JUSTICE Journey

(Do you have an 11th or 12th grade girl interested in completing an Ambassador Journey?  Anne Rizzacasa and I will be offering one this summer, and we're looking for girls!  The attached info is our preliminary info.  We would love to have feedback, so that we can fine tune the Journey. We're excited to offer this Series to our Ambassador girls.)

               JUSTICE Journey Series 2013

      Here's our tentative plan for the Series:

Meeting Times

5 - 4 hour sessions during the summer

            (potentially Sundays June 23 and 30/July 14, 21, 28)

            (potentially Wednesdays instead, same weeks)

1 - overnight at Laguna Beach Scout House July 17-18

1 - Sunday afternoon in the fall (girls to choose) to come back together to celebrate the completion of their Take Action Projects and present awards.

Meeting place:  Anaheim or Irvine. Still working on it....

Field Trips - most included - going for a variety of experiences to find the issues that the girls may want to get Justice for. Contacting potential businesses to host a session and provide information.  Big use of girl's interview skills. Consensus building.  Sitting at every stone, and hearing all sides.

Optional side trips - not required, but will be offered based on interest

Price for Series:  Still trying to get that together

Included:  snack and beverages, transportation for trips, Journey book

Who:  11th and 12th graders, including incoming 11th graders

Will they earn the award in the 5 sessions?  No.  We will do the work that leads up to the Take Action Project, which the girls will do after our sessions.

What will the girls do?  

Search for Justice for the earth

Search out environmental issues, then identify the one(s) they want to address

Do the research to support their position

Create an "Equation for Justice" - "a definition of environmental justice and an

            equation for achieving it."

It's about environmental justice, and what it means to each girl

Then they invite people to think big.  And inspire others to make a "daily

            commitment to justice."

The Take Action Project is a presentation of their Justice for an issue

Series put on by:  Ann Crane and Anne Rizzacasa

949-254-5620 cel Ann

Who's a Procrastinator?

“There are some who give up their designs
when they have almost reached the goal;
While others, on the contrary,
obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment,
more vigorous efforts than ever before.”
                                                     - Herodotus

Oh my, but does this sound familiar?  Do our girls ever wait til the last minute, give it the big push, and finish at the very, very, VERY last minute? Of course some do!

So what do we do?  We advisors for these wonderful high schoolers?  Maybe we make sure that we're not the girl's troop advisor AND Gold Project Advisor AND parent!  If at all possible, 'tis better not to do it all!  Everyone I've talked to about this has been adamant:  find someone else to work with the girl on the Gold.  That way the parent isn't nagging about cleaning her bedroom, finishing homework AND working on the Gold!

And maybe that could help the procrastination?  I can only hope that the girls will be a little more proactive working with a non-parent.   What will get a high schooler to do something done in a timely manner?  Carrot and stick? Rewards? Acknowledgement and encouragement along the way? Small goals that lead to big achievements?  Pep talks?  Yes/no/maybe so? 

Wouldn't it be nice if we project advisors were there to encourage, help facilitate, work together on deadlines and hold the girl accountable?  I think so. We want to be sure that the girl doesn't give up before reaching the goal.  And we want to be equally sure that we all don't turn gray, hoping for the last minute push!

Work Together

“People who work together will win,
whether it be against
complex football defenses,
or the problems of modern society.”
     - Vince Lombardi, coach, Green Bay Packers



One Gold Award Take Action Project at a time! Yes, that's how we're going to win:  working together!  And as in football, there is one leader, and s/he has responsibility for the team to achieve the goals set forward.  Okay, that's it on the football analogies! 

Our girls need to lead their team to success!  That's why it's one girl, one Take Action Project. There needs to be one girl who has a clear vision of the problem and the plan to fix it. And she needs to be able to communicate it to others. Get them to catch the passion and all work together to succeed.

The girls need to think big!  And then whittle down the idea to something doable. Something meaningful.  Something they have real passion and concerns for.  Sometimes, in our Gold Award Interviews, we see girls with tons of passion, but no focus on an issue.  These are the girls that we coach, give ideas to, and then send back to focus their proposals.  We know the girl has passion when we get the revision back the same week!

And we hope that the girl who waits months to re-submit her proposal can re-ignite her passion and address the issue.  It seems that most can!  They have just had to take the time to get a focus and create a team to help.

(As I write this post, it's the day before the Super Bowl.   Football sure seems to be on everyone's mind, in one way or another. Me, I'm going to go talk about the Gold with the girls at the Mission Sisterhood Series, and then go shopping. No lines! Go team!)

Thoughtful, committed citizens....

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 
           Margaret Mead, American Culture Anthropologist

I don't know that I had ever seen this quote before, but I'm liking it for our Gold Award girls today.  

Aren't we asking that our girls who are going for the Gold use a thoughtful approach to the Gold Award Take Action Projects? We're asking them to identify a community issue. To do the research and figure out what the need is. Then to identify the root cause and commit to making a change.  With passion!

This is not a halfway measure.  Not milquetoast.  And certainly not easy!  But our girls can do it.  We may need to prod them a bit, ask them to reach, get outside their comfort zone and certainly to try hard.  And for that, they will have success in changing their part of the world.

One high school club or event or project at a time.  They will make a measurable and sustainable change that will make difference in the world.  And that's huge!  

Another Great Gold Award Project

 (From the GSUSA Blog January 15, 2013)

Miranda wanted to encourage and connect teens with service opportunities.  For her project, Miranda developed and implemented a comprehensive volunteer service program using social media and a Ning website to match service-based organizations with the 2,000 high school students who reside in the Northville school district.   Twelve communities/schools have requested a CIA (Community Impact Awards) implementation.  CIA has applied for a non-profit status.  Over 350 Northville high school students are already working on one or more awards, which translate to over 10,000 hours of community service.  Averages of 6.4 new members join each week.

Yes, this Gold Award Take Action Project is a good one! Miranda was recognized as a National Young Woman of Distinction by GSUSA for her work.  She saw a need and figured out a way to fill it.  And then made it possible for other schools to do the same.  What a great thing!  And the outcome was a total benefit to the community of students connecting to a non-profit and giving service hours. 

Miranda made it measurable and sustainable.  She also made it possible for the project to go global.  A perfect model for our girls to follow.  

Our girls can have the same success with their chosen issue, and create a Gold Award Take Action Project that makes a difference in the world, too.

What We Do for Others....

“Life's most persistent and
urgent question is,
'What are you doing for others?’”
            - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I saw this quote on Monday, and I liked it!  I think that there is a connection to Scouting here.  Our girls are great at providing service to others.  From the beginning, they are Scouting for Food, singing in Sr. Centers, creating placemats for luncheons, performing flag ceremonies and so much more!  They are the champs at doing something for others.

The Gold Award Take Action Project is the penultimate "doing for others" because not only does it call for action (a service) but it also requires sustainability.   So, we are asking our Gold girls to do something for others: address an issue in their community, seek out its root cause, and then work with a team to address it.  PLUS, find another non-profit or other entity to take it over, and continue that good work for years to come.

THAT is Taking Action, and giving great service, not just for now, but forever.  (Okay, or for the foreseeable future!)  An awesome task, and one, I think, that Dr. King would embrace.  

Great Gold Award Projects

We're dipping into the GSUSA blog posts from January 15th again.  GSUSA has chosen their top 10 Young Women of Distinction Awardees, mostly based on the quality of their Gold Award Project.  (I'm assuming there are other considerations, too...)

Here's one from Mandy:

"Passionate about the health of the ocean and how youth education impacts global problems, Mandy designed an aquarium and a three-day curriculum that would expose 5thgrade students to ocean health and environmental threats to the ecosystem.  Carefully designed, the aquarium and curriculum serve together, providing basic information on an assortment of aquatic topics and linking the classroom to bodies of water all over the world.  Mandy is currently expanding the curriculum based on teacher request and continues to host lectures at the school.  She hopes to soon expand the program to include other schools and communities."

Lovin' it!  This girl found out how to connect her passion for ecology with a specific issue.  She identified the root cause and gathered her team, I'm assuming.  She worked with a school to provide a curriculum that can be used again, not only at one school, but at other schools in her district. GREAT sustainability!  And the global impact is easy to see.

This is a prime example of what we want to encourage our girls to do:  Discover, Connect and Take Action to make the world a better place!

What does a GREAT Gold Award TAP look like?

I get asked all the time, "What does a great Gold Award Project really look like?" The GSUSA blog (which I hope you all get!, but if you don't, sign up here <blogsubscription@girlscouts.org>)   
just published the names of the 2013 National Young Women of Distinction. They also published a paragraph about each girl and what she did.

Truly, these all sound like well deserving young women.  Here's the first one I liked:

Nationally, one in three women experiences relationship abuse, an issue Nicole wanted to address, particularly as it relates to middle and high school students. First, she ran a program in her local middle school educating them on dating abuse and violence in the media. Nicole was so impassioned that she then championed legislation that requires safe dating education be provided to middle and high school students as part of their health curriculum. After the law passed, she created a school club called MASK Theater, which takes the spirit of the new law and joins that with an innovative creative program for students in her HS.  Among other performances and events, MASK has created PSAs, an informational DVD for other schools and has even run a Girl Scout Workshop on healthy relationships and the media. 

We have a number of girls who are interested in Domestic Violence issues. Many have done volunteer work at Laura's House admin. office or for their events.  But due to California law, the girls are prohibited from working with the actual women and their children at the shelter.  So a common question is, "how can a Sr/A girl connect with the issue?"  

Nicole, above, found a way to do it!  And she figured out a way to reach a large number of people about the issue, measure success, and successfully hand it off to another entity to continue her good work. This is a ROCKSTAR formula for success!  I'm sure there was more to it, including budget, timelines, solicting help from advisors and adults, etc. than was talked about in the article.

How else could your girls connect to the issue of Domestic Violence and/or relationship abuse?  As high schoolers, what is age appropriate and can affect change in the local community? That's the discussion to have with your girls, as they run with the issue, and try to make a Take Action Plan.

Share the Load

“It's not the load that breaks you down,
it's the way you carry it.”                                        
       - Lou Holtz, ret.football coach

Yep, it's all about teamwork!  It's about working together and achieving a goal.

The Gold Award Take Action Project is all about one girl. She needs to find the issue she is passionate about and then identify the root cause.  Using all that passion and interest, she needs to partner with an agency and figure out how she can address the issue.  

And even before she is approved for her Project, she must consider who the team is that she will be assembling.  Who are the peers, friends and/or school club members she can gather to help her.  This is about sharing the load:  finding the right people to help her achieve the goal.

She can't do it alone!  It just doesn't work like that!  This is an opportunity for her to use her leadership and work with others.  She needs to learn that spreading the work load can yield remarkable results: more than with just her solo effort.  What a great thing to learn!  While it's still her overall responsibility, she will have a team of support.

It's exciting times for our girls!  And everytime I have a chance to talk with a prospective Gold girl, it is so much fun to see their excitement and interest. And very fun to encourage them to pull together a great team that will work, under her leadership, to make a difference in the world.  

Raise the Bar HIGH!

“High achievement always takes place
in the framework of high expectation.”
                      - Jack Kinder, motivational speaker

I like this quote for January!  We have a new year, new opportunities, new resolutions to make (and break!), a new outlook on the future.

As adult advisors, part of our job is to hold the girls to a high standard:  don't let them be slackers all the time, help get them excited about what they're doing, and let them know what the expectations are.  It segues really well into the high standard of the Gold Award Take Action Projects.  In training we say, the bar has been raised!  It's the Advisor's job to be sure that s/he understands this, and communicates it to the girls. 

No longer are Gold Award Projects "Birthday in a Box" or "Prom for Senior Citizens" or "Collect toys and food for Puppies"!  Now we are asking the girls to identify an issue, and then look at that issue's root cause.  From there, she can find an agency to partner with and build her team.

She needs to have the expectation that it's a process, that it's going to be time consuming and that she really needs to be passionate about what she's going to do.  That kind of passion and commitment is what's going to make it possible for her to achieve her goals.  

Please hold the girls to the higher standard and then celebrate their success when they complete their Take Action Projects.  You'll both be glad you did.

"Computers are useless.
They can only give you answers."
Pablo Picasso



He's got a point!  And when I first started interviewing Gold Award girls under the old requirements, I would often get a print-out of city or county stats.  This was in answer to the question, "what's in your community?" Well, I got an answer from the computer, but it didn't really address the question.

Now, in the new Take Action requirements, it's stated differently.  There's opportunities to do a mind-map of the community, showing the interlinking circles and how they touch/affect each other.  There's also an opportunity to "look at your community."  This goes waaay beyond computer generated answers of statistics.  

What the Gold is asking the girls to do is to dive deep and address the question.  Use their eyes and look at where they live, not at a computer screen.  See what is around them, and let them choose what issues mean something to them.  Perhaps it's the homeless issue.  Seeing real live people on the street, some with kids, some in wheelchairs can help our girls connect to the issue.  They are there to make a lasting change in a community. Those people are part of that community.

Computers can help with the research:  how many communities have the same need.  Or with getting details about service areas/boundaries.  But a computer is not likely to grab the heart of a girl, and create in her a desire to help someone else.

And we need our girls to connect to the issue in order to use their passion to complete the Gold Award Take Action Project.  It's a ton of work these girls are being asked to do, and they'll need determination, support from you(!) and support from their team to make it work.  Let the computer be a tool to use to advance a cause, as it will never be the piece that touches a girls' heart and gives her the gumption to make the world a better place.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a safe and joyous 2013!

Ann

Bat Boxes for the Gold

(Excerpted from the GSUSA blog 12-19-12)

"Girl Scout Sara Koran, 17, installed bat houses at Pioneer Park in Loachapoka and educated the public on their purpose as her Girl Scout Gold Award project about environmental community awareness.  (She learned from her aunt that bats were becoming endangered in Alabama.)

  

The project includes research, construction and installation of the (bat) houses, and was designed with the intent of helping the species of bats in the area that are becoming endangered. She not only intended to help keep them safer, but to move them to the park where they could do some good for the area.

“The main reason for the bat houses is to keep them out of homes and unwanted places for people,” she said. “Bats prefer to be outside where they can hunt instead of inside. So it’s kind of a pest control kind of thing … but another benefit was that [at the park] they can eat mosquitoes and unwanted bugs for people.”

“What my project was supposed to do was make these bat houses and then also educate people on them,” Koran said. “So I made a PowerPoint and presented it to schools and I’ve done presentations on Second Saturdays at Pioneer Park to educate the people that came out.”

Pioneer Park is a project of the Lee County Historical Society, a nonprofit organization established in 1968 to promote the history of the county."

Is this up to the Gold Award Take Action Project standard?  Probably.  As I've said before, the only info I have is from a newspaper write-up!  Here's what I have to hope Sara also did!

(Potential) Issue:  Bats moving into people homes.   Too many mosquitoes/bad bugs in the open spaces.

Root cause: Suburban sprawl into bat's natural habitats.  Residents not knowing how to bat-proof their buildings.

Team:  The article doesn't say, but I hope that Sara got together a team of (non-Girl Scout) peers to help educate the community, and in presenting the information, making and installing the bat boxes. Sara would be the leader, but she could assign duties to her team to help.

Non-profit Partner:  I hope it was the Lee County Historical Society or perhaps a city department that was able to provide information and services.

Funding:  Perhaps from Sara's cookie money? Funds from the city?  Historical Society?  The article didn't say how many she built, but I hope that it was enough to make a sizeable difference in the bat population!

Measurability:  What could Sara measure?  Number of batboxes built, for sure.  Maybe number of people presented to at schools and community fair days?  Perhaps number of inhabited bat boxes? Reduction of visible bats in the neighborhood?  Reduction of calls to city dept. asking for bat removal?

Sustainability:  I would hope that the Historical Society would take on this role.  Remember, it is required for all Gold Award Projects that the girl ensure sustainability.  Thinking back to a friend's Eagle project, the batboxes he made were pretty much self-sustaining over many years.  Perhaps Sara also put together a video about the bat boxes and how to secure a residence against bats?  She could link that to school and city websites to drive residents to the information.

Global:  Now, Sara doesn't need to provide batboxes to the world! But if she is truly making a sustainable change in her community, then she needs to think, and talk about, how could this work if her work went further into the greater community?  What if every park in the county had bat boxes?  Would there be a visible reduction in bad bugs, and/or diseases caused by these bugs?  Would bats go back to foraging in the parklands, instead of in urban settings?  It's a conversation to have, so that  Sara understands the global implications.     

Year-end Donations

I was going through the mail this week, and as I sorted the bills from the holiday cards from the magazines, I noticed that I had a pile of year-end donation requests.

March of Dimes, Alzheimer's, Girl's Inc., American Heart Association, Human Options and Girl Scouts, to name a few.  My knee jerk response to the GSOC request was sort of, "well, I already give time and talent to the organization, that's enough."  

But then I got to thinking, no, that isn't enough. Sure, I participate on council and other volunteer committees, interview girls for the Gold, work on series, help train. But that doesn't help the council provide service to the girls we serve.  The girls sell cookies, and a percentage of each box goes to council operations.

And here's the rub, that's not enough money to provide service to over 25,000 members in Orange County.  It's not enough to provide additional outreach to underserved communities.  It's not even enough to open the doors every day at the service centers and the headquarters.  It's true, it takes funding from corporations who give back to a community.  It takes funding from older Girl Scouts who want to give back to a program they've loved with all their hearts for 30-40-50+ years.

And it takes funding from every adult who believes in the Girl Scout program.  Every adult like me, who had the absolute BEST time growing up in Scouting. Every adult who knows that Girl Scouting saves lives.  Every adult who sees his/her daughter growing up strong, and sees that some of that strength comes from the Scouting program.

Don't we have a desire to see every girl succeed?  And doesn't she deserve an opportunity to grow up with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place?  Don't we want each of these girls to have the HUGE benefits of the Journey Leadership Experiences, badges, Awards, travel opportunities, destinations, and the proud distinction of being a Girl Scout.  I do. And I bet there are many more of you who do too.

As you're sorting the holiday mail, please consider a donation of any amount to Girl Scouts of Orange County.  Please make a difference in a girl's life. Not only your own daughter's, but every girl's who stands up tall and proud, and says, "On my honor, I will try..."

Gold Award Interviews

We had Gold Award Interviews a couple weeks ago, and I was positively impressed by just about every girl I interviewed.  Most of them had really thought out their projects well, and their applications were really complete.  Mostly....

Please, advisors, a couple key issues:

Remind your girls that this application is important!  It is not meant to be filled in with illegible pencil.  It is meant to be word processed, using complete sentences!  Or at least bullet points.  And not to be too picky, but spell check is a valuable tool to use!!!!

The timeline, or plan of action, should be there, even if it's only in a general manner.  We interviewers should be able to read the application, and have a pretty good idea of what is to be done, who will do it, and how long it will take.  I sent one application back for just that reason.  She had done a great project board with the info and her plan of attack, but it was not reflected in her application.  It was clear from the interview that she had done the work, thought it through and spent the time, but not on the application.  She replied to me within the week with the typed up info.  I made a copy to add to her file, and she was instantly approved!

Be sure that the Project Advisor has been trained!  We have at least 6 trainings coming up in the next year, so please be sure that the girl's advisor takes it!  We need to be sure that the Project Advisor is going to hear the high standards to which s/he must hold the girl.  

Be sure the girl knows that SHE is to do the work!  I had one girl say that she was waiting for the librarian to tell her what to do.  My response was that the GIRL needed to take the lead, chat with the librarian, and then create a curriculum to present for approval.  Again, if the librarian had taken the training (I wish!) she would have known how she could have coached the girl to do the work.

The more you can coach the girl to do a good job, the more likely she'll write a good app, have a great interview and be approved.  We interviewers want the girls to succeed, and we balance that with our duty to hold the girls to the raised bar standard.  These are great girls, and we want them to have a fantastic Gold Award Take Action Project experience, to be sure!

Golden for this Girl!

Excerpted from the GSUSA blog Dec.11, 20121

Kim Crawford, a Girl Scout from Brighton, has earned Girl Scouts’ highest honor, the Gold Award, for a project she did to collect 600+ toothbrushes and toothpaste for those in need in Africa. What makes this accomplishment even more special is Kim, who is a junior in high school, is developmentally delayed (she only reads at 1st grade level), but hasn’t let her disability hold her back.

Kim spent months on her project and received a lot of support from her Brighton community. Everyone who donated to the project signed a poster, which Kim sent to Africa with the donations. And all the people who received her donations in Africa also signed the poster and returned it at the end of the project. When talking to Kim, she uses the words “happy and proud” to describe how it made her feel to help others through this project. In fact, helping others is one of the main reasons she likes being a Girl Scout.

Kim is part of the Special Olympics and other organizations in her community, but Girl Scouts by far is her favorite where she’s been able to interact with peers who are not like herself.

I love to read about how every girl can have success in Girl Scouts!  This girl did the best she could, to the best of her ability. And she had success. I congratulate her on achieving her Gold Award!

Was this an appropriate Gold Award Project for an able-body/mind girl? No, it's really just a large collection project, but for Kim, it was a stretch.  But she truly connected to the project, and made a personal touch to those she served.

This is what we want all our girls to do:  make a difference in their community.  Touch those they mean to serve. Learn about needs, and choose one to fill.  As Kim did, they will lead with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place. '

And that's what it's all about. 

  

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.