[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.
[00:00:11] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold. Today we have Madeline with us. Hi, Madeline.
[00:00:16] Madalyn: Hi.
[00:00:17] Sheryl: Can you tell us about your Girl Scout Gold Award project?
[00:00:20] Madalyn: So my Girl Scout Gold Award was on adoption awareness. And in my county.
[00:00:26] And so what I did was I designed a poster that I felt embodied adoption awareness. And so on that poster, I asked some organizations referenced by our local pregnancy center. And they allowed me to put their logos on my poster. And so also on my poster, I had a QR code that was linked to a YouTube video.
[00:00:50] And in it, I interviewed a bunch of different people in my community who. Actually, we’re involved in the adoption process, and in it I also tell my story, so I feature a foster mom an adoptee, and an adoptive mother, so.
[00:01:08] Sheryl: You mentioned you’re an adoptee yourself. What inspired your project?
[00:01:13] Madalyn: My project was greatly inspired by my own story.
[00:01:17] I was adopted at six months old to my family that I’m living with now. And my birth mother, actually, she, I was adopted from Guatemala. And so it’s a third world country and people there are very impoverished and she literally could not afford to take care of me. And so in putting me up for adoption, I was given a chance at such a better life.
[00:01:43] And that was her wishes for me. Her wishes were for me to get an education and to follow myself and my faith. And so I just feel that she was so brave in doing that. And I’m so thankful to her. And I’m so thankful to my adoptive mother for all that she’s done for me. And it just, it inspires me to keep going every day.
[00:02:05] And it’s gotten me to where I am today. And I just think that That opportunity is out there for every mother who either can’t take care of their child or are in a position who are not able to. So that was my inspiration for my project.
[00:02:23] Sheryl: What is the core of the message that you wanted to share?
[00:02:26] Madalyn: I really wanted my poster and my video to just send a positive message to mothers that there is not just one option.
[00:02:36] There are more options. And I think that adoption is just a wonderful option that really It gives so much power to everyone in the situation and it is something that you can control and something that gives so much joy and happiness to not just, not just the mother and not just the child, but to the community as well.
[00:03:00] Sheryl: You mentioned your video, which does give different viewpoints from different people. How did you find the people that were the guests for your video and why did you specifically choose them?
[00:03:12] Madalyn: Well, they were all people that I had already known. A lot of them were part of my church family. And so I asked them and they were so, they were so willing to help me and it was amazing their support that they had for my project.
[00:03:25] And so I chose Lynn, which was a foster mother. She, I’d known, I’ve Met her kids as well. And they’re such wonderful people. And so she was so happy to talk about them. Doug. He was an adoptee as well. And he’s he was where he’s my cousin. And so that was a lot of fun. He was so willing to come and help me.
[00:03:50] And it was it was so great. And then Melissa was a foster mother and she works in healthcare and she was so eager to help me and just ready on the case for me.
[00:04:05] Sheryl: Who else was on your team and how did they help you?
[00:04:08] Madalyn: I had another videographer named Doug as well and he was such a big help. He helped edit the video.
[00:04:16] Put all the backgrounds in and he had a teleprompter that I was able to speak from and that was wonderful. He was also part of my church family and he was, he was so eager to everyone. I was amazed by the support that everyone gave me in the whole process and I sent them all the video and they all loved it.
[00:04:38] They thought it was great.
[00:04:40] Sheryl: What was your biggest challenge during your project and how did you overcome it?
[00:04:43] Madalyn: The research and designing the poster. The research did take quite a lot of time just really when I figured out what I was supposed to say and just the technicalities of all of the process. I wanted to really understand and know it before I filmed before I asked everyone to help.
[00:05:05] That took a long time. And then the poster there was some technicalities again just with that and designing it, figuring out what I wanted to draw for it. My major is in graphic design and so that was largely why I wanted to do the poster as well.
[00:05:21] Sheryl: What’s a special memory from your project?
[00:05:23] Madalyn: Just behind the scenes.
[00:05:25] I think in filming in filming the video with all of my participants. There were a lot of bloopers, but it was great. It was so great getting to know in depth their stories more. And a lot of what’s on the video is stuff that I’d never heard from them before. And that was just wonderful getting to really get to know them on that level and sharing that with them.
[00:05:49] same experience and having that in common with all of them.
[00:05:52] Sheryl: What did you learn about the Gold Award process itself that you might not have known and would be helpful for future Gold Award Girl Scouts?
[00:05:59] Madalyn: It is a very long process. I would advise to start early. I started my junior year, but it was an on and off process.
[00:06:09] And I really didn’t dig deep until maybe my last semester of high school. And so it was a long process. And as a lot of you know, there is scholarship money involved. And so I It was very, very last minute and it almost didn’t make the mark, but it was able to apply to my college tuition, but it was almost.
[00:06:36] It was almost not all there. So I would advise to start early and that it does take, it took me more than 50 hours I think is the limit, or the minimum. It took me a lot longer than that.
[00:06:50] Sheryl: Well, and as you’re going through the process, you find other pieces that you want to include and that often expands your project unintentionally.
[00:06:59] Can you tell us about other Girl Scout activities that you’ve been involved in?
[00:07:02] Madalyn: Our troop was very active. I feel like for a senior Girl Scout troop. We did one of the recent, um, the last badges that we were able to earn was, I think it was a sailing badge. And so we went out to our local state park where they had a huge lake.
[00:07:23] And we learned how to tie knots with one of the sailors. And we we. rode these sailboats out in the lake. And it was amazing. And that was a lot of fun. Cookie sales are always a big, those are always a big influence and they are so much fun. When I was younger, we all went to a cabin. It was Camp Molly Lawman.
[00:07:49] And so it was so much fun. We did a sleepover in the cabin and we earned some badges like. looking at the stars, I think, and seeing the wildlife. And it was so much fun. I remember all of us loved that one.
[00:08:06] Sheryl: You mentioned your troop, and you did have a large troop that stayed together. Can you tell us about your troop mates?
[00:08:14] And what do you think kept you together all the way through high school?
[00:08:19] Madalyn: I think our latest member joined Our freshman year. So we were all together pretty much all through high school and then most of us were together throughout elementary as well. I wasn’t one of the original original troop members, but there were about five or six, I think that were.
[00:08:39] That stayed together all throughout. And we just had such a great bond. I mean we were We were all from different backgrounds. We had sports girls. We had music girls at art girls, but it was Girl Scouts was just a great connection for all of us to come together and realize that yes, we do. We are all sisters.
[00:09:02] We all do have that connection with one another. And we can rely on one another if we needed homework help or if we needed help with just something else. outside of school. We always had one another and I love them all. They were so great and we still all pretty much keep in touch.
[00:09:22] Sheryl: Your mom was one of your troop leaders and that’s often a question of, you know, should I be the troop, especially as you get older, should I be my daughter’s troop leader or not?
[00:09:32] How does, how did it work in your family?
[00:09:35] Madalyn: It was a time sometimes, but I mean, I’m so grateful for what she did for our troop. We, we really, I don’t know what we would have been without her. She organized so much within all of our activities. And she got everything ready. She prepped for meetings. She bought a bunch of food for all the girls to eat during the meetings.
[00:09:58] And it would it was so much fun. She made it so much more personal. And I mean, I can’t imagine it without her.
[00:10:05] Sheryl: You also earned your silver award. Can you tell us about that project?
[00:10:09] Madalyn: I really like that one as well. I proposed a bike trail in my county and it was, I think it ran from our Dairy Queen to one of the back roads by the football field.
[00:10:24] And actually, they ended up Considering highly considering my plan, I think, and I think it might be in progress from what I was hearing as of lately was it was a work in progress, and they really enjoyed seeing my presentation. It was it was great. The mayor that I presented because I presented it to the actual our city’s mayor and he.
[00:10:53] isn’t in office anymore, but the next mayor actually wanted to make it happen. And he was really excited about the project.
[00:11:00] Sheryl: What was that like as a middle schooler to have to talk to the mayor?
[00:11:04] Madalyn: It was very intimidating. I had all my slides, I remember I had all my slides printed out and I’d rehearse with my mom.
[00:11:12] And it was, it was scary, but I managed to do it. And afterwards, I felt so accomplished. It was amazing. The after feeling of just doing something like that. is so gratifying and it made me want to move on to the next level because I was like, Oh, this isn’t, this isn’t that hard. And I mean, the goal, the word was, was different in its own ways, but it was, I still enjoyed the the feedback from that as well.
[00:11:42] Sheryl: What are your plans for the future?
[00:11:43] Madalyn: Right now, I’m actually in a study room at Lipscomb University. It’s in Nashville, Tennessee and I’m loving it here. It is so amazing and I’m so grateful to get to go to such a wonderful school. Everyone here is so nice. I mentioned before I’m in graphic design, and I’m thinking about doing a marketing minor.
[00:12:05] I’m really excited about all that. I’m hoping to land a job somewhere in the business side of graphic design, but I think it would be also really cool if I could, like, design book or album covers, or even, like, Hallmark cards. I think that would be amazing.
[00:12:21] Sheryl: That’s super interesting. What do you think got you interested in graphic design?
[00:12:26] Madalyn: I was always told that I was good at art and I really enjoy anything that’s drawing, painting, web design, I editing, I think it’s all so much fun. And it’s something that I would love to spend the rest of my life doing. So I think it’s amazing and I want to use it. I do want to use it to help others and in my faith.
[00:12:50] I really think that that’s important to use something that I love to do things for others and to help others.
[00:12:58] Sheryl: What else would you like to share with the audience? I
[00:13:00] Madalyn: had so much support from my community. It was crazy. Everyone, I, actually, I ended up putting these posters, that was another part of my project, was I was putting these posters up around churches, around schools.
[00:13:16] I think we even got some government run, like, facilities. Like our, our town hall put one up, I think as well. And it was so great. Their support was amazing. I think that’s important in choosing your topic as well is finding something that really gets people involved and gets people excited about what you’re doing in your project.
[00:13:37] And it was. So overwhelming the support and like I posted it on Facebook. I think my mom did as well And there were so many it has a survey as well and so there were so many people who filled out the survey who watched the video and that support was just so amazing and I just wanted to say that It is so worth it knowing that you’re helping others And knowing that your community is so supportive of what you’re doing in the process.
[00:14:12] And it’s such a gratifying, it’s such a gratifying award to be a part of. And to have other people know that this is what you’re passionate about. And what you’re doing, what you’re doing to help your community and even the world solve it. So, it is a wonderful project and I encourage any Girl Scout out there to really get your hands in and just, just do it because it is so much fun.
[00:14:41] And I met so many new people and I got to know the people that I already know. And it was, it was just a wonderful, wonderful process. And it was a lot of fun.
[00:14:53] Sheryl: How do you make your s’mores?
[00:14:55] Madalyn: I love my s’mores to be a golden brown. Just the, just the perfect, not too hot, but not white.
[00:15:02] Sheryl: Well, thanks for joining us today.
[00:15:04] Madalyn: Of course, yes, it was my pleasure.
[00:15:07] Sheryl: Make sure to click follow or subscribe so you always know when new episodes are released. Power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:15:17] Walter: Thank you for listening. If you’d like to be on the show to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.com.
[00:15:27] Be sure to catch up on our previous shows on any of your favorite podcasting platforms, as well as view the full video versions at youtube.com/SherylMRobinson. Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you next time.