By Kieran Higgins
Renae Brown, a TPA Freshman, recently obtained the Girl Scout Silver Award!
The Girl Scouts of America, founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, inspires young women to become courageous and build interpersonal skills like leadership, confidence, communication, social skills, and also teaches entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and academic success.
The requirements to earn a silver award are not effortless. Scouts must obtain 50 hours of service in a personal project to earn their silver award, and if they want to get their gold, they must start over and work a new project for 80 hours by themselves.
With numerous other responsibilities, the silver award may not seem that hard, but it takes a long time to complete. Before each award you have to do a “journey,” and have to do many steps and processes before eventually working on an award.
Renae joined girl scouts when she was 5 and continues to the present day. “At first I was in it for the camping and treats, but now I do it for scholarships,” she said.
How do girl scout awards look on college applications? Well they look good! Especially the gold award, which looks great on college applications and can fetch you a $1000 dollar scholarship. Since girl scouts form great time management skills and entrepreneurial skills, it makes colleges and jobs look at your applications with greater interest.
For Renae’s bronze award, she made a bookshelf filled with books, and for her silver award, she helped deliver books and supplies to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. These activities built up her communication skills and entrepreneurial skills, where she had to organize these activities and contact strangers that she didn’t previously know.
Renae’s eventual goal is to obtain the gold award, and she still keeps motivation and courage to do it everyday. “It’s good for scholarships, and it’s also helpful for getting the Congressional Award Gold Medal,” she said.
With this accomplishment, Renae continues to have determination to go higher and strive for better!