[00:00:00] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network produced by off the Walter media productions.
[00:00:13] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold today I have Gabrielle with us. Hi.
[00:00:18] Gabrielle: Hello.
[00:00:19] Sheryl: Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:23] Gabrielle: My product was entitled for math sake, peer to peer videos, and it includes 13 bilingual videos that covers the sixth grade math curriculum and seeks to improve math, proficiency and content mastery of 671 students
[00:00:39] at Linley sixth grade academy, which is a title one low income school in Georgia and beyond providing fun, low and engaging videos with detailed steps and examples on understanding fundamental math topics.
[00:00:53] Sheryl: How did you come up with this?
[00:00:55] Gabrielle: Five years ago when I reached out to Linley sixth grade academy, specifically for my 10th birthday, I decided to donate school supplies in lieu of receiving birthday presents.
[00:01:05] And in the third year of partnering with the school, the students and administration selected me to receive the Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. Humanitarian award for my contant generosity and willingness to help and support others. Surprised that the school had bestowed such an honor on me.
[00:01:24] They motivated me to find new ways to support the school and establish a long-term bond with the principal, Dr. McGee, I decided to do my gold award to primarily focus on Lindley’s students.
[00:01:35] Sheryl: How did you initially connect with the school?
[00:01:38] Gabrielle: On my 10th birthday, I decided to donate school supplies in lieu of receiving birthday presents and. Sparked the relationship that I now have with Linley sixth grade academy.
[00:01:50] Sheryl: I love that your videos are bilingual.
[00:01:53] How did you go about converting them into the second language?
[00:01:58] Gabrielle: Dr. McGee had already expressed concerns for the students who spoke English already, and she had already informed me as well that some of her students were bilingual and they spoke English and Spanish. So I wanted to make it more inclusive.
[00:02:19] Sheryl: I love how your videos, you have a whole bunch of them, but they’re super short. So somebody can find the type of problem that they’re working with and find the video that relates to that. How did you organize your thoughts and decide what videos to create?
[00:02:35] Gabrielle: Dr. McGee had given me the summer math packet for her students.
[00:02:41] We decided my team and I decided to base our videos off of the topics or any of the pages that for the specific pages that were in the math packet, who was on your team? Seven of my closest friends and schoolmates my peers.
[00:03:00] Sheryl: What was your favorite part of the project?
[00:03:02] Gabrielle: Actually making the videos just because we could all edit them to our heart’s desires and we could all kind of contribute our own creative ideas.
[00:03:14] Sheryl: What skills do you feel you grew during your project?
[00:03:17] Gabrielle: Leadership skills and working with a group, working with a group really well. I’ve also learned how to do my own research. I already knew how to research, but it taught me the value of research and the value of helping other people in your community rather than just giving, giving back Basic things such as school supplies or giving to a food bank, but I can actually do my own things to give back to the community.
[00:03:47] Sheryl: What was your biggest challenge during your project and how did you overcome it?
[00:03:51] Gabrielle: Fortunately because my project existed due to COVID, I did not have major challenges with completing it though. I did have some challenges that involved having to work with other principals of schools who were very busy, making sure that their students had the basic essential, such as wifi and laptops during the pandemic.
[00:04:13] Sheryl: What did you learn about the girl scout gold award process while you were working on it that you didn’t know and might be helpful to other girls before the girl scout gold award?
[00:04:23] Gabrielle: I thought it was just a project that I had to do in the beginning. I knew I had to do a lot of research for my proposal and my finalized proposal and my final four and my final writeup.
[00:04:38] And my coach actually told me to spend at least two weeks doing my. Research on how I can help the community with the topic that I am passionate about. And when I went out and did it, it was pretty easy and knowing really well that I could actually make an impact with this. And it really helped.
[00:05:01] Sheryl: You received a lot of media coverage for your project. Can you tell us about that experience?
[00:05:08] Gabrielle: This experience has been very, very unexplainable. Unimaginable. I can not be more grateful. I was interviewed by local affiliates here in Atlanta, such as NBC, ABC, and Fox. That was also interviewed by the local newspaper, the AJC, the Atlanta journal constitution, and other organizations such as NPR and our very own girl Scouts, USA.
[00:05:38] And those were very, very fun experiences. I really enjoyed them. And. I never thought in a million years that this would happen, but it was, it was a very, it was a very fun experience. I’m very grateful.
[00:05:51] Sheryl: In addition to your girl scout gold award project regarding the math education videos that you created.
[00:05:58] You also, as you refer to earlier, you’ve had this relationship with the school since you were 10 years old. Can you tell us more about that relationship and how that has evolved over the years and what exciting things happened in 2021 with it?
[00:06:14] Gabrielle: I have had this relationship with Lindley ever since I was 10.
[00:06:18] When I first donated my couple of school supplies to them at my 10th birthday party. And. in seventh grade, they awarded me the Martin Luther king Jr service award. And now I am able to give back to them in bigger ways, such as at my 13th birthday party, I had donated over $4,000 and, and 40 tutors. And now during the pandemic, I know.
[00:06:50] Well, not now, but when I was doing, when I was completing my gold award, it was a very fun experience. Having, getting to work with them again in a different way than just giving back with school supplies. And now I have started my foundation in honor of them and also. We’ve done our project. We’ve done our project with them giving back school supplies to them this year in partnership with my old daycare.
[00:07:19] Sheryl: And you are officially a 5 0 1 C3 non-profit correct?
[00:07:23] Gabrielle: Yes.
[00:07:24] Sheryl: So we will have the link to your website, which talks about your nonprofit and has links to your video, your math videos. So we’ll have that link in the show notes.
[00:07:36] What other girl scout activities. Have you been involved in?
[00:07:40] Gabrielle: Camp cEO, which is an older girl camp, which I encourage any older girl Scouts to join.
[00:07:48] It is a very, very fun camp full of networking, and you get to meet some very cool people. I’ve also been involved in the older girl advisory board, which I also encourage other people to join. And it is a very fun experience where you also get to meet other girls your age. And I’ve also been a part of just many journeys journeys are things that that girl Scouts do to get an award.
[00:08:16] Sheryl: Do you have a specific favorite memory?
[00:08:18] Gabrielle: I really liked going to Savannah. I’ve been there twice and I really enjoy it. I also enjoy getting my silver and gold awards. Those are some of my favorite memories.
[00:08:30] Sheryl: And outside of girl Scouts, you’re also very active as a gymnast and a cellist. Can you tell us about your other activities?
[00:08:37] Gabrielle: Yes. So I am a gymnast. I’ve been doing gymnastics ever since I was little it’s something that I really enjoy. Something that eases the stress of everyday life. And I’ve been playing cello for. Around seven years now. And it’s also a very, it’s a very cool stress reliever, and I really just love classical music and playing it.
[00:09:01] Sheryl: And I know that you’ve got some time, but do you have some future plans in mind?
[00:09:06] Gabrielle: I really want to be an oncologist when I grow up and I’m not looking at any college, any specific colleges right now. But I’m really looking forward to college when it comes and graduation and just living life one step at a time.
[00:09:25] Sheryl: Is there anything else that you’d like to share with the audience?
[00:09:28] Gabrielle: For any girl Scouts seniors who are listening right now make sure if you do eventually do your girl scout gold award, make sure to do your research and when it comes time for your interview. Make sure you know, your project very well and know your topic very well so that you can have a great interview and it will run smoothly and your coach will run through it.
[00:09:55] Very very, It’ll it’ll run, she’ll run through it and you’ll be fine.
[00:10:01] Sheryl: How do you make your smores?
[00:10:03] Gabrielle: I make my smores by roasting marshmallow and specifically, I like to roast it golden brown, and I, I like to be patient with it or else you can’t get it to golden brown or else it’ll burn. And then I make sure my chocolate is room temperature instead of frozen so that it can melt faster and everything falls into place as I intent.
[00:10:25] Sheryl: Well, thanks for joining us.
[00:10:27] Gabrielle: Thank you for having me.
[00:10:28] Sheryl: Make sure to click, follow or subscribe. So you always know when new episodes are released. And don’t forget to power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:10:41] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network produced by off the Walter media productions.
[00:10:48] Thank you for listening and spreading the word on what we do. If you want to share your story of how you earned your. Reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.com.
[00:10:59] 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.