Inspiring Words from our Silver Award Girl Scouts

On February 20, 2021 Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida gathered in West Palm Beach for the second annual Silver Award Showcase. This year we celebrated the Silver Award Class of 2020 comprised of 82 Girl Scouts who completed 40 projects, totaling over 4,000 hours of combined community service! In a year with so much uncertainty, these girls remained flexible and accomplished remarkable projects.

Not only did our Silver Awardees get to present their projects with pride, but we also celebrated them during a special awards ceremony where they received their Silver Award pin and certificate. Girls heard from our CEO, Board Chair, Council Staff, and two Girl Scouts who earned their Silver Award in 2019…

Meet Linda S. and Samantha W., two Senior Girl Scouts from Troop 20570 who took on bullying through an awareness campaign called “Stand Up and Be an Upstander”.

From the 2019 Silver Award Showcase: *Linda S. (on left) began her Girl Scout journey in Kindergarten as a first year Daisy, and is now in her eleventh year.* Samantha W. (on right), is also in her 11th year in Girl Scouts, a program she adores and loves, just as many of you have too!

Here is what these outstanding young women had to say:

LS: It feels like yesterday that Samantha and I were earning our Silver Award as members of the Silver Award class of 2019 right here; we are so proud of all of you, Congratulations!

SW: In addition to earning our Bronze and Silver awards, Linda and I have been a part of many organizations and groups within Girl Scouts. I have been a Media Girl for the past five years, a member of the CEO Advisory Board, a member of the Cookie Extreme Team, a girl delegate for the Aquarius service unit, as well as a newly elected Girl member of the Board of Directors. Additionally, Linda and I help co-lead a brand-new online Brownie and Daisy troop within Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida – called JumpStart.

LS: During my time as a Girl Scout, I have been a member of the CEO Advisory Board, the Cookie Extreme Team, a Media Girl since the team’s inception, and now a member of the Board of Directors, and I am also an elected National Delegate representing the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida; it is such an honor to be able to represent our council at a National level and help make important decisions about the future of Girl Scouts! I mentioned earlier that it feels like yesterday when we were earning our Silver Awards; and now I am proud to say that we are both working towards our Gold Awards.

SW: All of these experiences have brought Linda and I closer together as sister Girl Scouts and allowed us to grow as active members of our community and world! There is no way we could have ever been prepared to work on our Gold Awards without first making our way through the Silver Award process. Just like you, we were thrilled to complete the Silver Award journey. Even if you don’t feel it yet, we guarantee that as you work your way through the Girl Scouts’ Highest Awards, the lessons you’ve learned will support you as you grow as a Girl Scout and as an individual.

All of these experiences have brought Linda and I closer together as sister Girl Scouts and allowed us to grow as active members of our community and world!

Linda and I earned our Silver Award as a team by writing, planning, producing, starring in, and promoting a Public Service Announcement (also known as a PSA) about the need to stand up to bullies and commit to being active anti-bully member of society who will work to prevent bullying. After creating our PSA, we created a flyer with key messages and the word about spread our project on social media. We shared it with our target audience (students) and others who work closely with them, like educators.

LS: During the process of earning our Silver Award, Samantha and I learned to identify and play to our individual strengths. Our goal was to find a creative way to combine a serious topic that we wanted to bring awareness to (bullying) with passions that we were developing. We both love the arts; I love theatre, singing, writing scripts and film-making. Performing is my passion! We enjoyed earning our Silver Award in a way that allowed us the space for our freedom and creativity as well as producing a project that brings awareness to a serious issue we care about.

SW: I personally have a strong passion for communications and want to one day work in the media. So, creating a project using skills I had, like film-making and marketing, was a no brainer for me! I found bullying to be a serious issue that children and teens deal with today. Both of us wanted to focus on middle school because bullying happens some much and at the worst levels. What I loved most about our Silver Award was the way we were able to make a project that would help others, in a way that harnessed our interests and allowed each of us to shine using our respective skills and passions!

We were able to make a project that would help others, in a way that harnessed our interests and allowed each of us to shine

LS: Along the way we encountered a couple of obstacles. We thought maybe this may have happened to you too. Our original project idea wasn’t approved but instead of giving up, we went back to the drawing board and started brainstorming again about topics we were interested in. We faced another challenge because we started our project with three of us but had to make changes when one girl decided not to continue the Silver Award Project. Even though we were frustrated sometimes, we noticed that with each challenge we faced, we were able to use skills we learned in Girl Scouts like perseverance, persistence, creativity, and innovation to continue our journey towards earning our Silver Award.

SW: We learned that the challenges we faced during the Silver Award project made us look at things a little differently and discover solutions that we didn’t know were there at first. It took us a while to understand all the ways that the project both challenged us and helped us – and how it helped us both get to the place where we were able to submit a project to earn The Gold Award.

We’re both so honored to be able to speak with you all today and to show you what’s next. You have already accomplished so much – and no matter what your project is about, where you got the inspiration, or what specific challenges you faced along the way – we know that you have grown into true G.I.R.L.s! You are the Go-getters, Innovators, Risk takers, and Leaders, who inspire others to make the world a better place! Congratulations on everything you have worked to accomplish up until now, as well as what you plan to do in your future!

LS: It is an honor to be among the first to congratulate the Silver Award Class of 2020. Girls, Congratulations, we can’t wait to see what you do next! Samantha and I talked about what advice we would have wanted to have heard as we earned our Silver Award… so, we will leave you with this: always remember that the journey, rather than the destination, is where the best life lessons are learned.

Thank you to Linda, Sam, and to every girl who has earned a Girl Scout High Award. These girls are out there making a sustainable difference in the world and inspiring others in their wake. To learn more about the Girl Scout Silver Award head to gssef.org.