How a GIRL might think about her Gold....

I received an email from a troop Gold Award Advisor, asking me about one of her girls' Gold Award Project.  And I thought I'd share what the girl wrote, and then what I wrote back.  Maybe it can help others advisors about who we Gold Award Interviewers think about the Gold Award Take Action Projects!  (I have edited for space, not content.)

"I want to recognize an issue that is worldwide, cancer. Cancer not only affects the patient, but also affects the loved ones around them. For my Gold Award, I want to create something that would help out the family members and friends of cancer patients. How would I do that, you might ask? To answer that, I'm going to create a Facebook page that will let others and myself give out advice to those loved ones- presumably teenagers, who have friends or family with cancer. This would be through different writings of people (teens) that have experienced the same thing, documentaries, a Q and A section, and a FAQ.  My team that I would lead would be my friends and I who do lots of filming together, and a partnership with Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA). CHLA would help to publicize the site by putting a link on their website. In turn I would help to also publicize different cancer events and information for them through the Facebook page. My hope for this project is to really help teens that do not really know how to deal with a loved one who has cancer. Its a scary feeling helpless in these kinds of situations, and I hope to change that through this page full of advice and life stories. 

My initial thought was, "but she's not connecting to the community she's serving."  i.e. She's not setting up a structure for the kids to getogether on a regular basis and come in and chat with each other, have speakers, get some education, share experiences, etc. 

But then I thought, but this is a new century, and kids don't always connect the way they did, 15 years ago!  They are much more internet savvy, and more likely to connect with kids all over the states about this kind of issue. 

So, her issue is cancer support for teens

Her root cause is cancer disrupts life. Not only of the one with the disease, but loved ones around her/him.

She is connecting to the need by creating a forum for teens to share.  She is also providing education and resources for these same kids.

Sustainability:  CHLA sounds like they will promote the videos on their site, but it would be great if she were able to also reach out to other non-profits and link to them as well.  (Komen, Avon Run, Revlon 10K, etc.) She should be able to come up with more ways to get the word out.

Measurable:  She might need to think how she can measure success?  number of hits? number of posts?  A good question for her.

I think that it would be great to have a piece where she actually presents this to her school?  PTA? city?  hospital?  and has a chance to create a live presentation to hook people into clicking for help and participating online.  That would be a really good leadership piece that she would need, beyond organizing the filming and writing a website with her team. Plus, she will be educating her team, too, as they all share their stories and work together.  The group she's presenting to could link their site to hers.

I think that if she can partner with someone at CHLA (or elsewhere?) to read over her info, and be sure that she is posting accurate info, and that the stories the kids contribute and tell are not full of mis-information, that would be great! 

I also think that she needs a resource for kids to go to for more help:  organizations that have kid programs, or?  That way, if the kid needs more, they can try another worthy resource. It will take some time for the girl and her team, but finding the resource and creating a paragraph about it, with a live link would be a great benefit, I'd bet.

Working Towards the Goal

"By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be."  -Mark Victor Hansen, author Chicken Soup for the Soul

We have Gold Award Interviews the end of this month, and I'm looking forward to seeing what great Take Action Projects the girls will have chosen.  

And I'm hoping to see some great paperwork come through!  I'm hoping to see applications that show that the girl has put time and thought into her project planning,   And I'm hoping that her Advisor/troop leader/parent has worked with her, and given her good feedback, so the plan is clear and easily understood.

Truly, I'm hoping for word processed pages that make sense!  I'm also hoping for clear issue definition and an understanding of what the root cause is of the issue that is being addressed.  Yep, I'm pretty hopeful!

And in the same breath, fearful!  Fearful that the girls are rushing through the application to "get it done and submitted" and that the advisors are merely rubberstamping mediocrity!  I think Mark Victor Hansen had it right, when he said to record dreams and goals on paper.  By putting the Gold Award plan into writing, stepping back, looking at it again, and then realizing it's a great plan, it truly does set the tone for the whole project.

Committing to a project verbally is not quite as meaty as committing to it to paper.  Paper commitment requires thought processing, critical thinking, some linear thinking, and letting passion leak through.  That's what's going to make a GREAT Gold Award Project!  Having the passion, committing to change and creating a plan to make it happen.

It's the Discovery of an issue,  the Connecting to a community group to work through, the gathering of a team, and then the Taking Action that will make all the difference.  It's about working toward a goal, as a leader of a team. Making a difference in a local community.  Inspiring others to succeed.  Leaving a sustainable plan behind.

All the pieces of a great proposal and project.  Hoping that's what I find on December 1st, to be sure.

Old Gold Requirements - maybe

Girl Scout Nikki Demarchos created welcome packets for new residents at Grace Care Center of Cypress, a rehabilitation and nursing center, to earn the Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can receive. 

“I learned that when scheduling workshops, I need to schedule ahead and that I need to be considerate of others schedules,” said Nikki, senior this year at Langham Creek High School. “I also learned completing a project takes much leadership and responsibility that can only come from experience and that doing something for other people is rewarding.”


For her project, Nikki led a team of volunteers in creating and assembling the packets for new residents. In addition to compiling welcome materials, Nikki and held several workshops where she led volunteers in making blankets that were included in the welcome packets. from GSUSA blog

Well, this project, as written, sure doesn't add up to the Gold Award standard of a Take Action Project.  But might it fit with the old Go For It requirements?  Ummm, maybe.

What it appears to be, on the face of it, is a nice service project:  providing packets and blankets to residents at the Care Center.  She "gave a man a fish and he ate for the day."  Sure, there was some leadership, as she taught/assembled a team to make blankets.  And she had to use some organizational skills to get it done.  

But did she "teach a man to fish, so he could heat for a lifetime?"  No, it was a one shot drop off event.  As I said before, a nice service project. But how could it have been more?  

What's the issue Nikki was addressing? Was it lack of supplies to the Care Center?  How is that a Take Action Project issue?  What issue was it all about?

And what was her root cause?  Budget cuts?  Lack of funding?  Lack of family support to relatives in the Care Center?   And how did her project cause a change in the community?  That's what a Take Action Project should do.

And while she could measure how many team members helped, and how many items they distributed, was she able to measure over time the effect of her Project?  

There were certainly no clues to sustainability.  It was a one shot deal.  But how could it have been sustainable?  Could Nikki have set up a club or guild at her school? senior center? Care Center?  So that they could continue to distribute her educational literature?  continued to provide blankets and supplies?  That piece would certainly have made for a more robust Take Action Project.

As I said before, I hope this was action from the old requirements, and not the new, because if this was to satisfy the new requirements, it fell woefully short. 

Girl Scouts doesn't end.....

How many times have I expressed disappointment over news reports that say "a girl's end to Girl Scouting is the Gold Award, the highest award a girl can achieve?"  Plenty, is the answer!  Just as I know Barb Christensen tells the Junior leaders in her training classes, that Scouting isn't just for little girls!  We all need to tell the girls and their parents, that there is sooo much MORE for the girl to do, after she crosses the bridge in San Francisco!!!  

Well, today, in the GSUSA blog, there's an article featuring a girl who KNOWS that she is going to continue to have a role in Girl Scouting, after she graduates from high school.  "When Anjana Murali graduates from Shorewood in 2014, she will also graduate from the Girl Scouts - Scout activities are designed for girls 18 and under - but she won't be done with the organization she has belonged to for almost a decade. She said she will be a lifelong member, and she plans on continuing to volunteer for the organization and for the chess camp she hopes to sustain as an annual event."

Love it!  The Chess Camp is her Gold Award Project, and the article talked about how she already found a group to take over and make it an annual event, after she's done. But she also plans to continue her participation as well.   

I wish more of our girls felt that way:  that Girl Scouting goes with them after high school!  There is sooo much opportunity for girls to participate in Scouts while they're in college, or home from college in the summer, or working in the local area.  All us "old" adults love it, when we can get some young adults to come work with our girls.  Those young adults are great role models, cool, grown up and can answer questions we older adults obviously can't because, well, we're old, and we can't remember that far back.  

I applaud Anajan Murali as well as the great girls, now young adults, in our council who continue to work with our girls to help them achieve their goals. It's never over!  The Girl Scout experience can go on forever....and ever.....

Go Vote!

 

Exercise your right as a US citizen and cast your ballot, today!  Let your voice be heard!

Hurray for the democratic process!!!!

Global Impact

"We never know how far reaching something we may think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow"  
--  B. J. Palmer, Chiropractic developer

 We talk a great deal in our Gold Award Take Action Training about what "sustainable" and "global impact" are, to the confusion of many! So when I read this quote by Dr. Palmer, it really got me to thinking about what a wonderful thing it is, this "Take Action."

We're asking our Gold Award girls to create a Take Action Project that is robust!  That makes a difference in their community now...and for the future. And we're asking them to measure their impact. And while they can do it for the short term - the length of their project - how will they/we ever know the full impact they made?

I think about Shannon and her Domestic Violence Club at school.  A huge, tough issue, to be sure! And she connected to it through Safe Teen Dating, but it's really a shame that she will probably never be able to look back in 5 or 10 years and say, "because of that club X number of kids walked away from bad relationships and found good ones."  All she can do is hope that she made a difference in one? some? many? teenagers' lives.

Or Kayla who worked with the ESL 1st and 2nd graders at a Title One school.  It was a statistic learned in middle school that set her on the track of promoting literacy.  She connected by giving kids books, reading to them, creating videos that they could follow along with a book, and hosting a reading faire at the school.  But will she ever know if she made a difference in even one of those kid's lives?  We have to hope so. 

We never know how far the reach is on the projects our girls carry out.  But we need them to talk about it, to think about the "what if" and how it could play out.  Our girls can do it!!!  We just need to give them a nudge (okay, maybe a bit of a shove) to think about the larger consequences of their Action.