[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 Jackie with us. Hi, Jackie.
[00:00:15] Jacqueline: Hi, thank you for having me.
[00:00:17] Sheryl: Thanks for joining us. Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:22] Jacqueline: Yeah, so my project was titled single use less plastic.
[00:00:25] I think you can get from the name that I was advocating against somebody’s plastic pollution. And I did this through public policy, education and art and, you know, I think today we are all kind of taught to believe that when we put plastics in the blue bin that they’re actually getting recycled. I’m sure it is something useful.
[00:00:43] And this is called wish cycling. But in reality, only 5 percent of plastics actually get recycled. And the harsh truth is that every piece of plastic you’ve ever used today is still on the planet. It’s in our landfills or waterways. There’s even microplastics in our bodies. And I think that if more people were made aware of this fact and we had more conversations about it, then we could definitely make change in public policy and in waste reduction in general.
[00:01:08] Sheryl: What prompted your project?
[00:01:10] Jacqueline: During ninth grade, I went into COVID lockdown, so I was pretty much spending, like, 24 hours a day with my family, eating every meal together, and I started to notice, like, the amount of plastic packaging that would just pile up in our trash cans and recycling bins, like, for a family of four, it would just overflow, and I started to, like, really notice the amount of waste that we produced, and so this encouraged me to take part in this internet challenge called Plastic Free July,
[00:01:37] and I’ll be honest, it was impossible to completely give up plastic. If you go to a grocery store, pretty much everything you see there is packaged in plastic. And, you know, I think we all know that plastics are bad. We all know what they’re doing to the environment, but I think if we really started to, like, have conversations about it, which is what I wanted to do with people after.
[00:01:58] Working on this challenge, I think that we could really make real change. And so I had read about this art curriculum that was involving some of these plastics done by sculpture artist, Aurora Robson, where she and students would collect plastic debris that accumulate on shores and beaches and make sculptures out of it.
[00:02:16] And I found this really inspiring because, you know, 350M metric tons of plastic waste is used per year. And I think that, like, we should normalize using plastic as an art medium. So, inspired by Robson’s curriculum, I created my own where students would collect plastics in their house, like, in their kitchens and bathrooms, and create collages out of it.
[00:02:39] And this was during, like, zoom school in 10th grade at the time. So, I created a video explaining how to do the curriculum that can be done, like, in a virtual setting. And I got very luckily. When we went back in person, I was able to different years in a row to, like, teach the curriculum in person with 3rd and 4th graders, which was awesome.
[00:02:59] And that’s what I did with elementary students, but I, what I really wanted to do after, like, everything that was inspiring me to work on. This was create a dialogue with high schoolers students from my high school about this. So I was also 1 of the founders for my school’s environmental club in 10th grade during zoom and we met pretty much on zoom the whole year.
[00:03:19] But that’s still that, you know, that was a challenge, but at the same time, we were able to get a lot done. We worked working with other members in the club. You were able to host an assembly speaking about some of these plastics and also how to speak with elected officials to make change, which is a very big part of our project and.
[00:03:38] My project and something that I’m very grateful for is that my project advisor Newman, who was also my art teacher. She was able to connect me with council member Helen Rosenthal, who at the time was working on Bill A 90A, which is the bill that was banning plastic straws in New York restaurants. I was able to get an interview with her on how students can make a difference through reaching out to elected officials.
[00:04:01] So we showed that interview recording on a Zoom school assembly. We got students at my school to sign a petition to pass the bill and the bill did pass. So this is definitely my favorite part of my project and something that I’m really proud of. Glad that was accomplished through just even over zoom.
[00:04:17] Sheryl: What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
[00:04:21] Jacqueline: This was during COVID. I think there were a lot of issues that came from that. Like I originally wanted my school assembly to be in person so that I could have the council member and the artist that I interviewed come speak in person and like.
[00:04:35] Students could ask questions, but unfortunately, it was zoom. So that couldn’t really work. So I had to play recordings of my interviews, but at the same time, I honestly, it worked out really well. And I’m not complaining about anything because. What happened caused a key chain of more good things to happen so.
[00:04:53] Sheryl: What was the biggest thing that you learned during your project?
[00:04:57] Jacqueline: After I finished my project, I wanted to keep on working with like my school on the things that I had started before. So like the curriculum that I designed, I wanted to. Go and teach it in person. We were back in school. So the 2nd year that I was teaching the kids, it was some of them were the same kids from the year before and they some of them remembered my project a year later and they remembered like, why we were doing this out of plastic.
[00:05:22] And my plastics are bad everything I taught them, so I was really happy when, like, the kids remembered and then another thing that also surprised me when I was continuing in my own time to work on the project was that so I started a petition at my high school to get rid of plastic utensils and plastic plates in the cafeteria and the petition actually was successful.
[00:05:43] We were able to just completely replace plastic plates and get every student their own reusable cutlery kit. So that was something that I’m. I’m really proud of that came after my project.
[00:05:55] Sheryl: What was something about the Gold Award process itself that you didn’t realize before you started and would be helpful to future Gold Award Girl Scouts?
[00:06:03] Jacqueline: Create a website for yourself because not only does it make you look more established and it also documents your work. And I can say firsthand that having a website really helps me because in the beginning of my project. I reached out to the artist or Robson to do an interview with her and she didn’t respond and that’s okay because a few months later when I created my website and I documented my curriculum that was inspired by hers, I sent her the link and like, asked again, if I could do an interview and I was able to get an interview.
[00:06:33] So it definitely shows that like. Website having website will make you look more established and will give you more chances to get in connect with other people.
[00:06:45] Sheryl: How did the project impact you yourself with things that you might take into your future?
[00:06:51] Jacqueline: It taught me a lot about using my voice and self expression.
[00:06:56] And I mean, as you said, future, but I think today it’s also really been. Impactful on me, I’m currently I’m an art and design major at University of Michigan and I have been making like, a lot of art pieces that are environmental with themes of birds and some sculptures out of some of these plastics. And I think I think it’s really important.
[00:07:17] Something I learned this year is that it’s up to us to create change. I think self expression is a great way to do that. So with that in mind, I spent the summer starting something that I’ve been wanting to do for a really long time, and that was start my clothing brand, Vinny. So it’s a streetwear clothing brand that it differentiates itself by focusing on the natural world.
[00:07:36] And my shirts, they feature geometric patterns and designs of birds and other nature imagery. This is one of them, the Cardinals. And these are my Kirtland Warbler shirt. It’s new. And so the first line that I did this summer, it features North American birds, many of which are facing population decline right now.
[00:07:54] And I think it’s really important to a lot of people and shoppers that what they’re buying, like, has meaning to it. And I wanted my brand to make a difference. So for this reason, when you buy a shirt with Bingie, 10 percent will go to conservation organizations and in urban settings.
[00:08:10] Sheryl: How did you move from going with the art that you were creating using recycled materials and the other art that you were creating into clothing?
[00:08:18] Jacqueline: I think I always had a passion for for fashion starting like at a new school this year, Michigan. Like, I learned about different mediums and I had always kind of been working on the same things, especially with plastics. That was really important to me. But I also this year learned about, like, other environmental issues.
[00:08:36] And everything plays a role into what’s happening right now, especially with birds and population decline plastics are a reason for that. But there’s also a lot more and I think I wanted to kind of experiment and I’ve been wanting to do work with fashion for a long time. I just think I didn’t always have, like, the access to it.
[00:08:56] But now that I’ve learned a lot more, and I think I’ve become more ambitious and the gold award definitely really helps with that. I’m reaching out to others and learning. I think. That’s really what inspired me to just like take off and try something new. And it’s my first time working with like kind of fashion and things like that, but I’m, I’m still learning just like how I was learning with art and keep keeping on like learning new mediums.
[00:09:19] So this is next step.
[00:09:21] Sheryl: What are your plans for the future?
[00:09:23] Jacqueline: I want to see where this goes and I want to hopefully get even bigger and have a lot of net profits to donate and maybe sell some of these in, like, local stores. And I just want to see where this takes me as long. I’m also believed to graphic design right now.
[00:09:39] Which were the designs that I’m doing. So I want to get better at that, see where that goes, I think. And definitely continue using my voice through art for the environment and for the birds.
[00:09:48] Sheryl: Who was on your team during your Gold Award project and who helps you with your clothing line?
[00:09:54] Jacqueline: Well, for my project, my mentor, Nureet, I’m very grateful for her because she was able to connect me with the council member, Helen Rosenthal, and also with another artist, Sherry Mendelson, who creates sculptures out of plastic, who I had an interview with on my website, which is.
[00:10:09] singleuselessplastic. com. So she was extremely helpful. And right now I’m sort of working on my own, but I have a lot of inspiration right now. I’m using what I’ve learned from classes that I took on Photoshop and things like that.
[00:10:23] Sheryl: What other Girl Scout experiences have you had?
[00:10:25] Jacqueline: And selling cookies for years inspired what I’m doing today just cause learning how to market myself and what I’m selling.
[00:10:33] So that’s always been like an amazing part of Girl Scouts. I think also just working with like others and like get earning different badges, things like that. Also, I went to Girl Scout camp, Camp Kaufman a few different years, like in upstate New York. So that was always something that’s very memorable.
[00:10:51] Sheryl: What else would you like to share with the audience?
[00:10:54] Jacqueline: Anyone who’s working on their gold award, just go for it. Like, I know, like I learned a lot along the way, make a website if it’s possible for your project, reach out to others. And then also Vinny is vinnylabel. com. So. So the link will be in the bio.
[00:11:11] Sheryl: Yep. The link will be in the show notes for sure. How do you make your s’mores?
[00:11:16] Jacqueline: Okay. My s’mores. I think it’s a bit of a hot take because I like the marshmallows really burnt. Like I don’t do golden brown. I’m not patient enough for that. So classic burnt.
[00:11:28] Sheryl: Well, thank you so much for sharing with us today.
[00:11:31] Jacqueline: Thank you for having me.
[00:11:33] Sheryl: Make sure to click follow or subscribe. So you always know when new episodes are released. Power, your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:11:43] 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
[00:11:53] 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.