What did you do for your Gold Award project?
For my Girl Scout Gold Award project, I addressed the disorganized mess of music, school-owned instruments, and accessories scattered throughout the entire band room and director’s office at Elizabeth High School. I created an electronic filing system. It included list of school-owned instruments and equipment with their specific accessories and it placed labels on the shelf with the proper instrument name where each instrument belongs. Included in the spreadsheet was the instrument type, brand, serial number, and accessories that were included in the case. I also created an electronic spreadsheet, detailing every piece and score of music that Elizabeth High School owned, separating them by ensemble in alphabetical order with a corresponding number in the spreadsheet.
How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?
I measured the impact of my Gold Award project to years past. Compared to past years, when school got out this year, the band room was much more organized and students had returned everything, so nothing was missing! All music was filed alphabetically in a neat and orderly fashion, in approximately 10 filing cabinet drawers. All school-owned instruments were in their proper homes on top of the band lockers. Our band director had a checkout sheet to be used by students who needed to check out instruments. Mouthpieces and other miscellaneous accessories had been counted and stored in one central location, and were to be checked out when needed for use. All percussion equipment, including marching band drums, had been inventoried and inspected to ensure they were in working order. All percussion equipment had a proper storage location in the drum closet. When you looked around the band room, it was very neat and orderly – a big improvement from the past!
How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?
My project can be sustained beyond my involvement because I established this user-friendly, electronic system that can be used by anyone. This system can easily be transferred from one director’s computer to the next.
What is your project’s global and/or national connection?
As for a national or global connection, my project includes a user friendly system that could spread beyond the walls of my high school. If our current director were to leave Elizabeth High School, she may take a copy of the filing system with her and establish it at other schools. Word of mouth could inspire other directors to implement a similar system in their own schools. I also created a small packet including a letter explaining the background on my project, examples of how to format the music and instrument inventory spreadsheets, and finally a cost outline. This packet was emailed to the Colorado Bandmaster’s Association to pass onto other first year instrumental music directors to help them get organized during their first few years.
What did you learn about yourself?
I developed many skills while completing my Girl Scout Gold Award. I was able to improve my time management skills, planning around my family, work, school and social life, finding time to work with my band directors on the music filing system. My organizational skills greatly improved, especially when trying to find a proper space for everything. I also improved my computer skills, since I used Google Document Spreadsheet for my organizational music filing system.
How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?
The bulk of my project was organization and I feel this will really help me with my future career goals. My dream is to become an elementary school teacher and I plan to use my improved organizational skills in my classroom, benefiting both my students and myself.
Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?
I feel that earning my Gold Award was just another step in my Girl Scout experience. I have been in Girl Scouts since kindergarten and step by step I went from being the cute little Daisy Girl Scout all the way to a Girl Scout Ambassador, ready to start the next journey in life. My Gold Award was just another step in helping me become who I am today.
**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