[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 Margaret with us. Hi, Margaret. Can you tell us about your Girl Scout gold award project?
[00:00:20] Margaret: Thank you so much for having me. I received my gold award in 2015.
[00:00:26] My project was called the Yes You Can Movement, and it worked to motivate people of all ages and abilities to find ways to overcome obstacles in their lives to reach their greatest ambitions. I delivered two keynote presentations, one at my school, Park Road Regional High School, and the other at Solving Regina Leadership Conference, which is an annual conference primarily for Girl Scouts and Girl Guides held at Solving Regina University.
[00:00:52] I was born with a physical disability called cerebral palsy, so I rely on a motorized wheelchair, walker, and communication device, and my family always had a very positive outlook on my disability. My parents wanted me to have all the ordinary and extraordinary childhood experiences that my able bodied peers had.
[00:01:14] So they taught my two older brothers Sean and Brian that I needed a little help moving and taking care of myself. But that I was a kid who could play, laugh, and learn just like them. And they all taught me to see myself that way as well. We lost our father to stomach cancer just before I turned two years old, and our mother, Anne, raised us herself.
[00:01:35] She always used our father as an example because his motto was, Whatever the obstacle, we will overcome it. And both parents wanted us to see our ambitions as possible no matter what. So thanks to my mother’s support, I was able to pursue regular education, athletics, and of course activities like Girl Scouting.
[00:01:55] It became clear to me that not everybody had this support, so I wanted to use my Gold Award project to teach others about their own potential. So I included my own life story and experiences in succeeding in school, gray scouts, and sports to show how I have overcome the obstacles of my physical limitations and stereotypes to achieve my ambitions.
[00:02:17] I also interviewed other high school students and alumni about their ambitions, what some obstacles were that may be holding them back from reaching them, and what might be some action plans that would help them in achieving these goals. I showed the interview video during the presentations. For the last major part, I had slides with pictures of famous people, and as I brought them up, I asked the audience to think about what would have happened to the world if these famous people didn’t follow their dreams.
[00:02:46] For example, what was Juliette Gordon Lew? And I asked this room of 300 Girl Scouts and guides to think about the consequences that would have emerged if Juliette didn’t follow her dream of founding Girl Scouts. We wouldn’t have this organization where female leadership and empowerment are promoted at such an early age.
[00:03:05] We wouldn’t have met many of the people who are so central to our lives and so on. I ended by asking the attendees to consider their own dreams and what the world might miss out on if they don’t follow them. For the measurable component of the project, I gave the audience a survey about whether they were with a positive view of their ability to reach their dreams before the presentation and after, and I saw an increase in their positive outlooks, which was exciting.
[00:03:31] And for the sustainable aspect. The videos of both presentations are still on YouTube, and I also started a Facebook blog called Yes, You Can Movement, which I still use today to post motivational messages and stories about how I have overcome obstacles or delved into sectors and adventures typically labeled off limits to people with disabilities.
[00:03:52] Sheryl: Clearly your project is related to your life. What was the spark that made you decide that writing the book and encouraging others was the path you wanted for your Gold Award?
[00:04:06] Margaret: I had always assumed that what my family was teaching me and the way that my mother was finding the means for me to participate in everything that my able bodied pairs were doing was normal.
[00:04:16] I really thought that all children with disabilities had an opportunity to do Girl Scouts, sports, and regular education in school. And I was around 11 years old when people started to tell me about how most individuals with physical challenges like mine don’t usually do what I got to do every day growing up.
[00:04:34] I had already earned my bronze award, was either in the first stages, or was about to start my silver award, and already knew I wanted to earn my gold, and I came up with my gold award project idea at that point.
[00:04:47] Sheryl: What was your biggest challenge during your project?
[00:04:50] Margaret: Being a disabled individual, I faced a lot of stereotypes in all aspects of my life, and my gold award was no different.
[00:04:58] When I tried to start the prerequisites, somebody involved in working with my troop told me that I couldn’t earn the award because that’s not something that kids with disabilities do. And unfortunately, this person was working directly with my peers on those prerequisites. So that did delay the start of my project for probably the better part of a year.
[00:05:19] But I of course had my mom’s support. And fortunately, this came at a time when we were taking the opportunity to explore Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s programs beyond the troop. Like Camp CEO, where we got to camp for a few days with Girl Scouts of Connecticut. CEO Mary Barnaby and female CEOs of various organizations.
[00:05:39] Like Teresa Younger, who is the President and CEO of the Miss Foundation for Women and Firmer Board President of Girl Scouts of Connecticut, and they took me under their wings and pointed me in the right direction of completing the requirements.
[00:05:53] Sheryl: Who was the biggest help during your project?
[00:05:57] Margaret: I recognized very quickly that I had this amazing network of people to back my project.
[00:06:02] As I said, my mom was very supportive from the start, as were Teresa Younger and Mary My brothers and friends from school were very willing to take part in the interview. I also had the superintendent, the principal, and the technical consultant of my school very willing to help me plan a school wide assembly in which I presented.
[00:06:22] I had also attended the Salve Regina Leadership Conference the year before I presented, and my mother attended with me, and as she was taking the adult workshops, she happened to see this disability advocate speak. She talked to her about me and my project and later introduced us, and that advocate, Jackie Sullivan, went and talked to the conference director, Karen Pearson, who invited me to be the keynote speaker the following year.
[00:06:49] So from there, Karen connected me with the conference tech team who arranged all my projection logistics. And then I was able to reach out to a great mentor and National Motivational Speaker Tracy Kiermafla, who I had met at CURT CEO. Tracy came out to my school and did a coaching session with me before my presentations, which was tremendously helpful, and she also surprised me by driving to Sauve Regina to see me present.
[00:07:16] And I also had a great belt award mentor, Elizabeth Roth, who provided amazing guidance to my whole project and arranged to attend the conference presentation too, so I had a whole team behind me who believed in my project and in me.
[00:07:31] Sheryl: I bet seeing them in the audience just really helped your presentation there.
[00:07:36] What outcome from your project most surprised you?
[00:07:41] Margaret: It’s often easy to think about the Gold Award as just a regular award with a beautiful pin and certificate. But in reality, Girl Scouts is giving girls a platform where they have a support system that will enable them to make a difference on a global issue.
[00:07:55] And this platform is really just the beginning. It’s a launching point. I earned my gold award just before my high school graduation in 2015, and as I transitioned to college at Fairfield University, I knew that I wanted to take the YesUKlan movement mission and platform further. I ended up starting a community service club on campus, Fairfield University Project YesUKlan, and I was its president for four years.
[00:08:22] Project Yes You Can is a service club striving to help individuals within without medical and impoverished conditions to have a positive outlook and to overcome obstacles to reach their ambitions. Among the club’s accomplishments are serving at homeless shelters, volunteering at local schools and underprivileged communities and at convalescent homes, donating handmade fleece blankets and scoubs to schools, hospitals, and individuals with special needs across New England, and organizing 5Ks for stomach cancer which benefited Smilow Cancer Hospital and St.
[00:08:57] Jude Children’s Research Hospital. When I was president, we were named the 2017 2018 Fairfield University Student Association Club of the Year, and we had over 200 people signed up at one point. As a graduate student, I mentored the undergraduate students who took over leadership of the club. And then after I graduated with my master’s last year, I started an independent initiative called Positivity for Patients, a art of yes you can, which invites writers.
[00:09:28] Poets, artists, and people of all abilities who are creatively inclined to create works of art and writing depicting motivational and positive messages. I print them on canvas and donate them to be displayed in hospitals in the hopes of uplifting patients spirits, especially when visitors were restricted by pandemic policies.
[00:09:48] I was able to partner with an art guild, so a lot of the art was made by professional artists, and all of the printing costs were raised through crowdfunding. We donated the first art exhibit earlier this year and have ideas on what hospitals we will donate to next. And then of course, though I had already started working on my memoir years before I did my project, the mission of my gold award project is also heavily interwoven in my book.
[00:10:15] So I would love for other Girl Scouts to see and approach the Gold Award Project as a starting point for creating change on an issue that they are most passionate about and that they are inspired to continue to take action on throughout life.
[00:10:28] Sheryl: What piece of the Gold Award process would you like others to know more about?
[00:10:33] Margaret: That it is the beginning of what can be a bigger initiative.
[00:10:36] Sheryl: What has been your biggest surprise from publishing your book?
[00:10:40] Margaret: I think the biggest surprise that came from publishing my book has been the stories that readers are sharing with me after they read my story. I always wanted to be an author who was accessible to readers that wanted to reach out to me.
[00:10:53] So on my website, margaretannmarymoore. com, there is a page where people can email me, and I do read and respond to every single message in as timely of a manner as possible. I suppose I had just assumed that people would just send me emails about whether or not they enjoy the book, but what I’m finding is that many are sending me these powerful letters about their rights.
[00:11:16] So for example, some write to me and say, I’m reading the part about your triumphs and struggles with disability inclusion and acceptance. Here’s what I have gone through in those areas. I’m really honored that readers feel comfortable sharing those experiences with me. And in my opinion, it creates a dialogue that we can use to strategize how best to create change and make the world a more accepting and compassionate environment.
[00:11:42] Sheryl: What has been your favorite event or opportunity that you’ve had because of your book?
[00:11:47] Margaret: My first book, Bold, Brave, and Breathless, Revelling in Childhood’s Splendid Histories While Facing Disability and Loss, is a memoir about my childhood experience growing up with a physical disability called cerebral palsy, partaking in regular education, birth spouts, athletics, and extracurricular activities, and losing my father to stomach cancer.
[00:12:11] My book was my childhood dream, so it’s literally a dream come true. I’d say that my favorite experience with the book so far has been simply sharing the final product with those that I know personally and those who I’ve met as a result of the book and getting to experience their reactions. If I had to pick some specific favorite moments, I would go with my book launch at my elementary school, Longmeadow Elementary School, and my reading and book signing at my hometown public library, Middlebury Public Library.
[00:12:42] You never know who is going to show up at author events, and both brought out crowds that filled the rooms with people from all different stages of my life, from birth and preschool all the way to where I am now as an adult, so that was really special. My book is mostly set at my elementary school, which is why I wanted to have my book launch event there.
[00:13:02] Many of my former teachers and the staff members I worked with came, and I got to surprise them by revealing that the book was in part dedicated to them. So it was an amazing moment.
[00:13:13] Sheryl: Can you share your favorite experience from running and tell us about Team Achilles?
[00:13:19] Margaret: I run in my walker. I have at least two people running alongside me, holding the sides of the walker.
[00:13:25] They don’t push me though, they are just stabilizing the walker as I propel it with my legs. I started running in 6th grade, joining my middle school and high school cross country and track teams, doing 5Ks and triathlons from then through adulthood, and now joining two adaptive sports teams, the Connecticut Chapter of Achilles International, and Gaylord Sports Association’s Paratriathlon team.
[00:13:51] Achilles is more of a year round involvement, and I’ll be applying for another chance to run with Gaylord for this summer. I’ve been on both teams since 2022. I was just named the 2023 Athlete of the Year for Achilles, Connecticut, which was a huge honor. And my favorite experience from running is the transformation that I see in myself at each race.
[00:14:14] Of course, after running up and down hills for nearly three miles, fatigue sets in, and sometimes I wonder if I’m really up for continuing to run to the finish. And then I’ll see the finish line in the distance, and I don’t know what it is about seeing that, but all of a sudden, something inside me will almost shake off those feelings of exhaustion, and I’ll think about how I want to have a strong finish, and I will surprise myself by sprinting and running faster than I had the whole race.
[00:14:43] To me, my running is about overcoming the physical limitations and the odds of challenging myself to run these long distances, and to do so a little faster each time. And when I have those moments before the finish where I realize that, yes I can sprint to the end and yes I can have those strong finishes I had anticipated, that’s when I see some of my best self come out and muster all the inner strength needed to achieve my goals.
[00:15:09] What’s next for you? This book is the first of what will be a series of four books. I already submitted the first few chapters of the sequel to the publisher, so they are reviewing and deliberating on whether they will make me an offer. And then of course I have a list of books I know to write beyond this series as well.
[00:15:29] I also work for the publishing house that published my book, Woodhull Press. I’m a book editor and a marketing coordinator, so I’m in charge of organizing and managing all the marketing initiatives, publicizing new releases and any media that features our books, assembling and sending the quarterly newsletter, and then doing editorial tasks like proofreading and doing developmental edits on contracted books, and reviewing submissions.
[00:15:55] And then I also work for my communication device manufacturer as an ambassador promoting their products through articles and presentations. I’m planning to continue to move my way up in the publishing industry and continuing my work with my communication device manufacturer. I’m also looking to earn my Ph. D. sometime in the future, and I’m also interested in exploring career paths such as teaching.
[00:16:21] Sheryl: How do you make your s’mores?
[00:16:23] Margaret: I like to stick my marshmallow right on the flames and have it get golden brown, and then put it on the chocolate bars and graham crackers while it’s still hot so that everything melts together nicely.
[00:16:34] Sheryl: Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:16:36] Margaret: Thank you so much.
[00:16:38] Sheryl: Make sure to click follow or subscribe so you always know when new episodes are going to be released. Power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:16:49] 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.
[00:17:00] 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
.