Gold Star for Gold Awards!

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Everyone knows the Girl Scouts: those girls always selling cookies. Always. And when I say always, I mean I toted a bag of cookies around school for a MONTH… and my friend still has cookies sitting in the back of her car because WE ARE ALWAYS SELLING COOKIES. But being a Girl Scout is about more than selling cookies. For Girl Scouts, there are final stages in junior or senior year that serve as a kind of extended goodbye, one of which is the Gold Award.

Much like the whole “a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn’t a square” nonsense (I wasn’t the best at geometry), Girl Scouts who don’t pursue a Gold Award are still Girl Scouts – it’s completely optional. But many decide to pursue a Gold Award in hopes of bettering the community and raising awareness about an issue that they believe in.

There aren’t a lot of requirements to earn a Gold Award other than that you need to 1) Be a Girl Scout and 2) Attend an hour-long workshop where they throw so many terms at you, you start to feel a little light-headed. Unfortunately, they make up for these lack of requirements with a stupid amount of paperwork. (Girl Scouts of America, please do not come for me).

I cannot even begin to tell you how long this paperwork takes. You must fill everything out, get signatures, and find people willing to answer your questions. For instance, I filled out about 15 pages of paperwork (double-sided) only to have it SENT BACK TO ME because IT WAS THE WRONG PAPERWORK.

It’s fine, I’m completely fine. After you complete the paperwork, you can actually start the process of helping your community. (The paperwork is still pretty hard though; I really need some help).

While I’m still over here filling out paperwork, I want to tell you about some of the other Girl Scouts I know who are in the process of getting their Gold Awards.

Catherine’s Project

My friend Catherine Droggitis (‘20) decided to focus her Gold Award on sexual assault and harassment. She is specifically targeting laws that protect the abusers. She is in the process of calling different battered women’s shelters to see how she can help and how our community can be involved in changing the laws.

Catherine Droggitis (’20) and the rest of her troop, Girl Scout Troop 6483!

Molly’s Project

Another Girl Scout who completed her Gold Award is Molly Sentowski (‘20). She did her entire Gold Award on the benefits of healthy eating and small changes you can make in your diet to make you healthier. Molly created a website for her Gold Award project, and it details how to read food labels, offers tips on eating healthy, and suggests some meals and snacks for athletes specifically.

On her website, Molly mentions that by the year 2030, HALF of the American population will be obese. That is almost 160 million people, and if that doesn’t instill some fear in you, I don’t know what will. If you want to learn about how to lead a healthier lifestyle and swap some of the foods in your diet, click right HERE!

Many people think that being a Girl Scout is just going camping and selling cookies, but being a Girl Scout is also about helping the community and doing your part in helping the world. My whole Gold Award process has taught me how to involve myself in the community. So, even if you aren’t a Girl Scout, go out and do some good today! Plant a tree, pet a dog, give someone a hug! Be the best version of you!