Going for the Silver! Girl Scouts earn Silver Award by supporting Special Olympians

On March 28, the Boise council office received a visit from a group of extraordinary girls.

Cadette Troop 230 from the Wood River Valley popped in to give council staff a presentation of their Silver Award project done in coordination with Special Olympics Idaho. The Silver Award is the highest award a Cadette can receive. The award requires at least 50 hours of planning and implementation of a local community service project.

Troop 230 had a desire to help those with intellectual abilities so they chose to volunteer at both the Eastern Regional Winter Games and State Games in the Wood River Valley. The Special Olympics brings together more than 2,500 children and adults for 15 Olympic style events. The troop secured sponsors from a variety of businesses to host breakfast for more than 400 athletes. The girls also volunteered at each of the Olympic events.

“Working behind the scenes at council doesn’t give me many opportunities to see what amazing things our girls are doing with the curriculum they have learned in Girl Scouts,” said Sandy Wilson, Director of Human Resources and Business Services.  “I was in awe of the amount of hard work and time these girls put into such a worthy project.”

The troop also made Special Olympics badges for nearly every Girl Scout level using the Make Your Own Badge activity. Each girl wrote an explanation on why they think Girl Scouts should include a Special Olympics badge in their national curriculum.

Troop 230 used their artistic side to show the realities and solutions to disability discrimination. Each girl made artwork using a variety of mixed media as part of the Idaho Human Rights Art Contest.

Troop leaders, Leslie Feltman and Lorie Hayes, were overwhelmed at the amount of time, effort and heart their girls put into their Silver Award.

“We are so proud of these girls,” said Hayes.

To view slideshows of Troop 230’s time volunteering at Special Olympics Idaho, please click here and here.

Do you or your troop have a community service project to share with council? Please email Marketing Specialist, Kelsey Kuhnhausen, at kkuhnhausen@girlscouts-ssc.org