Girl
Scouts of the U.S.A. (GSUSA) revised the Gold Award requirements to reflect girl
leadership, and improve & enhance the quality of the Girl Scout Gold Award
projects. The new requirements kept the
basic structure to the awards, while revising and updating resources and
requirements to make it a more effective leadership experience for each young
woman working to achieve the Girl Scout Gold Award.
New
materials were prepared for girls, advisors, and councils. While materials were
being updated, Girl Scouts Heart of the South announced that girls trained under
the old guidelines would be “grandfathered” during this two-year transitional
period (2008-2010). GSHS no longer offers training or paperwork
under the old requirements. Girls pursing their Gold Awards under the old
requirements should have received paperwork from their training pertaining to
the old guidelines.
The new requirements will become
official October 1, 2011. However, GSHS
is extending the transitional period for one additional year. Therefore, this will be the last year for
girls to earn the Gold Award under old requirements.
This period will run from October 1,
2011 – September 30, 2012.
All Final Reports under the old
guidelines must be submitted by September 30, 2012. You must allow enough time for the Council’s
6-8 week approval/review process when submitting your proposal. In
the event that a girl is unable to complete her project and final paperwork by
September 30, 2012, she will need to use the new requirements.
In
accordance with the new requirements, girls will be required to complete the
Journeys in order to earn their respective award. Journeys are the nationally
consistent program foundation for earning a Girl Scout Award. Girls will use
exciting, relevant and creative resources for earning their awards such as: It’s
Your World - Change It, It’s Your Planet - Love It, and
It’s Your Story-Tell It!
Journeys. The skills girls will gain while working on the journeys will help
them develop, plan, and implement their “Take Action” project. Accordingly,
girls are required to complete the Journey of their choice (including all
Awards within the Journey).
What exactly are the new requirements?
- Complete two Girl Scout
Senior or Ambassador Journeys OR Complete
one Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador Journey if you have earned the
Silver Award.
- Girl Scouts will be required to participate in a
mandatory Girl Scout Gold Award training prior to turning in their Gold Award
Project Proposal. You can begin work on the
Journeys prior to training. View
upcoming training dates here.
- Plan and implement an
individual "Take Action" project that reaches beyond the Girl Scout
organization and provides a sustainable, lasting benefit to the larger
community. The suggested minimum number
of hours to complete the steps to the Girl Scout Gold Award is 80. (All hours
must be completed by the Awardee.)
- Plans must be developed with
the aid of an advisor, and a project proposal must be submitted and approved by
Council before starting the project.
- After project completion, you
must submit a final report for Council approval.
NOTE: Girls may recruit others
to “assist” them on specific tasks, but Gold Award Projects must be earned
individually and not in a group or pair.