Walter: [00:00:00] The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network. Produced by Off The Walter media productions.
[00:00:14] Sheryl: [00:00:14] Welcome to hearts of gold today. We have Stella with us, hi Stella.
[00:00:18] Stella: [00:00:18] Hello!
[00:00:19] Sheryl: [00:00:19] Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:22] Stella: [00:00:22] I changed the perception of disability in my community. I focused on cerebral palsy, also known as CP a condition that affects the movement of one’s muscles. CP is the most common motor disability in childhood and affects 17 million people in the world.
[00:00:41] Taking action for my gold award project, I conducted research, created a youth activity pack and developed a mobile app ability. All. Just because someone is physically disabled doesn’t mean they aren’t just like you and me.
[00:00:55] Sheryl: [00:00:55] What inspired your project?
[00:00:57] Stella: [00:00:57] I used to be unsure how to act around people with physical disabilities.
[00:01:01] The word cerebral palsy was foreign to me. I was never formally educated about disability, inclusion or accessibility as a part of my gold award. I first researched and met with community members to learn more about cerebral palsy. And the issues facing children with this condition and their families interviewing doctors, engineers, directors of nonprofits, and people with CP to learn more was really the spark of my project.
[00:01:31] When I met with author, Becky Taylor, I learned about the importance of inclusion in school settings. I read her book, tell me the number before infinity. Which goes into depth about how she was raised in the barrier she faced as a child with cerebral palsy. Additionally, when I interviewed all Gardner at ability, all Bay area, she educated me about the lack of accommodations offered at universities and how this impacted her education.
[00:01:59] Alva now helps adults with disabilities at ability. Now Bay area reached their full potential. Lastly meeting with the founder of non-profit while both Jackie Robinson and hearing her daughter Sophia’s story. I learned that having cerebral palsy is isolating and challenging. Jackie Robeson also discussed with me, how has there is a lack of activities for children to learn about empathy and disability.
[00:02:26] For my gold award project, I wanted to address the issues I had heard about firsthand.
[00:02:31] Sheryl: [00:02:31] So you created workbooks and an app. What made you choose this direction and how did you go about it?
[00:02:38] Stella: [00:02:38] The audience for my project was youth in the community with little to no knowledge about disability inclusion and cerebral policy.
[00:02:47] I really saw a need for youth ages eight to 15 to learn about inclusion so they can include other kids in school. So I created an activity pack with nine activities. Hands-on for classrooms, girl scout, troops, and more. And I also created a mobile app for children with cerebral palsy to help them practice their motor skills with their families.
[00:03:12] Sheryl: [00:03:12] What was it like creating an app?
[00:03:13] Stella: [00:03:13] Very difficult, especially when considering app accessibility. I’d taken simple computer science classes in high school. But never thought about my programs from a different perspective of somebody who has a disability. So incorporating alternative text, large click targets and ample things for screen readers was really a challenge at first, but through a lot of research and a lot of editing and coding, I learned that I can make things that benefit people with all abilities.
[00:03:47] And realizing that accessibility and technology is so important is something that really inspires me.
[00:03:53] Sheryl: [00:03:53] Who are your team members and how did they support your project?
[00:03:56] Stella: [00:03:56] Other girl scouts that I worked with. I used my troop members and girls in middle school to help educate younger elementary school students about disability, inclusion and empathy.
[00:04:09] I went weekly to different troops and schools. And use my activity, booklet of nine activities. And with the help of my team, we really made an impact in the community.
[00:04:21] Sheryl: [00:04:21] What sorts of things have you seen that make you realize the impact that you have had?
[00:04:26] Stella: [00:04:26] First of all, seeing Sophia and other young people with cerebral palsy use my app was super inspiring.
[00:04:33] The hard work I put into the accessibility features and user interface really paid off. When I saw the impact it was having on children and their families. And I also saw that same impact when I delivered speeches to young girls and young students. And afterwards they told me, Oh, I didn’t know what cerebral palsy was, but now I do.
[00:04:55] And now I know to include everyone on the playground. And those types of things really inspired me.
[00:05:01] Sheryl: [00:05:01] Do you have a favorite memory from your project?
[00:05:03] Stella: [00:05:03] Designing the activity booklet. I used a kid friendly layout, something easy for educators and troop leaders to use. And I could play with color palettes and I inserted images and I had never done graphic design like that before, but I really loved it.
[00:05:21] Sheryl: [00:05:21] What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
[00:05:24] Stella: [00:05:24] Oftentimes it was difficult to teach the young children about disability. Children would ask many questions and some would oftentimes joke around about the topic I had to overcome this obstacle by being respectful and helping the children understand what having a disability means.
[00:05:41] And when I successfully led these conversations, I felt like I was making a big difference in their education. another challenge I faced was due to COVID-19. I had planned an event at the Oakland athletics stadium and it was canceled because the safety of the event was compromised. I had organized a team of volunteers for this event.
[00:06:04] We were planning on teaching youth more about inclusion through hands-on activities. I overcame this obstacle by moving my resources online and creating a website. And I also encouraged my volunteers to spread the word about my project.
[00:06:20] Sheryl: [00:06:20] What other girl scout experiences have you had?
[00:06:22] Stella: [00:06:22] As a young scout, I did a lot of camping.
[00:06:25] I went to camp Skylark and camp o-theme, sleep away camps, and it was my first experience away from home. I’m in eighth grade, my troop and I. So the global impact of girl Scouts by taking a trip to London and visiting girl Scouts there. And in high school, I have served as a service unit delegate and national delegate.
[00:06:48] To help represent South County girl Scouts and girl Scouts of Northern California. And lastly, this year I was appointed as a girl scout girl board member to help influence the policies happening in girl Scouts of Northern California.
[00:07:02] Sheryl: [00:07:02] What are your future plans?
[00:07:03] Stella: [00:07:03] To become an engineer, to help people with disabilities and create new technologies in the accessibility space.
[00:07:10] Sheryl: [00:07:10] Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
[00:07:13] Stella: [00:07:13] I would like to just say, I think Jackie Robeson, founder of wallows for kickstarting my project and telling me about the need for youth activity packs, and also ability now Bay area, where I learned a lot about disability and depth. And I received a lot of feedback with people, from people with disabilities who use my app.
[00:07:36] Sheryl: [00:07:36] How do you make your smore’s?
[00:07:38] Stella: [00:07:38] Sometimes I put chocolate into the marshmallow before I put it over the fire. So the chocolate can melt inside.
[00:07:45] Sheryl: [00:07:45] Well, thanks for joining us.
[00:07:46] Stella: [00:07:46] Thank you so much.
[00:07:47] Sheryl: [00:07:47] Be sure to click subscribe so you always know when new episodes are released and don’t forget to, power your passion, and conquer your challenges.
[00:07:59] Walter: [00:07:59] The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and shared network produced by off the Walter media productions. Thank you for listening and spreading the word on what we do. If you want to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.com.
[00:08:17] Be sure to listen to the newest episodes on your favorite podcast app, as well as view the full video episodes on youtube.com/SherylMrobinson. That’s youtube.com/Sheryl, the letter M, Robinson. Take care, and we’ll see you next time.
