Brooke, a Virginia Beach Girl Scout, has earned the Silver Award, the second highest honor a girl can earn in Girl Scouting. Brooke has been a Girl Scout for six years.
For her project, Brooke, in conjunction with fellow members of Troop 917, developed a girl empowerment camp for peers in their Virginia Beach community. The troop members chose this project because they wanted to break down gender stereotypes and show girls that they can do anything they put their minds to.
Each member of the troop took on the responsibility of creating activities for a different station. Brooke was responsible for a cultural awareness station, where she led an engaging discussion about cultural differences among people, even sharing details about her own Filipino ancestry. This led Brooke into giving a brief lesson about Spanish influence on the Filippino culture, followed by a basic Spanish lesson. Brooke taught the girls at the camp simple greetings and phrases and provided the girls with worksheets and vocabulary to study at home. Brooke wanted to teach a Spanish lesson because she studies Spanish in school and has learned about how knowing a foreign language can be beneficial, especially when looking for a job in the future.
“My station at the camp taught girls useful knowledge of a foreign language to help them communicate with others who may only speak Spanish,” Brooke said. “I hope that I encouraged them to pursue a second language, which can provide them with an advantage when they apply for a job in the future.”
The Girl Scout Silver Award is the highest award earned by Girl Scouts in middle school. To earn the award, Girl Scouts have to identify an issue in the community and carry out a Take Action Project to address the matter through leadership work.
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