Pick an Issue for the Silver

"Dissatisfaction is a great starting point,
for it is right there that we have
the most power, strength, and energy
to push change through."
                                - David DeNotaris, motivational speaker

I'm thinking about our Silver Award Training tonight, and came across this quote in my inbox. (Thank you Rick Ruiz!)  And it seems a good one for the day.

We have a piece in the training about, "what's the issue?"  And we talk about how the girls need to look around themselves to see what's in their community.  Maybe another way to express that is to find where they are not comfortable? or where they aren't satisfied with the way things are going.  It's that dissatisfaction that could lead to investigating an issue and learning more about it.

As the quote says, identifying that "thing" that makes the girl uneasy, dissatisfied or plain angry is a GREAT starting point for coming up with a Silver Award Take Action Project.  Remember, 65% of this aged girl, nationally, is likely to speak up and just know that she is correct.  She holds strong values and opinions, and she doesn't mind sharing them.

That's a very powerful position to be in!  Our job as advisors is to guide the girl to harness all that certainty and power, identify what she wants to change, and then let her go do it!  If she has the passion for her issue, she will be more likely to succeed than if she is just going along with someone else's idea.

At training last week, we had a leader talk about how she thought three girls were going to do a group project...until she heard them talking about how diverse their interests really were. So now, she has three projects!  The first thing we all encouraged her to do was to GET HELP!  Enlist parents and other project advisors!  Spread the wealth around!

These girls can do it! We may have to nudge, okay nag, to get them started, but with their certainty and abilities, they are poised to do wonderful things!

Creative Solutions for Silver Award Planning

"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better."

John Updike, American writer.

We know our Cadette girls want to do a quality Silver Award Project!  And we know that they want to do it right!  These impassioned girls want to make a difference in the world.

Our job as Advisors is to support them as much as we can.  This age doesn't "know it all" yet, or at least not as much as the senior high girls do!  And they are still exploring who they are and who they want to be.  As they move through the process of putting their Silver Award Project together, they may need your help to really delve deep into their issues.

Not to do it for them!  But to help them think beyond what they know, to DISCOVER creative options that the girl doesn't even know exists.  For example, the girls with the passion for the environment need to look beyond picking up papers at the beach. A great service project, but not a Silver Award Project in and of itself.  It's time for them to think beyond trash pick up and figure out how to connect using their leadership to make MORE of a difference.  Education, teamwork, measurable outcomes, sustainable practices, etc.

They need to look at creative ways to address the issue.  They need to be exposed to new and bigger ideas.  And they need to find a way to use all that passion to gather a team together to make the project a reality. 

We're here to guide!  Let's do it well for the girls.