Awards

The Girl Scout Silver Award

The Girls Scout Silver Award is the highest award that can be earned by a Girl Scout in grades 7-9. It requires you to build your skills, explore career possibilities, increase your leadership skills, and make a commitment toward improving yourself as a person.

You must be a registered Girl Scout before you can begin working toward your Silver Award and between the ages of 11 - 14 years of age. All girls can work toward earning the Girl Scout Silver Award even if you have not been a Girl Scout prior to registering.

Note to girls that are currently Junior Girl Scouts: If you have been working on your Junior Girl Scout Bronze Award, you must have all work completed before you begin your Silver Award. This is insure that work is not counted twice and that girls are not working on both awards at once. Once you begin your Silver, you cannot go back to complete any work on the Bronze.

To begin working on the Girl Scout Silver Award, you will need the following resources:

1. Silver Award Binder Insert "Go For It!"
2. Interest Projects for Girl Scouts 11-17 (same as IP Book for Cadettes & Senior Girl Scouts)
3. Focus Book: Uniquely Me! The Real Deal
Focus Book: Looking In, Reaching Out

There are six steps to earning the Silver Award:

Step 1 - Get Ready

• Read Girl Scout Silver Award "Go FOr OT" Binder Insert
• Develop a timeline with your Advisor for Steps #2 and #3
• Make a contract with your Advisor from page 9 of "Go For It!" insert

Step 2 - Earn the Silver Leadership Award

• Earn three Interest Projects form Interest Projects for Girls 11-17
• Complete Focus Book: Uniquely Me! The Real Deal
• Put Leadership into action: Spend 15 hours in a leadership position.
• Write in journal in "Go For It!" binder insert
• Evaluate your progress with your advisor

Step 3 - Earn the Silver Career Award

• Complete "What's Out There?" on pg. 15 of "Go For It!" binder Insert.
• Complete "Who's Out There?" on pg 15 of "Go For It!" binder insert.
• Earn the Your Own Business Interest Project Award
• Write in Journal in the "Go For It!" binder insert.
• Evaluate your progress with your advisor

Step 4 - Earn the Silver 4B Challenge

• BECOME: Complete activities on pg. 20 of "Go For It!"
• BELONG: Earn Looking In, Reaching Out Focus Book
• BELIEVE: Complete activities on pg. 22-23 of "Go For It!"
• BUILD: Complete activities on pg. 22-23 of "Go For It!"
• Write in journal in "Go For It!"
• Evaluate your progress with your advisor

Step 5 - Complete the Girl Scout Silver Award Project (Min. of 40 hours)

• Plan it: Complete activities on pg. 25 of "Go For It!" binder insert.
• Know More About It: Complete activities on pg. 25 of "Go For It!"
• Choose It: Complete activities on pg. 26 of "Go For It!" binder insert.
• Map It: Complete activities on pg. 27 of "Go For It!"
• Make adjustments to your plan as needed
• Do It! Put your plan into action.

Step 6 - Think about it and do the paperwork

• Reflect on it: Complete activities on pg. 29 of "Go For It!"
• Submit your final report to Girl Scout Redwood Falls Service Center.

The Girl Scout Silver Award project builds upon your accomplishments in Girl Scouting and represents your personal action plan for helping others. The project can be done in or outside of Girl Scouting and must reflect some aspect of community service. Your project must total a minimum of forty (40) hours but you may use some of the hours working on the 4B Challenge toward these forty. (COuncil recommends not more than five hours be applied toward the project.)

If you work with other Girls Scouts on your project, each girl is required to commit her own 40 hours to the project.

Work Completed through school, church, or other extra curricular activities may be applied toward earning any of the awards as you work toward fulfilling the requirements for the Girl Scout Silver Award.

Going for the Gold!

You have decided to begin your Girl Scout Award but have lots of questions. Here's how you can get started today.

• You will need the following four resource books: a Studio 2B Focus Book of your choosing, a copy of A Resource Book for Senior Girls Scouts, Interest Projects for Cadette and Senior Girls Scouts, a copy of Safety-Wise, and the "Go For It" Girls Scout Gold Award Focus Insert.
• You must be a registered Girls Scout at least 14 years of age or in the ninth grade to begin work on the Gold Award. you cannot work on your Gold Award project until you are 15 years old or in 10th grade.
• It is NOT required to have earned the Girl Scout Silver Award before working toward the Gold but you cannot complete any work on the Silver Award once you have begun on your Gold Award Work.

The Girls Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, has Seven Steps, all of which promote community service, personal and spiritual growth, positive values, and leadership skills.

Step 1: Build a Framework

• Read the Focus Book insert "Go For It" or attend the annual Studio 2B Workshop held each fall by Girl Scouts Redwood Falls Service Center.
• Meet with your troop advisor and develop a timeline for working on the Gold Award requirements
• Make an agreement with the troop advisor.

Step 2: Gold Leadership Award

• Complete three Interest Project Award Patches
• Complete any Studio 2B Focus Book
• Take Action: Spend 30 hours in a leadership role
• Journal It

Step 3: Career Award

• Do 1 or more activities for a total of 40 hours

Step 4: Gold 4Bs Challenge (You must be 15 years old to complete Steps 4-7)

• Become: Assess your set of skills
• Belong: Create a community profile
• Believe: Develop a vision statement
• Build: Develop a network of people to help

Step 5: Gold Award Project

• Plan It: 65 hours planning & action (may include hours from Step 4: Gold 4Bs Challenge.) **Gold Award Committee suggests no more than 10 hours of the 4B Challenge should be included as part of the project.
• Know More About It: Collect information
• Choose It: Brainstorm solutions; budget.
• Map It: Create timeline of project steps

You must submit your project proposal to the Girl Scouts Redwood Falls Service Center Gold Award Committee for approval before you can begin the actual project. Please plan for up to six weeks for the approval process to allow time for questions form the committee.

Step 6: Take Action

• Do It: Put your plan into action

Step 7: Reflect

• Submit your final report to the Redwood Falls Service Center Gold Award Committee. Take time to think through what you learned and honestly summarize up what took place. Noting that you could have done a few things differently is not a sign of an unsuccessful project but an indication of learning!
The first three requirements to earning the Girl Scout Gold Award may be done in any order but must be complete before you begin work on the fourth requirement. There is no minimum time period during which these requirements must be met. However, it takes most girls between one and two years to complete them, depending on how busy they are. The quality of the learning experience is what is important; not how fast you are done!

The Gold Award Project

• make sure that the project you select is one based on your interests. Take time to think about your skills, individual talents, and what interests you most - not what others are doing or what someone may try to pressure you into doing.
• Remember that the project should serve a community need. This can mean your neighborhood, city, school, county, church, or your community. Your are strongly encouraged to look beyond Girl Scouting to work on a project that is outside of your 'comfort zone.'
• Carefully consider if this project will take the required 65 hours to complete. This is the minimum amount of time required and many go far beyond in order to be done well. Make sure the project you select is something you have a passion for so that you are inspired to finish.
• Allow enough time when submitting your application for approval and your final report. Things to keep in mind:
1. Allow up to six weeks for project approval. The approval process is accomplished through the mail and over e-mail. It may take several exchanges of information before enough information is obtained and all questions are answered. The committee's role is to assist you in achieving your goal and that your project is worthy of the distinction it brings.
2. Neatly typed reports are encouraged. The Gold Award is a reflection of your best effort so take time to do a thorough job!
3. Your project application must be approved by the Girl Scout Gold Award Committee before you begin working on the project.
4. Start early! We recommend not waiting until the middle of your senior year in high school to submit your project plan. You could encounter a time crunch that will make it challenging to complete your project and final report before the required deadline of Sept. 3othof the year you graduate.