Playing the Past Badge Leads to Take Action Project

Two Junior Girl Scouts earned the new Community Advocacy Take Action award during several meetings during the summer. They really enjoyed completing Playing the Past badge. One of the things they learned about was ancient China. It made them think about how they wanted to learn more about a subject not generally covered in school.

The most interesting topic to them was traditional Chinese clothing called “hanfu.” Realizing there were no museum exhibits or classes that would teach them specifically about hanfu, they planned how they would learn about hanfu and share with the community how it is possible to learn about another culture without a lot of money or a class.

They demonstrated six easy ways to learn accurate information about hanfu from legitimate sources in a how-to video. They checked out books from the library, made paper dolls using real photos of the traditional clothing, viewed ancient art from the Denver Art Museum, told viewers about the annual Dragon Boat Festival, watched a video from China’s official Youtube channel, and told viewers about an online community focused on hanfu. At the end, they dressed up, and told viewers it’s okay to “be inspired” as long as you are not claiming you have true cultural items.

When asked if it was challenging to create a project to help others, one of the Juniors said, “No, because it’ll be a surprise!” Their informational project will be a surprise gift to the community. They also learned that it is important to choose your project carefully, because you will be spending a lot of effort on it.