Do your girls have what it takes to inspire change? To prove that there’s no issue too big for girls determined to make a difference? If that sounds like your Girl Scouts then it’s time to check out Girl Scouts’ Highest Awards!

Highest Awards have been empowering girls to explore their communities, find an issue they care about, and take the lead by making a difference in their corner of the world for decades!

Girl Scouts Juniors can join the Highest Awards legacy of leadership and excellence by earning their Bronze Award, Cadettes the Silver Award, while Seniors and Ambassadors go for Gold.

How do you start? Here’s how to prepare your girls for Highest Awards and help them shine bright from Bronze to Gold!

Master Take Action!

A Highest Award project is so much more than girls spending time serving their community. It’s a leadership project, and the most essential part is to do something with the community to address an issue, unlike a service project where they do something for a community.

Girls will practice their Take Action planning on a smaller scale before beginning a Highest Awards project as they complete one of the prerequisites for the awards: a Journey in that award’s age level.

Every Journey from Daisy to Ambassador contains a Take Action project, so that no matter how small or big our girls are, they know they have what it takes to make lasting change in their communities!

Start taking action with your girls as Daisies and they’ll be experts at it by the time they’re ready to tackle their Bronze project as Juniors!

Attend a Highest Awards 101 Workshop!

On our Activities list, we’ve got webinars and in-person workshops led by staff to help guide your girls through the Highest Awards and complete the steps to earn them.

At each workshop, you’ll learn about the award deadlines, some important Do’s and Don’ts, who approves the awards at each level, and what paperwork is required (and where on our website to find the forms).

Seriously, we highly recommend checking this out before you start project planning.

Get Inspired!

Do you know an older group of Girl Scouts who had a great Silver Award project? A community member who is passionate about a cause? A friend who is actively engaged in making their community a better place to live? Invite them to your next meeting to talk about how they chose their issue, what they did, and the obstacles they overcame along the way!

You could also take your girls out into the community to tour an organization that is helping others and let the girls hear first-hand ways other people choose to make a difference.

There are so many wonderful people in our communities helping others. Let’s inspire our girls with some great role models!

Use the Guidelines!

Girl Scouts of the USA have excellent guidelines that outline the 7 steps to earn the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. You can find the appropriate guidelines in the Junior, Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting, or you can download them from our website (click on the award icon for your age level).

These guidelines walk the girls through the steps to earn the award, explain the difference between a service project and a Highest Award project, and give some excellent planning tools and tips to help the girls as they complete their project!

Share Your Story!

The world could use more stories of people helping people, so make sure to find ways for your girls to share their project with others, such as younger Girl Scouts, organizations in the community, and their families. They worked hard and deserve some accolades!

This is the final step to earning any Highest Award: to “reflect, share your story, and celebrate.”

You never know who might hear about your project and be inspired to make a difference by what your girls accomplished. Let’s be awesome ambassadors of Girl Scouts in our communities by letting our accomplishments shine bright and inspire others!

Has your Girl Scout already completed a Highest Awards take action project? Share how your girl is leading the way in building a better world by participating in the 2016 Girl Scout Challenge. Participants will be entered for a chance to win a $500 scholarship from MetLife Foundation. What a great way to share your Highest Awards story!