What did you do for your Gold Award project? My Gold Award addressed the lack of informed voters in my high school and community. I created a survey that helped the survey taker understand if they are most closely aligned with the Republican, Democrat, or Independent political party. Through my research, I found that uninformed voters consistently vote off of single-issues like abortion or gun rights/control, yet they may not be voting for the candidate or party that will represent the majority of their beliefs. Being an informed voter takes a lot of research, and knowing which political party you align with is a good place to start. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? Each person who takes the survey learns with which major political party they most closely identify. Many of my peers that took the survey had a preconceived idea of the political party that best represented their views, yet the survey results told a different story. One version of my survey focused on candidates for the Denver mayoral election. My grandpa had one candidate in mind. However, after he took my survey, he was surprised to find that his chosen candidate did not represent the majority of his views. The same thing happened when I presented my survey to the League of Women Voters. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? My project is sustainable through the Civics department at my high school. Civics is a required class, which means every student at East High School beginning with school year 2020 – 21 will take my survey as an upperclassmen.  Each junior and senior class consists of 500-600 students. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? I created a website to house the survey along with a process of understanding the political party with which you most closely align and information about how to move forward with becoming an informed voter. It can be accessed no matter where you are in the world. I also emailed and asked NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) and FairVote, two national organizations, to ask if they would be interested in promoting my survey/website. Unfortunately, they were unable to make that happen. What did you learn about yourself? I learned that I am able to assemble a team, and tackle a project that I truly care about. I also learned the importance of perseverance. There were times when I felt like my project was at a dead end. I am so glad that I didn’t give up.  It is an unbelievable accomplishment to finish your Gold Award; I am so proud! I have gained the confidence to ask people for help. I have always wanted to prove to people that I can do anything on my own. Yet, the reality with a big project like this, is that you can’t do it on your own, and your team is there to help you every step of the way. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? Earning my Gold Award will give me a leg up against other candidates when I am applying for  college scholarships. My Gold Award is an accumulation of everything that I have learned and done as a Girl Scout over the last 12 years. I now am part of a prestigious club of Gold Award Girl Scouts, which I will be able to put on my resumé. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? I have been thinking about earning my Gold Award since I was 11-years-old. My troop emphasized the importance of earning higher awards, and so while I didn’t know if it was possible, I always wanted to earn my Gold Award and have a legacy of my years as a Girl Scout. Completing my Gold Award put all the skills that Girl Scouts has taught me into action. Every girl has learned how to dream big, be a leader, and persevere through their time in Girl Scouts, and earning a Gold Award uses that knowledge. 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 a go-getter because I saw a surplus of uninformed voters among my peers and I successfully found a solution. I was also an innovator because with the help of my team, I created an original survey for the public to use. **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. #GoldAward #HighestAwards #LeagueofWomenVoters #GoldAwardGirlScout #Denver #GirlScoutGoldAward #voting #EastHighSchool #TakeAction

Submitted by Tricia P. Metro Denver Arvada Girl Scouts (and sisters) Hailey and Peyton heard about the CEO reward for selling 2,020 packages of cookies this year and they were on board! Mom, on the other hand, had her doubts. That is 4,040 packages in one house! But, these girls are go-getters and risk-takers. They were not taking caution for an answer. About four weeks into the program, they were just half way to their gaol and getting very tired. We had a long talk and they said they wanted this and were going to do it! That’s when they sold 600 packages in one weekend. Together and with the support of family friends and local businesses, they did it. They finished with not just 2,020 each, but 2,151 each! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too. #Arvada #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #cookies #GirlScoutCookies #GirlScoutCookieProgram #MetroDenver

Submitted by Jody Clair Pikes Peak Colorado Springs Finally, I can offer troops a Florida 2021 trip! All details (I hope, lol) can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oGp0JdcageoyCtu7UIHk8rEIkUtfclFg97CJYQUKkc/edit?usp=sharing  Please make sure to read it through and save the date. Deposits can be made starting now. I know it seems sooo far away, but this gives us time to allow Girl Scouts to earn money and also the more that attend, the cost gets lower. Girls must be entering sixth grade at travel time and girls through 12th grade graduates are eligible. Join us for some fun in the sun! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too. #Florida #GSCOevents #ColoradoSprings #travel #PikesPeak

Submitted by Crystal Gallegos Northern & Northeastern CO Lafayette Meara, Adelaide, and Sofia from Troop 73001 in Lafayette earned their Uniform to Uniform patch at their booth at King Soopers. They asked the officer his favorite cookie flavor and he happily purchased a box of Thin Mints. Thank you Lafayette Police Department for supporting these lovely ladies and keeping Lafayette a great place to be. These Girl Scouts also earned the Uniform to Uniform patch! Learn how to earn yours: http://gscoblog.org/2020/01/uniform-to-uniform-patch-for-the-2020-girl-scout-cookie-program/ #LafayettePoliceDepartment #policeofficers #UniformtoUniformpatch #NorthernampNortheasternCO #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #2020UniformtoUniformPatch #UniformtoUniform #GirlScoutCookies #GirlScoutCookieProgram #lafayette

Update as of March 20, 2020: This camp has been rescheduled for August 27 – 30, 2020. Girl Scouts of Colorado is proud to once again offer one of our adult volunteers a space at the Summit Sister’s Camp run by Women’s Wilderness. Women’s Wilderness is hosting this camp at Meadow Mountain Ranch June 25 – 28, 2020. Women’s Wilderness’s mission is to strengthen the courage, confidence, and leadership qualities of girls and women through the challenge and support of group wilderness and community based experiences. Summit Sisters focuses on a deep nature connection, connection to your body, inspiration and calling, and competence and outdoor skills. Presentations at Summit Sisters this year will include: The Call of the Earth, Self Confidence Formula, Wildlife Tracking in the Rockies, Inner Beauty Workshop, and so much more. For more information about Summit Sisters, please visit their website at https://www.womenswilderness.org/summit-sisters/ GSCO will choose one adult volunteer for a free space at the Summit Sister’s Camp – a $399 value! All meals, lodging, and programming are provided. To apply for this opportunity, use this link and complete the questionnaire no later than May 29 at 11:59 p.m. All applicants will be contacted on June 5 after the winner of the grant has been chosen. Applicants must have a current or lifetime membership with Girl Scouts of Colorado. #VolunteerNews #WomensWilderness #GirlScoutCamp #MeadowMountainRanch #SummitSistersCamp #camp #CouncilNews

What did you do for your Gold Award project? For my Gold Award project, I asked Colorado Representative Brianna Titone to introduce a bill on my behalf. House Bill 1131 creates a grant program to provide funding for free and accessible menstrual products/product dispensers in Title One Colorado schools. I rallied community support and started the conversation about period poverty and period stigma in our state’s government and in my community and beyond. How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? The target audience of my Gold Award is girls/menstruators in schools with 75% or more students in free and reduced price  lunch programs. By creating a program that prioritizes getting products into these low-resource schools, I have been able to ensure that my Gold Award will impact those with the greatest need. How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? The grant program created, if passed, will be sustained through the state. It has currently cleared the House Education committee and still needs to pass through the Senate, but I’m very hopeful and confident in this because of the bill’s success thus far. If the bill does not pass, my work has still inspired significant initiatives such as the commitments from Jefferson County and Denver Public Schools to provide district-wide products. What is your project’s global and/or national connection? My efforts to eradicate period and poverty started small within my own high school and expanded from there to address the needs of students in my district and finally throughout my state. The attention the bill has gained through various media outlets including a podcast based out of New York will help spread this movement throughout the nation with the help of various organizations and nonprofits I partnered with and secured testimony from such groups as Period.Org, Period Kits Denver, and Free The Period Co. which have all been spreading the word about the bill through social media and blog posts. Period poverty and stigma is rampant worldwide. There is a lot of work to be done to solve this global epidemic. By normalizing periods and providing for menstruating minors in developing  countries, it will become easier for us to view periods as normal aspects of life. Providing products to those in need will become a matter of public health and safety. This will allow our society to begin to prioritize addressing the unmet needs of menstruators all around the world. What did you learn about yourself? I have learned that I am 100% capable of advocating for my ideas and beliefs, even in the face of opposition and I can respectfully and intelligently disagree and vocalize my disagreement. My project has shown me that my ideas and solutions are worthwhile and can help the world around me. By spending so much time outside of my comfort zone, I’ve expanded my comfort zone. Countless meetings, proposals, presentations, interviews, etc. have made me feel like I can handle any pressure or task. How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? My Gold Award has entirely changed my idea of what my future will look like. Going into my project, I was fairly uncertain of what exactly I wanted to do. Throughout my Gold Award journey, I’ve discovered the passion and interest I have in policy and the legislative process. I’ve discovered I want to pursue a career in this area. Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? I feel that earning my Gold Award has allowed me to finally put all the leadership skills Girl Scouts armed me with to use. I was able to truly find real life applications to everything I’ve learned over the years about being assertive and creating change when I see a problem. How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)? I truly feel that I have become a risk-taker. From speaking about taboo, vulnerable issues in a testimony before a legislative committee, to proposing a resolution to my school board, to lobbying to General Assembly members and senators, my Gold Award has put me in countless situations that would have terrified me a year ago. I have learned to believe in myself and believe that if I put in the work and research, I will be heard, and deserve to be heard. Taking risks throughout my Gold Award project has allowed me to become a braver, stronger, and more confident version of myself. **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. #BrianaTitone #GoldAward #Arvada #HighestAwards #RepresentativeBrianaTitone #GoldAwardGirlScout #GirlScoutGoldAward #periodpoverty #periodstigma #MetroDenver #TakeAction #ArvadaWestHighSchool #menstrualproductsproductdispensers #period

UPDATE: The Daisy Flower Garden Journey planned for Sunday, May 17, 2020 at the Denver Botanic Gardens has been canceled. If we are able to reschedule this event, we will let you know. In the meantime, if you’re able to hang on/keep collecting empty cookie packages, please do. GSCO can still use them for future projects even if this event cannot be rescheduled. Girl Scouts of Colorado’s annual Daisy Flower Garden event at the Denver Botanic Gardens is right around the corner! We are collecting empty Girl Scout Cookie packages (cardboard packages only) for an upcycled craft at the event and would love your help with the collection. All varieties in cardboard packages are accepted, and packages should be empty and flattened. Troops in the Metro Denver region, you can bring your empty packages to your next service unit meeting and your volunteer support specialist will bring them to the Denver office for you. We need about 300 empty packages. This blog will be updated when we have collected enough. Questions? Email aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. #cookiepackages #DenverBotanicGardens #2020DaisyFlowerGarden #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #Communitypartnerships #Denver #cookies #GirlScoutCookies #communitypartners #DaisyFlowerGarden #GirlScoutCookieProgram #MetroDenver #emptycookiepackages

“What is your Secret to Success? Girls have the unique opportunity to ask that question and many more of top local women leaders our first “Secrets to Success” event in the Northern & Northeastern CO region! It will be Saturday, April 18, 2020 from 9 a.m. – noon at Aims Community College (5401 20th St., Greeley, 80634). Link to register: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/secrets_to_success_1616242345.html Girls will connect with professional women in a variety of career fields, giving them a unique opportunity to directly engage with incredible women in our community. This program joins today’s leaders with the next generation, to share their expertise and provide inspiration for success. ** This program is open to all girls in grades 6-12. You do not need to be a Girl Scout to attend.** Registration is $5 per girl and includes snacks. Financial assistance is available, including travel stipend if program site is more than 100 miles round trip from your home. Registration closes on April 14 or when event reaches capacity. This is a drop-off event. In partnership with Aims Community College, we will host a separate, concurrent campus tour and information session for interested adults who wish to remain on campus during girl programming. Completed permission forms are required at check in. Download here. For more information, contact aimee.artzer@gscolorado.org. 40963104_gsco_2020_sts_greeley #Greeley #NorthernampNortheasternCOregion #Communitypartnerships #SecretstoSuccess #funddevelopment #communitypartners #AimsCommunityCollege #2020SecretstoSuccess

Submitted by Amanda Brown Metro Denver Westminster The girls did a cookie booth and invited the firefighters who were shopping to check out their cookie booth. They bought two packages of cookies and loved the sales skills the girls learned. These Girl Scouts also earned the Uniform to Uniform patch! Learn how to earn yours: http://gscoblog.org/2020/01/uniform-to-uniform-patch-for-the-2020-girl-scout-cookie-program/ #UniformtoUniformpatch #Westminster #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #2020UniformtoUniformPatch #UniformtoUniform #cookies #GirlScoutCookies #GirlScoutCookieProgram #MetroDenver #firefighters

Submitted by Kay Martley, Girl Scout volunteer and Liaison with Hearts Across the Miles If you have family or friends who are currently deployed, please send their APO addresses to hatm@gmx.com no later than Monday March 16, 2020. We will be packing boxes of Girl Scout Cookies on Saturday, March 21 at the Colorado Armory in Aurora to be mailed to the addresses provided. If you have cookies to donate to the military, please make a reservation for drop off with hatm@gmx.com. You will receive an email with drop-off instructions for Saturday morning on March 21. If you would like to help pack cookies on March 21, also email hatm@gmx.com. If you would like to make cards or notes for our troops, you can mail them to Kay Martley. To get her address or to answer any questions, email Kay at mart1k@yahoo.com. #HeartsAcrosstheMiles #GSCOevents #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #GirlScoutCookies #GirlScoutCookieProgram #MetroDenver #military

Submitted by Amy Caperton Metro Denver Littleton I wanted to share this picture of these two Girl Scout Ambassadors. They met the third day of kindergarten. They joined Daisies together and have best friends and troopmates for 13 years. They have sold cookies door-to-door and at booths together for 13 years. This picture was taken at their LAST ever cookie booth. They will be attending different colleges in the fall, but we know they will remain lifelong friends. These girls have spent years living the G.I.R.L. model in getting their Bronze and Silver Awards (working on their Golds), traveling, working as Program Aides a LOT, participating in Outdoor Adventure Club (even scaled a 14er last summer), and made many memories that will last a lifetime along the way. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too. #OutdoorAdventureClub #HighestAwards #SilverAward #2020GirlScoutCookieProgram #GirlScoutCookies #BronzeAward #GirlScoutCookieProgram #MetroDenver #TakeAction #Littleton

In 2019, four young women attended the WAGGGS-sponsored Juliette Gordon Low World Seminar with support from  Look Wider International Travel Scholarships.  All four secured global connections at this prestigious convening – including cultural adventures and the opportunity to make friends for life. Older Girl Scouts and adult members (ages 12-30) who dream of traveling independently and meeting Girl Scout sisters around the world should apply! Awards range from $100 – $500 and support approved travel. Applicants must be a member of Girl Scouts of Colorado Girl Scout Council and a resident of Colorado. Apply here: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/for-volunteers/forms-and-resources/scholarship-application.html Look Wider International Travel Scholarships are made possible by the Rae Ann and Richard E. Dougherty Look Wider International Travel Fund. Thanks to this generous commitment, Girl Scouts of Colorado will award scholarships for girls and young women to explore the world and the international sisterhood of Girl Scouts. Learn more about Girl Scout Destinations and other international travel at forgirls.girlscouts.org/travel. GSCO Look Wider 19-20 #LookWiderInternationalTravelScholarship #funddevelopment #LookWider #travel