[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.
[00:00:14] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold. Today we have Kate with us. Hi Kate, can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:21] Kate: My girl scout gold award project was kind of two parts. It was a mother and daughter triathlon camp, and then also a youth race. For me growing up, I don’t enjoy team sports. I never did. I still don’t.
[00:00:34] And I wish that there had been an option that was a bit more of an individual sport. And so that’s where that race came in. And then now, recently I’ve been going to more specifically women’s health women’s athlete camps, very specific to the female body. And I wanted girls who were a bit younger and kind of going into middle and high school to be able to have that experience that I wish I had had when I first started getting into sports, instead of now two years later.
[00:01:09] Sheryl: When you chose this project, we were in the pandemic. How did that impact putting together a sports event for you?
[00:01:17] Kate: So for being normally living overseas, It’s a bit more of an open community where you’re working with and having events with your host country during COVID, it was much more closed off.
[00:01:31] You were in this little community with just the other us residents. And that was, was difficult because normally people would go and embrace. In Korea and they couldn’t do that. So that’s where the tri series was created. And then I got into athletics do that. And so I would just offer that for the kids, but the hardest part is my community.
[00:01:57] I don’t want to say it was living without COVID, but we were hosting these in-person races and other countries in other areas, depending on your community, where having no contact with anybody and so working with an overseas council that had nobody in Korea, nobody in Asia. Nobody near my community. I was trying to explain my pandemic situation to someone
[00:02:21] that was having a very different experience, which was by far the most difficult part.
[00:02:26] Sheryl: And you are a member of girl scout overseas. You mentioned Korea, but where are you? Why are you there? And what is your girl scout experience in general been like?
[00:02:37] Kate: Song Tohn, South Korea, I think is our closest city. If you just walk out our gate I have a parent in the U S military.
[00:02:44] We’ve been here for four years. We’ll be moving this summer. In fact, all of our stuff has already left. It’s moving, moving very soon for girl Scouts. I started when we lived in Las Vegas. When I was in first grade and I think w, when you’re younger and I feel like when most people are in girl Scouts or organizations like that is the thing your mom drives you to.
[00:03:06] On a Thursday night so I went to girl scout there and I had some great opportunities in Las Vegas. We got to go to spend overnight at Sea World we got behind the scenes at different aquariums and other landmarks and things there. It was very wonderful from there. We moved to Montgomery, Alabama.
[00:03:26] We were only there for one year. There wasn’t a lot of scouting for me when we moved to. Springfield Virginia. So the nation’s Capitol region, it was again, a place that had a lot of opportunity because it is the nation’s capital. So I was in two troups there by former troop. There is now a boy scout troop.
[00:03:46] I joined them and really liked that. We were always camping, had some outdoors thing going on. There was just always some new event for us. And that’s why I really liked that troop. And then we moved here. And there are only three girls in my troop, including me. And we all go to the same high school.
[00:04:09] And there’s been opportunities here working with the Korean girl Scouts. We’ve gotten to do some fun things with them before the pandemic. And we’re starting to get to do things with them again, which is very exciting. In my troop only having three people with me and then the other two girls are sisters and our moms is the truth.
[00:04:28] It was a lot of fun because we kind of don’t, this sounds messy but we don’t have to wait on anybody else. And so when we decided to spend our cookie money, we’re going kayaking in the Han river through Seoul and it’s girl Scouts is just always offering new opportunities.
[00:04:45] Sheryl: When you were building your team for your gold award project.
[00:04:49] Who was on that team and how did they support you?
[00:04:52] Kate: When I first started my project, I had a different troop leader. And so she was there for me through the application process. And then when it came to actual project, all of my troop members were back in the states because the summer’s the time everyone here goes back to visit family.
[00:05:11] And so I actually didn’t have Richard universe there on the race day. They still supported me, even though that troop leader left she still sends me, have you seen this? Have you seen that about your gold award? And so she’s still there for me as my leader. Even though she left, but I was lucky to have other friends and just a support group that is this very small community.
[00:05:34] And on race day for volunteers, people that didn’t have kids racing were there to volunteer. There’s some 19 year old airmen that needed service hours and it was a community event. I, I would credit the community with the support.
[00:05:51] Sheryl: You also had community partners including a fitness club, which was one of the sponsor of the actual race.
[00:05:58] Can you tell us how you built those partnerships?
[00:06:01] Kate: Like I’ve been saying it’s a small, small base in a small, small community. It’s like living in a little small town in my triathlon coach was friends with her. And so I’ve run. With Ms. Sarah and just know her and her family. And so when I had an idea, all I had to was find like her work email, which just text her and asked her for a work email, I’ll send her an email about when to meet and went into her office and had that meeting.
[00:06:33] And then the personal trainer I worked with my mom’s personal trainer, my personal trainer. And so all I had, all I had to do was ask her and message her to meet with me. And really it’s just knowing the right people. And even if you didn’t, it would be easier to find someone that knew the person you needed.
[00:06:54] But also the, the kind of the joke here is that my mom knows everybody. So if people need something, they just ask my mom. So I would have the connection just because of her.
[00:07:06] Sheryl: What kind of feedback did you get from the kids that participated in your events?
[00:07:11] Kate: Very positive feedback right away. Which, I mean, I hope that people would like it, but I wasn’t expecting like the instant effects.
[00:07:19] There was the try-series ended in summer, was coming to a close. And so when they did the do-a-thon they also made one of those for kids and people were asking, well, it was the, a mother daughter thing. What if like, but my son couldn’t go, but I would’ve loved for him to be able to go to that event.
[00:07:38] And there’s been other kids’ things planned. They, I mean, a do-a-thon on that do-a-thons and track-athons you kind of tend to go together and I would hope that in the future, someone would find it and do it again. And my project outline and the planning and all of that was uploaded to. The air force community center.
[00:08:05] And so someone else from another community could see it and take that information. And I would hope that it would be done again, but it’s I mean, there’s so much change in who is in charge here that you just have to hope that the person liked what you did.
[00:08:20] Sheryl: Do you have a special memory from your project?
[00:08:23] Kate: The project itself, the camp and the race day seemed to go by so fast. It’s almost like you, it didn’t happen or you don’t remember it. I wish I had potentially savored it a little more. I think like race day and seeing how many people were actually there as people from different communities from Seoul, which is not that far away in miles, but an hour with good traffic and seeing that.
[00:08:50] Kind of the realization that all of the people were there because of something I created.
[00:08:56] Sheryl: I became aware of your project last summer because of an article in triathlete. Can you tell us about that article and what that meant to you?
[00:09:05] Kate: So I had read Susan Lackey’s first book because I was, I think I was on Pinterest and it was a list of 10 books.
[00:09:15] Every female athlete needs to read. And I was like, yeah, let’s look at what’s on here. And we have a friend who really started getting me into running a chart on, in the title. Just, I was like, this is the book for her, just based on the title of Susan likey’s first book. And so I bought a copy and I read it and all my annotations and highlights are in the book.
[00:09:37] And then my mom took the book for a book club and that’s what they read. And Susan Likey has thing where you can go through and get your book club to have a zoom meeting with her. And so my mom put in for that. And they had a time. It sounds bad to say, so I skipped school for the morning to go to this zoom meeting with Susan Lakey.
[00:10:00] And it came up in there, my project, I mean, she was like, oh, that’s really cool. And so then few weeks later, a month later, maybe she sends an email saying that triathlete.com wanted to write about it in I remember where I was. When we got the email about it, it might be still one of the biggest things that’s happened in my life to hear.
[00:10:22] I mean, I read her book and I was like, oh, she’s so cool. And then she wanted to write about me because she told someone about what I wanted to do. And they thought I was cool when I thought like, She was way up there with the professionals and she sends me a signed copy of her second book and she sent us trader Joe’s snaps because we can’t get those here.
[00:10:46] I mean, it was very exciting for me. That would probably, I mean, there are some great moments in my project that might be the biggest part of my project.
[00:10:54] Sheryl: You are also involved in civil air patrol. Can you tell us about that?
[00:10:59] Kate: Colleges love you to keep doing something and being a kid, a military, kid thats constantly moving around.
[00:11:05] It’s hard to have that. I first went soldier air patrol four years ago here, actually. As something, because I’ve always thought I would want to go into the military. And so I joined something that would help me get there and help me see what it was like. So I’m first Sergeant for my squadron. So I’m a chief master Sergeant and there’s actually an achievement between chief master Sergeant and Lieutenant that’s where I’m at right now.
[00:11:33] And I only have one test left to pass before. Lieutenant. So hopefully I can pass that this next week and be an officer and then we’ll leave and I can join a new squadron. Like you would join a new troop and be able to introduce myself as something a little bit higher.
[00:11:51] Sheryl: And what are your future plans?
[00:11:53] Kate: I’m hoping I’ll go to college. I would hope that I would get accepted. I’ll go to college. Hopefully Oregon state for Marine biology. Or some form of wildlife sciences and I’m hoping to do ROTC in college and then fly for the air force.
[00:12:09] Sheryl: Where did wildlife biology come into your interests?
[00:12:12] Kate: Growing up and all of that
[00:12:14] I’ve always been very interested in wildlife sciences. I thought I wanted to be a vet for a little while. It’s just gone back and forth between debts. Typically go to Hawaii. We’ve been there several times and seeing the whales and the dolphins. I don’t know if that influenced me when I was a little kid, but I’ve always loved the water.
[00:12:35] And I really, that’s why I think I love Marine biology so much. But I think just animals in general.
[00:12:42] Sheryl: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the audience?
[00:12:45] Kate: For me, the hardest part of my project. Was continuing to believe myself when you’re working with people that aren’t directly in your community, it can be so hard to explain where your community is.
[00:12:57] And I think that stands for even not when you’re in a pandemic, but just in general, because Asia is different than Europe, which is different than the United States. And even Mexico is different than Alabama. I think it’s hard to sometimes explain your situation and where they’re coming back at you with, we need to fix this, this, this, you just have to keep believing in your project cause that’s, which you know, will better your community.
[00:13:25] I think that’s the hardest part. What everyone needs to remember.
[00:13:28] How do you make your smores?
[00:13:29] I’m not a big smores person. I prefer the chocolate melted over the the marshmallow being. gooey.
[00:13:40] Sheryl: What is your alternative when people are having smores? What do you do?
[00:13:43] Kate: I usually just eat the smores in pieces, so I’ll like eat a marshmallow and then I’ll eat a piece of chocolate and then I’ll eat a Graham cracker.
[00:13:49] I don’t need it all together. I eat all the pieces separately.
[00:13:52] Sheryl: Well, thanks for joining us.
[00:13:54] Kate: Yes. Thank you for having me.
[00:13:56] Sheryl: Make sure to click, follow or subscribe. So you always know when new episodes are going to be released. And don’t forget to power your passion and conquer your challenges.
Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share 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.
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.