How Golden was this really?

 "Ratchford’s project, “On the Right Track: Preparing for College in High School,” prepared other youth for their journey to college through a three-hour workshop.

She based her workshop on her experience getting ready for college as a senior at The Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills, she said.

“I found I was very knowledgeable on the topic of college preparation, and I received compliments on my presentation,” said Ratchford, member of Troop 43950. “I was able to overcome my shyness and transform into a strong public speaker.”

Participants in the workshop were able to ask Ratchford and her college counselor questions, in addition to learning about college and being successful through a multi-media presentation."


Like me, you probably get the GSUSA blog in your inbox Monday thru Friday, without fail!  It's exciting to see what other girls and councils are doing around the country.  And like me, you probably wonder about the quality of the Gold Award Projects they post!  Well, I wonder about today's for sure!  I have to hope that there was more to it than what was presented.

I think this girl identified a need to fill in her community. But did she identify a root cause? And did she create a Gold Award Take Action Project to address that root cause?  Might she have learned that there would have been a benefit to this information being given to younger students?  Or was it only for those who had successfully been accepted to a college? Was she able to post a link to her presentation online with the school?  district?  other schools for use?  How would she have create traffic to her site, if it were posted?

Did she gather a team of non-troop girls/boys to educate about the issue, and then help her create the multi-media program?  Was it truly only presented once?  Why not to the entire school district? county? state? Why not multiple times for different audiences?

How did she plan to ensure sustainability?  Was there an entity at the school to take it over?  NSF? ASB?  PTSA?  Is the presentation one that could have gone further?

As I've said before, I can't tell from what was posted on the GSUSA blog, but I have to hope that this Gold Award Take Action Project really was robust, and that it moves forward to help others.