behind when she’s wearing a dress.”
What’s next on the teen’s to-do list? Her latest goals include hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (made famous by Cheryl Strayed in the book Wild) and backpacking through New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

http://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/May-June-2015/Neighborhood-Watch/

OP here: I'm blown away by the helpful information on this thread. I have so many leads, now! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll have to set aside a few hours to follow up on all this, so I'll be back periodically in case anyone adds anything else, about something she could do now, or in the future, or colleges/majors.

For something for my DD to do right now, I did look at the First Responder and the minimum age is 16 (my DD is 10.5 so I've got a bit of a wait). I'll look to see if any of the other suggestions involve a younger age group.

Anonymous wrote:I've got a kid like this. She wants an appointment to West Point to become an Army officer and wants to study engineering. She sees Army Ranger in her future. The first time she saw women jump out of helicopters on the sport jump team at WP she said that was what she wanted to do - she was 6.

Good thing she is still young! The Pentagon has ordered all ground combat positions to be opened to women by 2016, although service branches can ask SecDef for a waiver. Army Ranger training has only recently been opened to women and within the last week or so, 8 women past the first week of Army Ranger training. I hope by the time your 6 yo. is old enough for Army Ranger training, she is no longer a trailblazer.

Anonymous wrote:Was thinking about this thread today watching the footage of the Fairfax search and rescue teams preparing to go to Nepal to help after the earthquake. I assume that's similar to the DMAT teams a Pp mentioned.

Yes, Fairfax is part of the system. They have one of the best teams and are sent overseas often. MoCo has one as well. I don't think they go as often though. OP's daughter may also want to check out career opportunities with USAID. They have an Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and often stand up Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) to coordinate the USG response to "disaster" which may be natural disaster or man-made (conflict, illness, famine, industrial accident, etc.)

I've got a kid like this. She wants an appointment to West Point to become an Army officer and wants to study engineering. She sees Army Ranger in her future. The first time she saw women jump out of helicopters on the sport jump team at WP she said that was what she wanted to do - she was 6.