Sheryl: [00:00:00] Welcome to hearts of gold. Today. We have Amanda with us. Hi, Amanda.
[00:00:10] Amanda: [00:00:10] Hi, how are you? I’m great.
[00:00:12] Sheryl: [00:00:12] Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:16] Amanda: [00:00:16] So I’m really passionate about robotics and science and engineering. So when I was brainstorming ideas for my gold award project, I wanted to come up with something and create something that would impact students and would have an everlasting impact on the world about robotics and engineering.
[00:00:32] So I was sitting in my biology class one day and I saw a greenhouse and a sink. And I thought it would be super cool if I could combine those two, two things and create an irrigation system. But when I came home that day, the sprinklers were on while it was raining at my house. So I was thinking are all sprinklers based off of timers.
[00:00:51] And it is so most sprinklers are on timers right now. So I wanted to create a way that would. Save water, save resources and be a cool education point for students. So I actually worked on developing an automated irrigation system that uses real time data to develop the best time when to water your plants.
[00:01:10] It’s still in prototype form. But, um, in addition to that, I created a curriculum for elementary school students, so they could learn how to grow a garden, learn more about engineering and the scientific process.
[00:01:22] Besides coming home and seeing the sprinklers. What prompted you to be interested in doing the gold award and to do it in a STEM focused project?
[00:01:30] So I’ve been a girl scout for my whole life. So almost 12 years, a little over, I think. And I earned my bronze and silver awards, and I know that I wanted to do something big. I love helping the community and teaching students, and I’ve been involved in science for my whole life. I’ve done the science fair every year.
[00:01:47] I’m on my robotics team. I’m one of the only girls on the team. So I thought that showing other girls that STEM is cool and STEM is something that women should be a part of was something I definitely wanted to center my project around.
[00:01:58] Sheryl: [00:01:58] What was your biggest challenge for your project and how did you overcome it?
[00:02:02] Amanda: [00:02:02] I didn’t know how to code initially, so I thought I would be able to connect with a programmer and. It would sort of be easy, but that is not how it worked at all. So when I do robotics, I do the design process, the notebook building, I don’t really focus on code. So I sort of had to teach myself new languages and code.
[00:02:21] So I worked with a coding company and an amazing volunteer who was helping me learn how to code. And it’s very frustrating when you’re sitting coding for six hours and it’s not working. But finally we overcame that challenge just never gave up and continued coding until it finally worked.
[00:02:39] Sheryl: [00:02:39] What is your best memory during your process?
[00:02:41] Amanda: [00:02:41] Going to this school, that I was super nervous about teaching this course on, I was super nervous to teach the kids how to garden, how to, um, incorporate engineering into their garden because it’s something I’ve never done before. And. When I got there, I saw all the students smiling faces. Yeah. And it was really great because I think when students learn from kids that are not so much teachers, but are sort of in their age range, they can relate to them more.
[00:03:08] So I think it was really rewarding to work with the students who were like six years younger than me, but were able to really take away more than I thought they would.
[00:03:16] Sheryl: [00:03:16] In building your team, it was very much adult based.
[00:03:20] How did you recruit your team members and select them?
[00:03:23] Amanda: [00:03:23] It was hard to get them, but some of them were super random.
[00:03:27] So I actually did this project for my science fair. I did an irrigation experiment with an engineering project and I won second place. And from that, I was invited to a college research presentation event and I was approached by the Dean of engineering and he came up to me. And we talked about possibly patenting my design or working toward it.
[00:03:49] And eventually he connected me with some of his work. His work partners there. And I had some really great connections with my brother who actually goes to summer camp and they have coding there. So I was able to connect with some of the teachers there to learn how to code thinking back on your gold award process.
[00:04:06] Sheryl: [00:04:06] If you were to change one thing, what would you change and why?
[00:04:11] Amanda: [00:04:11] Sort of slow down a little bit and make a better timeline? Because I was just going and going. I was super excited about everything and I think if I stopped and made a timeline, I would. Maybe have been a little calmer. I don’t regret anything I did because it was a great experience.
[00:04:26] And I think it taught me for the future to definitely create a more reliable timeline. So I know exactly what needs to be done at what time. And I think it could definitely benefit future projects.
[00:04:37] Sheryl: [00:04:37] You’re also involved with girl Scouts at a, let’s call it national level. You’re an intern with the girl scout research Institute and you are also on the G team.
[00:04:47] Can you tell us about those?
[00:04:48] Amanda: [00:04:48] The research internship, that was sort of something that stemmed out of the GE team, which is where girl Scouts of the USA selected 25 girls from around the world to plan their national convention, which was going to be held in Orlando in the fall. Unfortunately, it got canceled due to the Corona virus, but we are still working on amazing live events, virtual events.
[00:05:08] Your answer is for girls. And through that, I’ve been able to branch out and work with the research Institute, which is the only girl led research Institute, researching things that pertain to girls. And it provides research to so many universities and organizations in the United States. And we’re focusing research on girls, girl leadership.
[00:05:28] We’re talking about mental health and the uncertainty of this time, how it’s affecting girls.
[00:05:34] Sheryl: [00:05:34] I know a lot of the G team information, you have to keep to yourself, but is there some little secrets you can share with us?
[00:05:41] Amanda: [00:05:41] I feel like it was such a great experience. I mean, meeting all these girls from around the world was super duper cool.
[00:05:47] We went to Orlando last summer to work on planning things. It was in Orlando. So you could imagine some of the fun things he would have been doing. Um, so. Planning the event, we got to work with some really high end production teams and companies who are going to produce it. Yeah. Show for us. I was part of the expo hall team, which is the experience where there would have been vendors and actions for girls to do.
[00:06:11] And that was going to be about 200,000 square feet. So I can share that with you. They would have been one of the largest girl conventions because it was going to be held in Orlando and there were going to be about 12,000 girls expected to be there, but. We have some surprise things coming soon. So stay tuned on the girl Scouts, social media, for some of the cool things we’re doing this year.
[00:06:30] Sheryl: [00:06:30] I’m very excited.
[00:06:32] Amanda: [00:06:32] It’s going to be great.
[00:06:33] Sheryl: [00:06:33] So you’ll have already graduated. Are you planning to go back to Orlando in 2023 when convention will be held there?
[00:06:40] Amanda: [00:06:40] We have been talking about this. So hopefully if I’m able to, with my college schedule, I will definitely go back and see the convention center again. And some of the cool things that they were planning.
[00:06:50] So, yes, for sure.
[00:06:51] Sheryl: [00:06:51] As you stated you really are a girl scout. And one thing people think of when they think of girl Scouts is cookies. Can you tell us about your cookie experience?
[00:07:01] Amanda: [00:07:01] Yes. So I’m actually the number one girl scout cookie seller in Southeast Florida for the past seven years. I love entrepreneurship.
[00:07:09] In addition to science and selling cookies has always been my thing at school. Everyone asks me when the cookies are coming. So for the past seven years, I’ve been here to sell over 35,000 boxes, which sounds absolutely crazy. Um, but through that experience, I think it’s also important for me as an older girl scout to really teach younger girls about the entrepreneurship skills and earning their high awards, like the gold award.
[00:07:34] So I take that time and sort of that title, if you will, to really show girls in my community, what they can do and what they’re capable of.
[00:07:41] Sheryl: [00:07:41] The cookie program is an entrepreneurship program. What entrepreneur skills have you learned that you are already using in your everyday life?
[00:07:49] Amanda: [00:07:49] I think a really important entrepreneurship skill that I learned is money management, especially I’m going to college soon, applying for scholarships.
[00:07:58] I think budgeting, which I’m not amazing at yet, but I’m getting better at it. I think by learning to save that cookie money, we plan to Savannah trip. To Savannah, Georgia with my troop and we saved up for about three years. So I think that’s something that I’ll definitely be using in the future, sort of saving that money and budgeting trips and expenses and things that I will have to do in the future.
[00:08:21] Sheryl: [00:08:21] Are there other girl scout experiences that you’d like to share?
[00:08:24] Amanda: [00:08:24] A really great girl scout experience that is in my council specifically, we have this program called media girls, which is a group of girls where we go on the news and we share all the amazing things. Girl Scouts are doing. So something really fun that we got to do was we were on an episode of mr.
[00:08:39] Food and he was making a. Dessert out of Samoas. So it was really fun to eat the food and pretend like I knew how to cook. I was just standing there watching him make the food, but it was really good to eat. So I think that some really fun experiences come from that. And like you said before, the girl 2020 team, I think if it wasn’t canceled, I wouldn’t have been as close with some of the girls as I am right now.
[00:09:02] So we have zoom calls and FaceTimes pretty much every day talking about random things. So I think it’s a really good part about girl Scouts is connecting with your community.
[00:09:10] Sheryl: [00:09:10] You’re also a part of another group of girls, a group that is putting on a podcast. Can you tell us about that?
[00:09:17] Amanda: [00:09:17] We have created a podcast it’s called don’t quit do it.
[00:09:20] And we interview females and teens, the teen entrepreneurs around the United States and talk to them about some of the cool things they’ve been up to. So we have weekly podcasts that are released on Wednesday on Apple podcasts, Spotify, pretty much everywhere. And it’s super cool because we’ve been able to meet some really cool people.
[00:09:38] Well, and I think that having those connections and being able to reach out to people is a really great opportunity and a great skill to have in life.
[00:09:46] Sheryl: [00:09:46] How did you meet those girls and what prompted you to start a podcast?
[00:09:49] Amanda: [00:09:49] So these were the same girls that I met through girl Scouts, actually. So we decided to just put on a podcast together and I wanted to start a podcast because I really liked speaking and I actually want to be a doctor and an engineer.
[00:10:04] So I want to design robots for surgery and be a surgeon. So there’s not much speaking opportunity in that. So I hope to definitely carry on a podcast or some talk show or something in the future.
[00:10:18] Sheryl: [00:10:18] You have had some really amazing guests on your show. How do you find your guests?
[00:10:23] Amanda: [00:10:23] Some of the guests, we just DM them on Instagram, which is really scary.
[00:10:27] Um, the first few people we knew by friends, somebody had a foundation and I knew about, so we reached out to them, but as we’re expanding, we’re reaching out to some more big name people, and we always make sure to ask the guests, if they have any friends that they would. Possibly be interested in being on our podcast because it’s a great way to connect people.
[00:10:46] So I think just reaching out and not being afraid because most people do want to be a part of things and promote themselves.
[00:10:52] Sheryl: [00:10:52] So outside of girl Scouts, what do you do?
[00:10:55] Amanda: [00:10:55] I play the violin. So I’ve been in Florida, youth orchestra for a few years now, and it’s super fun to play in the community and perform, um, I’m on the robotics team.
[00:11:03] Like I mentioned before, and for me, I’ve always loved science and engineering. So it’s something that I can really do after school. And I’m also a. Coach of an elementary school robotics team. So again, with my, I love educating people and teaching students, so that was a great way to help students out. I also perform in my school’s pit orchestra.
[00:11:23] So for some of the shows we put on, I play violin for that. So I really love just doing fun things that are not necessarily a hundred percent related to science, but I always make sure to have some fun things as well. I’m doing some science things too.
[00:11:36] Sheryl: [00:11:36] Is there anything else that you’d like to share with the audience?
[00:11:39] Amanda: [00:11:39] Just to never give up on your dreams and always keep going because you can do anything.
[00:11:43] Sheryl: [00:11:43] How do you make your smores?
[00:11:45] Amanda: [00:11:45] People just use regular Hershey’s bars. I actually have done Kit-Kats Moore’s before. They’re really good. Um, I just thought of putting a thin mint in a small maybe. I don’t know. That could be good, but we have barbecue smores at my house, which are really good. Um, we’ve done.
[00:11:59] Microwave’s Moore’s we actually take this Moore’s girl scout cookies and put them in the microwave too. So. That’s really great. So smores are just great all around.
[00:12:08] Sheryl: [00:12:08] Well, thanks for joining me today.
[00:12:10] Amanda: [00:12:10] Thank you so much for having me. It was a great experience and so much fun.
[00:12:13] Sheryl: [00:12:13] Be sure to click subscribe. So you always know when new episodes are released and don’t forget to, power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:12:25] Walter: [00:12:25] 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 grow and share@outlook.com.
[00:12:42] Be sure to listen to the newest episodes on your favorite podcast app, as well as view the full video episodes on youtube.com/ Cheryl M. Robinson that’s youtube.com/cheryl the letter M Robinson take care and we’ll see you next time.
