| The Girl Scout Challenge 3: Girl Scouts 11-17
Courage, Character, and Confidence
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| When you've completed the activities you will have earned the Girls 11-17 Girl Scout Challenge Award Necklace. |
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You demonstrate courage, character, and confidence in everything you say and do. Is your "C" level off the charts or barely visible? Since Girl Scouts is all about confidence, courage, and character, you're already on the right track. Now take your C's for a test drive with THE CHALLENGE.
When you complete the activities, you'll earn the Girl 11-17 Girl Scout Challenge Award Necklace and you might raise your C's to a whole new level.
Part 1: Discover Character
Your character makes you who you are. Are you honest when it is tempting not to be? Do you take a stand when it's important? Are you a sister to the new kid? Character is how you act and what you do every day.
Sometimes it's really hard to be the person you truly want to be. What can you learn by observing how others strive to live their values? Go undercover in your own world. It's your mission to scope out acts of good character. Choose five items from the list below.
Find a person (male or female of any age) who is
- Being honest in a tough spot.
- Going the extra mile to help someone.
- Respecting himself or herself (Hint: perhaps by not giving in to peer pressure).
- Respectfully disagreeing with another person.
- Showing courage by standing up for someone else.
- Taking responsibility when no one else will.
- Using resources fairly.
- Doing something to make the world a better place.
Feel like you've heard these words before? Well you have—in the Girl Scout Law. The Law is our standard of character. What did you observe? How hard or easy was it to witness people living these values in your world? What did you learn? How will you apply this in your own life?
Part 2: Lead With Confidence
There will be a time in your life when you'll really want to step up to the plate. You'll find it easier to be a leader when you are confident in your skills. Practice the leadership skill of identifying an issue that is important to your peers.
Your task is to identify a concern, issue, worry, hope, or need shared by a group of friends at your school, place of worship, neighborhood, or Girl Scouts.
Step 1
Be a fly on the wall. What's buzzing around in the air? Have more than two people complained of their bikes being stolen? Listen to what's going on.
Step 2
Now that you have an idea of what the buzz is, get your hands on some facts! Explore the issue further with 20 or more of your peers by using one or more of these methods:
a. Interviews
b. Small group discussions
c. Print or online surveys
Here are some questions to consider for your fact gathering:
- What do you care about? Why?
- What do you worry about? Why?
- What do you wish you had help with from adults?
- What's one thing you'd like to change at your school, place of worship, Girl Scouts, etc.?
Step 3
What did you find out? Summarize your results into a few powerful key messages. Remember to be brief; often less is more. Now, voice your "call to action" messages. Bring them to people who can act on them. Consider talking to your mayor or councilperson, your principal or teacher, a community or spiritual leader, a committee at Girl Scouts, or other students, like the student council.
What did you learn about identifying problems? How does it feel to take the first steps toward making your world a little better? How confident do you feel?
Part 3: Act With Courage
Have you ever felt left out? When? How? Why?
As our world becomes more diverse by the minute, it's more important than ever for Girl Scouts to value diversity.
Valuing diversity means appreciating and respecting individual differences, such as racial, ethnic, and cultural identity, as well as differences in background, experience, education, religion, family, age, gender, interests, ability, skills, and style. Making today's world a better place calls upon each of us to celebrate diversity in our communities.
With courage, you can help others value diversity, too. Complete one of the items from the list below.
- Encourage your group of friends to "cross-pollinate." Get your friends to mix it up at lunch. Commit to sitting with a different group of people every day for a week or two.
- Attend a meeting of a club or group in your school or community that is totally different from what you would normally do. Start a trend. Encourage three other people to do the same. Or, try it within Girl Scouts by linking up with a group of girls who are different than the girls in your group.
- Write an article or series of articles for a newspaper, newsletter, or website that educates others about diversity in your community.
- Be the example you want to set. Discourage inappropriate language or hurtful jokes. Practice what to say when someone speaks or acts in a way that is disrespectful to others. Write down at least three points you can make when someone is negatively stereotyping others. Use your courage to act when you are put to the test!
What did you do? Did it take courage? Why? What did you learn and how will you use it to continue promoting diversity?
Congratulations! You've completed Girl Scout Challenge 3. Now that you're done with the activities, what's your "C" level? How can you keep raising your confidence, character, and courage level?
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