what is a silver award?
A Silver Award is a high ranking Girl Scout award that Cadettes and Juniors can achieve. The project must be permanent and maintained, as well as impacting more than just your community. Silver Awards are useful because they can teach you important skills as well as help you earn your Gold Award.
what is a buddy bench/friendship bench?
A buddy bench and friendship bench are two different things that work in similar ways. The concept of both is friendship whether it be creating friendships or praising already made ones. A buddy bench is a bench that is placed in a public area, typically a school or park, so a child who doesn't have anyone to play with can sit on the bench until another kid comes over to play with them. This is good in a school environment as it can create friendships that will last through all the years of school. A friendship bench is more for decoration and to remind kids how important friendship is and that they are in a friendly environment. Friends can take pictures of themselves on the bench showing how close their friendships are.
what did we do?
There are many steps to gain a silver award. First, we had to get approval from the school district. Then, we planned out what we needed. Then we bought the items. We sent in our proposal to council. Eventually we ran into a few problems and had to change from a buddy bench to a friendship bench. Then comes bringing the bench to the school. Last;y, we created this website and the video to help bring this idea outside of our community.
Tips that may help you
Based of our experience heres some tips that should help you in completing this project.
- Before starting anything make sure you have permission from the people you want to do the project for
- After getting permission make sure you've set up your proposal for the project and have sent it in
- Speak to the people you're working with to make sure you get the kind of bench they prefer
- Fundraise so you can purchase the bench and anything you may want to decorate it with
- Make sure to know how to get enough hours
- Don't forget to talk to your project adviser and mentor
- Make sure to have fun with this super creative and interesting project!
- Before starting anything make sure you have permission from the people you want to do the project for
- After getting permission make sure you've set up your proposal for the project and have sent it in
- Speak to the people you're working with to make sure you get the kind of bench they prefer
- Fundraise so you can purchase the bench and anything you may want to decorate it with
- Make sure to know how to get enough hours
- Don't forget to talk to your project adviser and mentor
- Make sure to have fun with this super creative and interesting project!