Gold Award Ideas: Acceptance Discrepancies

From Daniella
My oldest created a monarch waystation and a prayer labyrinth. Then did presentations on mental health and Monarchs. The youngest is in process. Installed planting beds for a community garden that are being taken care of by an autistic adult group and the food goes to help those in need. Final step, she us creating a video for social media on what autistic adults do in our community and how you can create opportunities for them to work and volunteer.

From Shelly:
Our council will not accept creating a website, and are VERY hesitant to accept building anything physical as a project unless a scout adds enough to the build (like educational signs or seminars about their build) even though both those things are perfectly acceptable elsewhere.

From Kimberly:
My daughter set up a socialization event during the Jr High’s orientation. The kids would break out into 3 groups based on hobbies like sporty, geeky, and artistic. They would do activities to get to know others who liked the same things so that they would know other kids when they started Jr High the next week. She also had to modify it for online due to Covid.

From Bmack:
My Scout & her friends built dog beds for rescues. Coordinated a huge donation drive for a pet shelter, and high school kids could donate items instead of service hours for honor society. Then created pamphlets about pet rescue & aftercare for the shelter. It was hard to find community partners to work with because it was the COVID era.

From Laura:
It must vary by council because everything can change if you get a new advisor. I watched a girl with a fantastic project have to redo most of it because she got a new advisor.

From Jennifer:
We have two gold projects that are active in our troop. One is training senior citizens on cyber security scams, and the other started a children’s choir.

From Allison:
My oldest built a medevac helipad for a remote community and created a website with instructions and necessary info to install them other places. My other daughter is installing a memorial grove at our veterans’ memorial.

From Maureen:
The Food Pantry was developed in our Main Library for folks who were unable to obtain food during traditional pantry hours due to work.

From Tasha:
My daughter is doing an accessibility and inclusion advocacy project related to the lack of accessible playground equipment where we live. She is meeting with our city parks department and state senator to advocate for better accessibility, doing a social media campaign and website with information booklets to download, badge workshops for scouts, and information sessions for our community to teach them how to advocate for better accessibility in public spaces. We tried to include a fundraising campaign for accessible park equipment as part of it but our council said it would present challenges (like permitting, parks department buy-in, high cost) and discouraged her from doing that as part of her project. As others have said, it totally depends on the council.

From Katrina:
My cousin’s daughter’s proposal in California was sent back three times before she gave up. My daughter, currently a senior, has elected not to do it. I’m kind of sad about it, but her focus has shifted.

From Maggie:
My daughter, Paige, fundraised almost $19,000, purchased 8 percussion pieces, and installed an outdoor percussion park at a local camp to serve the disabled camper population. She also provided community education about the benefits of music therapy and how it supports inclusivity to meet the sustainability element. You can find out more about Paige’s Gold Award project here.

From Lynn:
My daughter researched the nutrition needs of dancers and also confronted the stereotypes about eating disorders in dancers and other sports/professions. She developed a workshop that she presented at some local studios and virtually. This workshop’s presentation was incorporated into a dance seminar high school class. She also developed a website to share the nutrition information as well as resources for help.

From Lynne:
Another girl in our troop did a breast cancer is all year not just October awareness campaign, organized a volleyball tournament where she disseminated information and resources and has the commitment of a local volleyball club to make it an annual thing. The second year is already scheduled. As part of it she also collected donations of caring baskets for those under going treatment at our local hospital.

From Shanna:
My daughter’s Gold was a creative writing club at both the elementary school and the library. She published her curriculum and made it free for teachers and libraries to implement in other communities.

From Sherry:
I have 1 doing a Mental Health Awareness walk for the community & my other one has created/founded an American Sign Language club for teens at the community library. She plans to open it up to the community more as well. Good luck to all the gold award seekers!! Don’t give up! Keep going!!!

From Sammie
I started a toy drive that hosted annual events in a community where we have activities and a toy giveaway. My sustainability piece was a manual on how to start and run a toy drive!

From Patty
My oldest taught Spanish to elementary school students before it became part of the curriculum. My 2nd taught swim lessons. My 3rd is currently teaching cooking classes to high school students students

From Bronze Pear:
Often I’ve seen that the project submitted is more a “Community Service” rather than a “Take Action”. They look for uniqueness and creativity. The other HUGE thing is sustainability. It has to last. Flower gardens are nice, but who is going to provide perpetual care once the girl graduates and moves away to college/career? Think big! Think long term!

Many people don’t like to share ideas because, well, it is their girls idea. GoGold does have a great tool to walk through what may work best for your girl. My daughter first thought she wanted to work with animals. Then after going through the first steps of GoGold, realized that wasn’t best for her.

Also, her project was sent back for revisions also before being approved. She’s been working on it now for almost a year. She is about to move to the final steps. I’m so proud. Keep encouraging your Girl Scout. She’ll get there.

From Teresa
In 1999, I did juvenile arthritis awareness, sent a packet home to parents & arranged for speakers, volunteered with our local youth arthritis organization at our local hospital for events, since we are a very sports-heavy town across the whole school district.

From Sherry
I have 1 doing a Mental Health Awareness walk for the community & my other one has created/founded an American Sign Language club for teens at the community library. She plans to open it up to the community more as well. Good luck to all the gold award seekers!! Don’t give up! Keep going!!!

From Tauleece
My daughter created a hand painted, interactive bird viewing wall to educate the public about native bird populations in our eco-region. And she created a manual for nature centers in other areas to be able to do the same.

From Tasha:
My daughter is doing an accessibility and inclusion advocacy project related to the lack of accessible playground equipment where we live. She is meeting with our city parks department and state senator to advocate for better accessibility, doing a social media campaign and website with information booklets to download, badge workshops for scouts, and information sessions for our community to teach them how to advocate for better accessibility in public spaces. We tried to include a fundraising campaign for accessible park equipment as part of it but our council said it would present challenges (like permitting, parks department buy-in, high cost) and discouraged her from doing that as part of her project. As others have said, it totally depends on the council.