What did you do for your Gold Award project?
My project, Presents for Patriots, provided military families, who have a family member deployed, gifts for their family during the holiday season and throw a Christmas Party for them all to help relieve the stress of the holiday season.
How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?
Through a survey created for the families to take on how Presents for Patriots affected their holiday season
How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?
My project is now going to be an annual program run by the Tri-Lakes Leo Club, in partnership with the Monument VFW Post 7829. They will continue Presents for Patriots with aid from an electronic book with instructions and tips on how to start or continue Presents for Patriots in their area.
What is your project’s global and/or national connection?
My national and global link is the fact that we had people from across the country donate gifts through our online registry for our families. We, also with the help from the VFW, were able to purchase gifts for remotely stationed families. We had families who were stationed in the U.S. in, for example, Hawaii, but we also had families stationed around the world in Germany, another example.
What did you learn about yourself?
I learned from this project how to efficiently communicate with people and manage my time. Sending many emails to businesses, representatives, and families has taught me the ways of how and when you should send reminders and general emails. I also learned, with my short timeline, how to get a task done in a timely matter.
How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?
I feel that this will help my leadership skills in the future because of the communication skills I was able to improve due to the amount of emails and public speaking I did. Also, the time management and organization skills I was able to improve will help me fulfill the duties of an army officer, as that these skills are all important to have as an army officer.
Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?
It really showed me what Girl Scouts is all about, helping others and doing something larger than yourself for others.
How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)?
Earning my Gold Award helped me become an innovator. An idea that I had, and that my team and I executed, is to collect more gifts from outside of just our area, so we created a registry. This was created on the Walmart website where I could add items that we needed or suggested that people could buy for the kids on the registry. People were able to click what they wanted to buy and purchase it and it would be sent to my house to be organized and wrapped.
**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.