Silver Award

SILVER AWARD INTRO FOR CADETTE ESSENTIALS TRAINING

(Ann Crane’s take from Silver Award Training for Leaders 3/11)

MOVING GIRLS TO TAKE ACTION

The adult advisor helps to guide the girls to Discover, Connect and Take Action to create and complete a Silver Award Project.  This new Leadership Model emphasizes raising the bar for all Silver Award Projects.

This is a BIG SHIFT.  The Silver Award Project is not just a community service project, making the world a better place for some people in the short-term.  It’s about making the world a better place for measurably more people and for a sustained period of time.

Taking Action involves identifying an issue, understanding the root cause and creating a project that is sustainable with an impact that is measurable. And there must be a global element:  talk about how the project could keep growing bigger in the future.

What’s your adult role?

            Take the Silver Award Training Class offered by Council

            Encourage the girl to think critically and outside the box

            Model the Promise and Law

            Cheerlead!  Support her work.

            Provide resources as the girl explores issues

            Answer questions or refer her to those who can

            Suggest avenues that she might not be aware of

            Encourage her to identify an advisor for her project

What is a Silver Award quality project?

Creating a Daisy Day Camp is not one.   The girl needs to look outside her troop/council.

Collecting blankets for the homeless. That’s a service project. What could make it a Silver quality Project?  Have the girl identify the root cause of the issue. (Lack of blankets is a result, not an issue.)  Map her community to see what organizations serve the homeless population and ask what the need is.  Perhaps there’s an education piece that can go along with collecting blankets?  Participation in a social services fair? Create a binder with instructions so that the organization can duplicate efforts in the future. Creating flyers of information. 

Collecting/making hats for neo-natal babies at CHOC.  A nice service project, but what’s the root issue? Poor pre-natal care?  Homeless/underserved women without information about how to carry full-term babies?  Have the conversation with the girl to create a project that’s sustainable. Perhaps training other girls how to sew the hats would be a piece.  The girl needs to talk with CHOC to identify the need and fill it, using her leadership!