|
Girl
Scouts Celebrate Commitment to Service
Girls explore leadership skills and careers while
giving back to others
Girl Scouts are truly making the world a better
place. A group of nearly 200 Girl Scout Cadettes recently completed Silver Award projects ranging from an extreme room makeover
at the Department of Social Services, to collections of needed items for animal shelters and hospitals, to the creation of
a library filled with books for a school’s classrooms in need.
In recognition of their achievements,
the eighth and ninth grade Girl Scouts were awarded the Silver Award, Girl Scouting’s second highest honor, at Mt. Wilson
Vista Council’s 2008 Silver Award Ceremony on Thursday, May 8, at St. Luke Parish Hall in Temple City. The girls represent
communities from throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
Longtime Girl Scout volunteer Diane Gin served as the Mistress of Ceremony
and 2005 Gold Award recipient Juliana Capra, who is attending California State Polytechnic University of Pomona to earn a
bachelor’s of arts in liberal studies, was the evening's guest speaker.
Capra credits Girl Scouts to helping her
discover her career path. When she was a Cadette Girl Scout, she volunteered at summer day camp as a program aide and took
on various leadership roles. She quickly found a passion for working with children and realized she wanted to become a middle
school science teacher.
“Each and every one of you has something waiting inside, a little something that is waiting to ignite
that fire inside. The key is to find out what can ignite that little spark, to nurture it, to fuel it, to protect it
from dying out, and lucky for me, Girl Scouts helped to light and nurture my fire,” Capra shared with this year’s
Silver Award recipients.
[Read Juliana Capra’s full speech]
The Silver Award represents a girl's accomplishments in Girl Scouting and her community as she grows and
works to improve her life and the lives of others. The first phase of the Girl Scout Silver Award process helps girls build
skills, explore careers, gain leadership skills, and make a commitment to self-improvement.
Following completion
of the first requirements, girls create a Silver Award Project that benefits the community.
“This project is a personal
action plan for helping others. It is an opportunity to use all of the skills and talents that were developed in the
first phase of the process, in order to benefit others,” said Brenda Berg, CEO of Mt. Wilson Vista Council.
The project can
be done as an individual or with a group. If the project is completed as a group, a girl must be responsible for a specific
part of the project, which requires a minimum of 40 hours of planning and execution by each girl. “The girls work
closely with their adult advisors throughout the Silver Award process,” said Berg. “These dedicated advisors guide
the girls as they begin to pave their own paths to their full potential and discover their interests and the world around
them."
Many girls who earn the Silver Award go on to earn the Gold Award, Girl Scouting’s highest honor, which
also involves a service project with lasting impact on the community.
Attention Silver Award
recipients! We invite you to send a brief story and pictures of your Silver Award projects to be highlighted
on the GSMWVC Web site. Send information to communications@gsmwvc.org.
|
