Gold Award Interviews

The proposal interview can be one of the most stressful pieces of the Gold Award process.  Questions like:

What are they going to ask me?

What if they don’t like my project?

Who is going to be there?

For our council, the proposal interview is a chance for one or two (there have been a few interviews with three,  but that is definitely the exception rather than the rule) committee members to get to know the Girl Scout, why she picked the project, clarify information that may not have been fully flushed out in the written proposal, and discuss opportunities that may need further consideration.

I had an interview recently with a Girl Scout who had basically written one-sentence answers to many of the questions in the proposal document.  The written proposal allowed the committee to identify questions for further discussion during the interview.

While meeting with the Girl Scout, we learned how she had identified the project and why she was interested in it.  Often, we delve into a discussion about the root cause, but for this written proposal that was the strongest piece, so we were very clear on what this project was aiming to help.  By learning more about her project in person, we were better able to understand the goals of the project. This allowed us to mold the project to create something that because even more interesting for the young woman to work on.  In doing so, the project had more opportunity towards sustainability and would have a broader global impact prospect than the initial proposal.

As a committee, we encourage the Girl Scout to create her own path and make the project personal to her.  We often share ideas to help expand thoughts regarding weaker pieces of the project, but not the overall project.  I am not sure what was different in this case but taking the facts the young woman had shared from her research and her reason for wanting to do the project it seemed appropriate.  Only a piece of the project concept change – the project itself is essentially the same – but the slight change allows this project to be more creative and personal.

Examples of concepts that with a slight change can become a more impactful project:

• Does proposal include a class on how to do something – How about creating a club instead?
• The proposal includes creating kits for some focus group (hospital, homeless, etc.) – create a treasure box instead so gifts can be chosen individually and more specifically meet the recipient’s needs.
• Education on a skill for younger children – create a picture book instead

Our committee has two essential goals:

1. Support the girls through the process, from the initial proposal all the way through to receiving their award.
   1. Answer questions
   2. Help brainstorm
   3. Encourage continued work on the project when other activities compete with the time or interest wains
2. Make sure the projects meet the criteria for the Gold Award
   1. Remembering each girl’s abilities are different, but we need to encourage them to push their comfort limits when possible
   2. Give clear guidance on pieces of the project that need more

In the above instance, since much of what was discussed during the interview wasn’t written in the proposal, we gave this Girl Scout a specific list of expectations that need to be completed prior to the proposal for her project being accepted.  This includes providing some documents and writing a narrative describing how she is planning to meet the expectations for some of the weaker elements of the project.

The proposal is an important part of the Gold Award process as it is the first major step towards learning how to communicate what the project is and the impact the project will have, practices interview skills, hones listening skills, and can be a “You just aren’t quite there yet”.  It also helps girls learn how to deal with those butterflies one gets when nervous.