The Girl Scout Leadership Experience teaches girls to explore their community, identify the root cause of an issue and create a Take Action Project that addresses the root cause through direct action, education and advocacy.
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WHat is the SILVER award?
The Silver Award is the highest honor that a Cadette Girl Scout can earn. It is a 50-hour Take Action project, usually completed with a small team of 4 or less Girl Scout Cadettes. Take Action projects address the root cause of a community issue through direct action or advocacy.
WHo can earn it?
It can be earned by registered Girl Scouts in the 6th-8th grade or equivalent.
What ARE THE PRE-REQUISITES?
Prior to beginning the Silver Award, Cadettes must complete a Cadette-level Journey, including the Journey Take Action project. Cadette Journey Take Action projects follow the same steps as the Silver Award, but are smaller scale projects.
Why do you need to complete a journey first?
During the Journey, the Cadettes plan and carry out a Take Action Project (TAP) addressing an issue covered during the Journey. Think of the Journey TAP as a practice Silver Award because it follows the same steps as the Silver Award.
The main difference between the Journey TAP and the Silver Award are:
Great SILVER Award Examples
We have gathered some great Silver Award project examples to inspire you HERE.
WHEN SHOULD GIRL SCOUTS START WORKING ON THEIR SILVER AWARD?
Cadette Girl Scouts can start their Silver Award as soon as they have completed a Cadette Journey including the Take Action Project. My personal suggestion is to do badges for skill building during the 6th grade year, choose the journey at the end of 6th. Begin the journey in 7th grade. Once the journey Take Action project is complete, begin the Silver at the end of 7th or beginning of 8th. The suggested hours to spend on the Silver Award project is 50 hours per Girl Scout. It is a big project. Since girls are so busy during school, it can be helpful to do work on their project during the summer.
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Silver Award Resources
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The GSUSA Cadette Workbook for Earning Your Silver Award Guide is the place to start. It is designed as a resource for Cadette Girl Scouts to use to plan their Silver Awards.
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The GSUSA Adult Guide for Earning the Silver Award Guide It is designed as a resource for adults who are assisting Cadettes. It is on your Council's Silver Award page or you can download it here.
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The GSUSA guides above are the best place to start, but here a few more tips for successful Silver Awards.
Do a good journey Take Action Project
A Cadette Journey Take Action project is a practice for the Silver Award. It is the same steps on a smaller scale. Keep those steps in mind when you help them plan their Silver Award.
- Make sure they pick an issue they truly care about.
- Ensure that each Cadette has an active role in the project.
- Challenge the Cadettes to reach outside their comfort zones.
- Include education and advocacy to go beyond community service.
Learn the difference between Community Service and Take Action Projects
A community service project is a one time thing or a short term fix. Examples are collections, volunteering at an event, fixing or beautifying things, and filling food boxes. Community service is wonderful, but the need will still be there next month when the donated items are gone or more food boxes need to be filled.
A Take Action Project meets a need in the longer term by addressing the cause through direct action or education. When they Take Action to earn their Silver Award, the Cadette Girl Scouts find an issue or community need, figure out what they could do to "fix" it, decide who they need to reach out to or help, and advocate for their issue. Click here for more information and examples. Click here for an interactive quiz to see if you understand the difference!
A Take Action Project meets a need in the longer term by addressing the cause through direct action or education. When they Take Action to earn their Silver Award, the Cadette Girl Scouts find an issue or community need, figure out what they could do to "fix" it, decide who they need to reach out to or help, and advocate for their issue. Click here for more information and examples. Click here for an interactive quiz to see if you understand the difference!
Help the girls to identify what they care about
When Cadettes create a Journey Take Action project, they have a limited choice of topics.
For their Silver Award, they are free to choose whatever topic they like. This can be overwhelming.
How do you help them choose?
Look for the "spark" when the girls get to certain topics. When they find the one they want, the girls should be excited about it.
For their Silver Award, they are free to choose whatever topic they like. This can be overwhelming.
How do you help them choose?
- Expose the Cadettes to topics through field trips and small service projects.
- Think back on activities that you have done that the girls enjoyed.
- Ask the girls the following questions:
- If you had 50 volunteers, where would you send them and why?
- What problem do you see in your community that you wish someone would solve?
- What do you know more about than other people that you could teach?
- What do you think is unfair that people should know about?
Look for the "spark" when the girls get to certain topics. When they find the one they want, the girls should be excited about it.
Make sure the girls know what they are doing and why it matters
Ask your Cadettes the following questions:
- Why did you pick this idea?
- Why does this idea matter?
- Who will this idea help?
- What can we do to make a difference? How will we know that we did?
- What result do we hope to have?
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE silver AWARD LEVEL
At the Silver Award level, "sustainability" means educating others or adding a "pay it forward " component.
Silver doesn't need to be sustainable in terms of someone taking over the project. Only the Gold Award requires that level of sustainability.
Silver doesn't need to be sustainable in terms of someone taking over the project. Only the Gold Award requires that level of sustainability.
