"Things don't turn up in this world unless somebody turns them up."

James A. Garfield, 20th U.S. President

I liked this quote for today.  And of course it fits in with our Gold and Silver Award girls Take Action Projects...

Both Awards are focused on the girl identifying an issue and looking for the root cause.  And maybe, in the process of looking, the girls turn up something unexpected.  And maybe, it's a key need that is not being addressed in the community.  Perhaps, she's interested in helping the homeless, beyond a collection project.  And perhaps, in diving deep into the issue, she finds that there is less than adequate local help to meet the need in her area. 

The girl is taking the initiative and identifying the need. She then has the opportunity to create partnerships with existing agencies, start a new tutoring program for kids without homes, create and run an after school program throughout a school year or whatever project her investigation leads her to.  As we all know, there's not just one answer to a problem.  Our girls have the tools and character to Take Action to make change.

In their years of Scouting, they have learned to Discover and Connect. The Gold and Silver Award Projects are just bigger ways to Take Action.  Again, it's not about starting with the project, it's about identifying the issues and root causes to make a difference in the world. Their world.

And what's our role as parents, advisors, leaders, friends?  To support them in their efforts!  Not do it for them, but give them guidance, coach and support.  There may be tears and frustration, but the girl will learn, sometimes it takes to get to joyful success.  We're here to help, not do.

And we're here to make sure they celebrate their success.  Big time.

Parents' Time and Support

I had coffee with a friend a while ago, and she told me about a Linked-in web discussion she participated in about the Gold Award Project.  She said that quite a few of the women were saying that they (the Moms) didn't have enough time to get the Gold Award Project done.

Wow, I was pretty surprised!  "The Moms didn't want to take the time?"  I would have thought that by the time the girl was in Seniors/Ambassadors, the Moms would have already seen the value of the program. They would know how influential the Gold Award is on college applications and future job applications, and what a GREAT accomplishment it would be for their girl to achieve.  They would make the time.... 


Then I thought, do they know it?  Have we (council, trainers, SUM, staff, troop leaders, etc.) told them?  Have we instilled in the girl AND the parent that a Gold Award Project is a worthy thing to take on?  That the benefit to the girl and her community is IMMENSE?  I think that we need to keep telling our parents and the community at large, so that when the time comes for their girls to start the project, the Moms are on board!


Truly, if a girl wanted to do a Gold Award Project without parent support, it would be tough.  We advisors count on the parents being there to support the girl, drive her around, help with funding, cheerlead, etc.  It would take a very determined and self-motivated girl to get it done without her parents' support.  


I think it's also a matter of choices of how to spend the time.  And goodness knows, there's plenty of things to pull a girls in a million different directions.  Her parents too!  The Gold Award Project does take up a chunk of time, and it is difficult, and it takes effort to make the time to do it.  That doesn't mean lowering of the bar to create easier projects, but it does mean making the Gold a priority.  And if the parent doesn't want to, chances are the girl won't either, and that's very sad. 

Make a plan and work it

“As a longtime volunteer at soup kitchens and food banks, Melissa wanted to design a cookbook to address the needs of pantry patrons: to cook simple recipes using ingredients available at the food bank. Her cookbook features 332 recipes submitted and tested by community members who contributed over 350 volunteer hours. Melissa volunteered close to 100 hours and has donated the cookbook to the pantry.”

Many of you have asked what a great Gold Award Project could look like, and this is one!  And here’s how I’m guessing she went about putting it all together using the Toolkit:

1. Choose an Issue:  Melissa saw a need at the local food pantry where she volunteered.  Patrons didn’t know how to use all the donated ingredients to make healthy meals.

2. Investigate:  I’ll bet she interviewed the Director of the pantry as well as some board members and volunteers to see what the need was.  She used her community mapping tools to see that feeding the hungry crosses many lines in her community.  I hope she also did some research to find out if another pantry already had a cookbook, or if they could use one.

3.  Get help:  Melissa used her leadership to gather a team to work on this project.  She got the greater community involved by asking for their recipe input.  I’m hoping she developed (with the help of pantry staff) some parameters for what the recipes should include.  I also hope she located a dietician or nutritionist to help her pick out healthy choices for the clients.

4.  Create a Plan:  She put together the plan, worked collaboratively with the pantry as well as the other volunteers. And she led the charge to collect and test all the recipe.s

5.  Melissa submitted her proposal and was given the green light to start.

6.  Take action:  She did!  She worked her plan, used resources wisely, spoke out to others about the pantry and its needs, and garnered community support. 

7.  Educate and inspire:  Melissa helped to educate the public as well as the community she was serving at the pantry. She engaged others to help, and she completed her project by giving the pantry the final product:  a cookbook that could be used for years to come, not only at that one pantry, but potentially at many.  Great sustainability! 

This article was posted on the GSUSA blog in June

Fear of Failure

“What would you attempt to do

if you knew you could not fail?”

-   Robert H. Schuller

No, I am not a follower of the Reverend Schuller, and let me just say, this post is not about him or his beliefs!  That said, I did like this quote!

Sitting in on the Gold Award Trainings, and interviewing the girls in the approval process has sometimes made me wonder:  why are so many going for an easy way out?  The leaders want to know how soon the girls can start counting their hours, and there’s a fear that the project won’t have enough hours of work.  And on the girl part, we see on their paperwork that they have inflated how long tasks might take, just to “make the hours” and make the project seem more worthy.

Is it the fear of failure?  The fear of reaching too high and risking not achieving the goal? Is this why we see so many milquetoast proposals that are, well, barely good enough?

Indeed, this speaks to what Karin and Lesley emphasize in the training, that the new Gold Award is RAISING THE BAR!  We want the advisors to encourage the girls to reach high. And we want the girls to stretch and reach for a goal that is difficult, yet achievable..  The Gold Award should be the toughest project she’s ever taken on for Girl Scouts!  It should take time and effort

What would the girl do if she knew she could not fail?  How would she proceed differently?  Would she think bigger?  Would she do more investigation?  Would she look further outside her comfort zone for a project?  And would she leave the comfort of her troop/leader/advisor and reach out to a different source to help her achieve her goals?

Perhaps the challenge to us, the advisors/parents/support team, is to encourage the girl to reach high!  We offer support in talking about how to make the project bigger and better while still having it be girl led, include cooperative learning and have the girl learn by doing!  Don’t accept “good enough!”  Encourage the girl to go for GREAT! 

Do the right thing!

"Management is doing things right;

leadership is doing the right things."

-   Peter F. Drucker

I AM a fan of Peter Drucker! Vivian Clecak, CEO of Human Options, is a graduate of the Drucker School, and she truly inspires the board and her staff to always do the right things.

I think that’s also what we want to encourage our Gold Award girls to do:  the right thing.  Learn what issue they are most passionate about.  Delve into the topic, use their community mapping skills to research, then reach out into the community for an organization which can benefit from their work.  This is using leadership and independent thinking.

Management comes in as they put the whole project together:  when to meet, who to solicit to help, where to stage the activities, what will be needed and finally, how it’s all going to come together. That’s managing and doing things right using the girl-led, cooperative learning skills that we teach and encourage. 

Leadership is about keeping focused on the goal or the issue!  It’s about gathering a team and leading the charge!  Being passionate about the issue and having that be contagious, catching others to help support the girl and her project.

Both management and leadership require skills!  And as advisors, we need to help the girls develop these skills, and support them as they go out to do their “right things.”

Fill the Need - a New Library in Glencoe

 When she saw a gaping need in her community, Leah Bradford took it upon herself to fix it.  Her determination to establish a library in Glencoe not only brought a community asset to the city, but helped Bradford earn her Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting.

Her project began when she decided the city needed a library.

Bradford said people of Glencoe were supportive of her efforts to get project off the ground. There were some setbacks, but those proved to only make Bradford work harder toward her goal.

“My personality is very persistent,” Bradford said. “I guess I don’t take no for an answer.”

Bradford worked to raise money for the library at Glencoe’s Celebration in the Park and used the funds to buy some shelves. She said a local store also donated funds for shelves, which she said she and her father built.

The library also has about 3,000 books, all donated by people in the area. Bradford said more donated books are in storage; the library doesn’t yet have room for them. Bradford said all the adults involved in the project helped, but let her do the work, including her project manager, Amanda Jackson, and Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama Gadsden Program Manager Beth Gable, whom Bradford said was there for her with emotional support.

 

“You have such a support system behind you when you try to do something like this,” Bradford said of the Girl Scouts.

Bradford said she put over 200 hours — more than double the required 80 hours for the Gold Award — of her time into creating the library.

(Excerpted from the GSUSA blog )

The article didn't say specifically, but I hope that Leah had a great team to lead!  That she used a club from school, or her soccer team, or a neighborhood association of kids to educate about the need.  I also hope that she went beyond collecting books, and also helped with reading hours, literacy programs and other reading needs that exist in her community.   These additional pieces would truly have made this an outstanding Gold Award Project!

Root Issues - Make the connection

“People only see what they

are prepared to see.”

–   Ralph Waldo Emerson

(A shout-out to my friend, Rick Ruiz, who sends me a quote a day, like the one above.  They truly have been inspirational as I write the Gold Award Blog!)

We’re asking our girls to really get outside their comfort zone as they pursue the Gold Award.  I’ve heard from several, that it’s hard to get beyond the service project mentality of collecting things, since it’s something they’ve been doing since Daisies!  The girls are usually comfortable making the asks, creating collection boxes, picking up donations, visiting the non-profit and putting on a party.  A great service project! 

But where they are often less comfortable, is striking out in a new direction to make the project so much more!  And we, as advisors, really need to help give them the opportunity to see what is not familiar.  To potentially look at something mundane and open their minds to other possibilities.

I think that’s what Emerson was talking about:  how to look at something new, something uncomfortable, and not just compartmentalize it in a familiar way.  Rather, be surprised!  See the new idea or need, and take the next, perhaps unfamiliar and difficult, next steps to investigate it. 

This could be something as routine as seeing a homeless person panhandling on the street corner.  We’re prepared to see that.  But what aren’t we prepared to see?  The quality of his/her clothes?  The child sleeping in the back pack next to him?  The 3-legged dog?  The youngish non-graying hair with the heavily lined and browned face?  The multi generational family all panhandling together?

What other root issues could be addressed here?  Go beyond joblessness to the myriad of root causes at play here.  Help the girl see what she is not prepared to see.

Great Gold Award Project

“For their Girl Scout Gold Award project, Hilgenberg and Pavlik undertook the restoration of the Olympia Brown Nature Trail located on the school's grounds.  Hilgenberg began her work by identifying all the plants and animals, coordinating the planting of flowers and bulbs along the trail, and creating a series of animal habitats including bird houses, brush piles, and bat houses.

Pavlik was responsible for working with school officials to ensure the project met the needs of the students, school and the community. She designed and built plant, tree, and animal identification markers for the trail. In addition, she worked with the school's science club advisor to develop a self guided habitat and wildlife worksheet for the school's students. Pavlik coordinated and hosted the ribbon cutting ceremony for school officials when the project was completed.”  Excerpted from the Wisconsin Journal Times June 2011

Wow!  Great project, and I bet they spent waaaay more than 80 hours apiece on this.  It would have been interesting to hear more:

What root issue did they pick to address? 

How did they know there was a need to fill?

Was their project advisor from the Nature Trail staff?  Private?  State?

How much money did they need to raise? 

How did they raise it?

Who was the team?  And how did the girls educate and lead them?

Sure seems like it was a sustainable project, but who/what entity will provide the maintenance on the trails, replace broken signs, make the self guided worksheet available for the students, etc.?

In the old Gold requirements, two girls could team up and do a project together – as long as they each had separate responsibilities and each had the hours individually for the project.  In the new Journey requirements, all projects will be one girl: one project. 

Could this project have been a solo girl Gold Award Take Action Project?  I think so.  It may have looked a little different, but our Gold Girls can accomplish any task they set their minds to!!!!