Fall 2021 Lead & Learn

Advice From Our Highest Award ProgramManager

Troop leaders, parents, guardians and family friends play a huge role in a Girl Scout’s decision to go for a Highest Award. While earning a Highest Award is an individual or troop accomplishment, girls still need support and guidance from the adults around them. With initial adult involvement, the girls will feel more secure to propose an idea and be able to take the project and run with it independently. Girls going for Bronze and Silver may need help brainstorming project ideas or organizations to work with. Girls going for Gold may need someone to proofread their proposal or give them feedback on their presentation.

Ally Roehl, Girl Scout Highest Award Program Manager

Why should you encourage your Girl Scout to earn a Highest Award? • University research indicates that adding the Gold Award to a college application is a critical element in the admissions decision process • Gold Award Recipients who join the armed services enter one rank higher than other recruits • Higher Awards are a progression of passion and drive that challenges the girls to dig deeper into their passion and drive to create something amazing and impactful in their own community • Girls who earn the Highest Awards in Girl Scouts develop courage, self-confidence, leadership skills and inspiration for future community service • The skills they earn in the award will serve them in their professional development and the small percentage of girls who complete it form a community of like-minded sisters that connects across the country and back again

Written by Ally Roehl with contribution from Gold Award Committee members Dora Tabachnick and Pat Puller

Be the Support She Needs As She Strives to Earn One of Girl Scouting’s Highest Awards As an adult supporter, your role, whether you are a troop volunteer, parent or project advisor, is to encourage your Girl Scouts to think critically, be open to multiple perspectives, investigate thoroughly, work cooperatively, and identify resources within and beyond their local communities. You are supporting girls as they develop into leader for today and tomorrow. When supporting your Girl Scouts as they earn one of Girl Scoutings Highest Awards, it is important to have the right tools and knowledge. By attending one of Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri’s online Highest Award courses you will learn how to prepare girls to earn their Bronze, Silver or Gold Awards, what the awards are and what steps are involved in completing it.

Turn to pg. 44 in this publication to read complete details on our Highest Award trainings and instructions for accessing the courses on gsLearn.

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