What did you do for your Gold Award project?
For my Gold Award project I created a used book fair and instructed Bristol Elementary School staff and volunteers on the basics of producing a successful and sustainable used book fair for their students and community. To support Bristol’s used book fair, I created a relationship where the Scott Elementary School community could provide used books for the Bristol Elementary School used book fair. This relationship originated with my successful completion of Scott Elementary School’s first-ever book drive.
How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?
As a result of my Gold Award project, 5,000 books are now in the hands of children associated with Bristol Elementary School and its community. In addition, the success of my instruction in producing their used book fair allowed Bristol Elementary School to raise $600 towards the purchase of new books for their library. I measured the impact made on the community by the 5,000 books that children now have, the $600 made towards getting new books in the library, and all of the smiles of appreciation from the kids, their families, and the staff.
How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?
I set up an annual book drive at Scott Elementary School to provide books to Bristol for their continuation of the fair. The librarian at Bristol Elementary School has also agreed to run it in future years. I also created and produced a manual that outlines the process that I made to establish a book drive and instruct school staff and volunteers on how to run a used book fair.
What is your project’s global and/or national connection?
I believe that around the world a large number of children don’t have books or can’t afford any of their own. I hope that other schools in our community will refer to my manual to run a used book fair and the word will just continue to spread as teachers and families move throughout the country and world. I expect the success of this project will spread through the positive media attention already received as well as word of mouth from the many people who benefited from this program.
What did you learn about yourself?
I have developed many leadership and social skills as a result of my project. I learned how to express my ideas, develop a plan, and then use that as a starting point to create a very successful event. During the course of the project I had to make changes to and expand on my original plan as more challenging issues came up. I also became more comfortable working with adults and presenting my ideas to groups of people.
How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?
Earning my Gold Award will allow me to use the leadership, organizational, and public speaking skills I learned to help other people. It also showed me the importance of community service.
Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?
The Gold Award was a very important part of my Girl Scout experience because it allowed me to use all of the skills I had learned during my nine years of Girl Scouts to create my own community service project. It has created lifelong experiences and memories.
**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