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By Dawn Slade
Three Milaca High School seniors have earned the highest award in Girl Scouts - the Gold Award.
Laura Anderson, Britta Gahm and Elizabeth (Elle) Golden worked together to develop and complete a service project for the community to earn that Gold Award. (The Gold Award is similar to the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Rank.)
The year-long project included sprucing up Rec Park, Reineke Park and Riverview Park, then holding an “Art in the Park” event for youngsters at Rec Park.
Working in conjunction with the city of Milaca and the parks director Greg Moyer, the girls began by completing an application for the service project in February 2008.
They began evaluating the parks and formulating a plan. After meeting with Moyer and attending a city council meeting, they started by picking up trash in May.
In July and August, they were often donning a certain shade of red as they stained park benches, picnic tables, shelters, garbage can holders and Rec Park’s band shell floor.
They also assisted other volunteers, the parks department and the Mille Lacs Soil and Water Conservation District to plant native grasses and flowers at Riverview Park to help rebuild the river bank.
In September, the girls held the “Art in the Park” event for area youth, which included three stations. Each station was a reflection of Anderson, Gahm and Golden.
Gahm wants to be a chef, so her “Fascinating Food” station was all about tasty treats.
Anderson held the “Artsy Craftsy” station as she hopes to get into advertising, preferably in graphic design.
And “Dazzling Drama” was Golden’s station as her passion is acting.
Each of the three Gold Award winners put in about 90 hours of work on their service project (over 270 hours total).
They followed up by having both the young girls who participated in “Art in the Park” and their parents complete evaluations of the event.
Golden said most of her group said they learned “patience.”
Wanting to don costumes for the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” play, the little actresses had to learn patience as they auditioned, learned their lines and rehearsed before giving a performance.
In Anderson’s final report she described the impact the project had on the community.
“Cleaning and painting the parks sent a message to other teens to be respectful of public property and it made the older people happy that there are teens out there in our community trying to make our town better,” Anderson wrote. “It also showed people that with a little money and a lot of hard work and cooperation, the parks can look a lot better.”
She also noted that, “Every little act of vandalism, no matter how small, invites more vandalism. This creates more work for the parks department and gives all teens a bad image.”
Twelve years of Scouting and friendship
The three started out in Scouts together as Daisies, so it’s no surprise that they decided to complete a community service project together.
And what they learned is no surprise either.
They each gained leadership skills, were able to recognize and overcome their weaknesses and they discovered a lot can be accomplished by three teenagers.
Anderson, who admits she is the shyest of the three, had to face her fears in addressing the Girl Scout Council’s Gold Award Committee and the Milaca City Council.
“I used to be the shy quiet girl in the corner,” Anderson said. “I’m more communicative and able to talk in public.”
Girl Scouts has given Anderson leadership skills and confidence.
Gahm believes it helped her in the same way.
“It helped me understand more of what leadership is,” Gahm noted.
Golden also learned leadership skills, but for her, working with others to get something accomplished was her biggest gain.
“I learned that we needed to work as a team,” Golden said of her free-spirited nature.
It was also a challenge for her to deal with much of the tedious work, filling out applications, logging all the work hours, listing donations, etc.
In all, nearly $1,000 was donated in time and materials from a variety of sources.
All three like the fact that the younger Girl Scouts look up to them as leaders.
“The other Girl Scouts showed us a lot of respect,” Gahm said.
For Golden, the most challenging part of Girl Scouts was also the most fun as she worked at becoming a camp counselor-in-training.
Gahm’s challenge was earning her Silver Award her sophomore year in which she planned a day camp for younger Girl Scouts. Coming up with a theme and organizing games and food took more effort than she expected.
The Gold Award was the most challenging for Anderson.
She admits she found the project horrible at times and wanted to quit. But, she stuck it out and said, “If we don’t do it, we’re not setting a good example for the people after us.”
It seems she learned a little about commitment as well.
Anderson had another moment in her Girl Scout career when she wondered if she would continue, which seems common for many kids.
“You get to that age when it’s kind of weird to be in Girl Scouts,” Anderson said of her ninth grade year. “That’s when all the drama starts. Once you get past that, it’s okay.”
They each learned that publicity is important if you want people to show up. The first planned event had to be rescheduled because of low participation numbers.
More flyers were put up and other organizations were contacted to boost the numbers at the September event. The girls now understand the importance of promoting an event to ensure a good turn out.
But, it wasn’t all hard work those 12 years in Girl Scouts. There were camps, self defense classes, merit badges, and cookies!
Anderson’s favorite event was selling the famous cookies (and eating them, of course). Her number one pick? Peanut Butter Patties (aka Tagalongs).
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Golden who said after selling and eating them for 12 years, she can’t stand the cookies anymore!
The girls each talked about the friendships they made along the way as well.
“You make friends, life long friends,” Golden said of her friendship with Anderson and Gahm.
Gahm encouraged other girls to join Scouts, “We’ll treat you as a sister, a friend. It’s a great experience.”
The three know that their experiences in Girl Scouts will help them in life and believe it’s already helped them with college applications and scholarships.
Anderson and Gahm plan on attending St. Cloud Technical College. Anderson is looking at advertising, while Gahm is planning to become a pastry chef. Golden has her sights on the east coast as she’ll be attending the University of New Haven in Conn. for forensic science.
The three earned their Gold Awards in January after presenting their finished proejct to the Girl Scout Council.
On Saturday, April 25 at 12:30 p.m., the girls will be honored at the Gold Award Ceremony at St. Mary’s Church.
Anderson said she’s proud of earning the Gold Award, and they should all be proud. Milaca’s Girl Scouts has never had Gold Award recipient, according to the Girl Scout Council.
The pressure’s off now and the three are now looking forward to a well-earned trip to Wisconsin Dells this summer before starting college this fall.
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