What did you do for your Gold Award project?
For my Gold Award, I designed activity booklets for kids on monarch butterflies and bumble bees. The activity booklet included color-in drawings of the life cycle of the monarch butterfly and bumble bee, their anatomies, a maze, flowers, a list of ways you can help their populations grow, and a quiz on the back. In addition, I gave a presentation at six different summer camps on why monarch butterflies and bumble bees matter and why they are both endangered species.
How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?
At the end of each presentation, I asked the kids to take a quiz on the back of their activity booklet. In return, I gave the kids a Jolly Rancher or one of my “world famous high fives” after they had finished the quiz. I checked their quiz results one by one to go over it with the kids if they had gotten any questions wrong. All the kids scored an 80% or higher on my quiz!
How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?
Mario Padilla, my Gold Award project advisor and entomologist at the Butterfly Pavilion, will email the PDF file of the activity booklet to the parents of campers during the next camp cycle of the summer of 2018. He will also post the link to the activity booklet on the Butterfly Pavilion’s website. Ashley Young, an educational coordinator at the Gardens on Spring Creek, will print copies from the PDF file of the activity booklet. I gave a presentation at one of her summer camp programs and she is excited to continue giving the booklet out to visitors.
What is your project’s global and/or national connection?
For my global link, I contacted a butterfly pavilion in British Columbia called the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. I have sent them an email, asking if they would be interested in having a PDF file of the activity booklet to give away in their gift shop. I haven’t heard back from them yet, but it feels good to know that I have tried to connect my project to others around the world.
What did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I enjoyed making the handmade activity booklets for kids, because I took a couple of drawing classes in high school. Giving the presentation was a bit of a struggle at first, because I was not used to teaching around kids, but I was always happy whenever a kid raised his/her hand to ask a question. Teaching around children was a lot easier than I thought it would have been, it just took some time getting comfortable.
How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?
My leadership skills will grow based on the self confidence that I have gained from this project and the ability to work on other independent projects in the future. One of the most crucial leadership skills that I learned from my project is that it is important to always keep track of the tasks that need to get done. Such as, remembering to contact different places to give my presentation, keeping track of the resources that I need to bring to the presentations, and keeping track of dates to fit in deadlines. Creating a schedule was probably the most important task in completing the Gold Award.
Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?
The Gold Award was an important part of my Girl Scout experience because it was like finishing up a final test to see what skills you have gained from your troop. Earning the Gold Award is mostly on your own because if you see a problem, go tackle it yourself. Why wait for someone else to do the work?
How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)?
The Gold Award helped me become a go-getter because there is nothing more satisfying than to tackle a problem and raise awareness in the community. Being a go-getter can make you into a better person because life is too short to stress over the little things and to hope that they will all disappear if you wish them to.
**IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org