Fabulous Feedback!

We had our Silver Award Training last week, and a couple days ago, I got this from a leader:

"I have one girl in my troop already with an idea for her silver award, she is very excited about it and I want to run it by you to see your thoughts. She walks to school every day (7th grade)and says she has a big problem crossing the street near the school. There is a lot of traffic passing this crosswalk in the morning with parents who have dropped off their kids. The problem she said is there are so many cars it's hard to cross the street, many parents make u-turns were the crosswalk is and she has had times when a car will stop for her but the driver in the next lane isn't paying attention and keeps driving through the cross walk. 

"My troop girl said she wants to talk with the principal of the school, involve the police officer in charge of the school area and find out who at the city level she could talk to to find a solution"

And here was my response:

			I think this is a fabulous project!   Have her go thru the steps, so she can focus her thoughts and work her way thru. Issue: child safety in crosswalk Root cause: rude drivers? Idiot drivers? Lack of signage? Lack of street paint/speedbumps? Who can help address the issue? What agency will she work thru? Who is her team? Girls in school? Kids and parents who use the crosswalk? How can she educate the team and the community about the issue? Can she find out how other schools deal with traffic? Research Create her project! Make a plan Lead the way to make change. (Measure success PD stats could help) Celebrate success. Talk about who will sustain her work. Talk about the long lasting effects of the change. Talk about the global issue - other schools in other communities. I am VERY excited to hear what this girl decides to do. And most gratified that it is not, yet again, a puppy project!  or binkie project!   or neo-natal project!  or birthday in a box....!  This girl is truly wanting to TAKE ACTION!

Audubon Center Silver Award Project

"Mitchell Lake Audubon Center on Saturday hosted a ceremony where 7 girls received a Girl Scout Silver Award.  All 7 girls were mentored by a renowned local artist in creating a visual art exhibit, 'Leave the Lake Cleaner than You found It.'  The artwork was built entirely from trash collected over a 3-month period, and will be used by the center as part of its expensive educational program for area students. 

The artwork also included the construction of four speed limit signs for the area surrounding the Center.  One of the key goals of Girl Scout projects now is sustainability, doing a project that inspires other people to take action themselves to make a difference."

Okay, so I don't give this one the "project-lite" moniker, but I do have to hope that there was a bit more to the project than what was reported online.  How does this project translate into the new Journey Project guidelines?  How could it work in Orange County?

First off the girls started with a clear issue:  protecting the environment.  They partnered with a strong non-profit who served a specific need in the community.  And to make it more interesting, they found a creative partner in the local artist.  Let's hope that they did their research about the Center and the area it serves, as well as other local non-profits that address the same need.

Second, in the new Silver rules, only 2 or 3 girls may work as a team.  This is to ensure that each girl has the opportunity to take leadership in the project.  And leadership is not the same as picking up trash!  

Third, I wonder if the girls had the opportunity to take the lead and develop clean-up days at the Center?  Were they able to use existing literature at the Center to educate those who came to help collect trash?  Or were they able to find an opportunity to fill a need for a specific population who visited the Center, and create new information that could be used over and over?  Just picking up trash or building signs is not enough.

Fourth, I like the art piece!  There's a story to tell there, every time someone views it.  It's about the local artist, but it's also about the girls and other volunteers who picked up the trash and sorted it.  I hope that the girls had a piece of the unveiling ceremony where they could tell the public about what they did and what they learned.  I think there really needs to be a connection between the art, the issue and the public that the girls could research/create.

Fifth, who was their team?  Since there were 7 of them, they were probably the team, but who did they lead?  Did they take turns leading the project?  Did they assign specific and separate responsibilities to each task and hold each other accountable?  Did they work cooperatively and learn together?  How did they solve disputes and disagreements?  Remember, the Leadership Model is girl led, learn by doing and cooperative learning!

Finally, they had what many don't have at the end of their project, a big way to celebrate!  And this was a very public celebration:  great for GS public relations, great for younger girls to see the older girls doing BIG things and great for the girls who accomplished the goal they set out to achieve.  

The bar has been raised!  Are your girls reaching higher?

Silver Award Project - not up to snuff

"This Halloween, 3 Pennsylvania Girl Scouts earned their Girl Scout Silver Award for providing Halloween costumes and an elaborate party for children at the Marion Terrace housing project. . "We wanted every kid to experience the thrill of Halloween," said Gushka.  Dressing up is a big part of what makes Halloween the girls' favorite holiday. But they realized not everyone can afford costumes.

The project impressed Beth Gagliardi, director of the Boys and Girls Club of Marion Terrace. It was unusual in two ways, she said. It was the first time volunteers brought a Halloween event to her club and the first time she saw kids do so much to help other kids. "I asked if they wanted help, but they wanted to be in full charge of it," Gagliardi said. That kind of leadership is key to the Silver Award, which requires that the girls be in charge of the project and work for a minimum of 50 hours.

The girls gathered donations of costumes in good condition, coming up with around 50 by passing out flyers, appealing to other Scouts and putting the word out on Facebook. Some people donated new costumes."  (excerpted from GSUSA blog)

Truly this was a collection project:  a very nice service project that benefited some people in the short term.  And not likely that each girl spent 50 hours EACH on the whole process.

Perhaps they were using the old Go For It Silver Award requirements? But even then, this would have been a very Silver Award-lite type project.  Regardless, it is not good enough for the Journey Silver Award requirements.

What would have made it better?  The girls should have started by identifying the issue:  why didn't the kids at the Boys and Girls Club have Halloween costumes? or go trick or treating?  Is it a cultural thing? Safety issue?  Lack of skills on how to sew?  Lack of understanding? What is the identifiable root cause?  Lack of a Halloween party is not a root cause!  It's the result of something else.

And once that issue and root cause were identified, then the girls could have worked to address those concerns.  Maybe a Halloween party would have been a way to celebrate the completion of their project, if it was the right time of year?  

Collecting costumes makes only a short time benefit.  It's a one-off.  The Silver Award Project seeks to go for sustainable change.  And that doesn't mean having a yearly party!

Challenge your girls to look for issues and root causes!  They've had great progress with service projects as a younger Scout, but now is the time to ramp it up and let them discover how they can make a bigger difference in the lives of those they seek to help.