15 June, 2017
Hopkinton, MA - For their Girl Scout Bronze Award, Hopkinton Girl Scout Troop 68067 focused on the subject of bullying. Did you know that 1 out of 4 kids get bullied every day and that 160,000 students skip school each day to avoid their bully? It was statistics like these, plus the fact that they saw unkindness at their school, that made this Troop of 5 choose this tough subject for their Bronze Award.
The goal of this project was to remind students at Edward Hopkins Elementary School about the impact that bullying has on others. They realized early on that good self-esteem, kindness and positivity were the best ways to combat bullying amongst their peers. What began as a project on bullying, soon became one with the message of kindness and the project took on an incredibly positive tone from this point forward.
The Troop began this project in October 2016, which is anti-bullying month. The Troop planned a spirit week at Hopkins School where both students and staff were encouraged to participate. Each day of spirit week had a different theme as well as an announcement educating students of bullying statistics. To wrap up spirit week, the entire school participated in the Million Misfit Sock March with many others across the nation.
The Troop members decided that the project should include a bullying survey, a Buddy Bench, where students who don’t know anyone can sit and meet a new friend, a whole school vote (in conjunction with the Hopkinton Town Clerk) about which Buddy Bench to choose for the playground, a workshop for younger troops on bullying and self-esteem, a day of celebrating the special qualities of everyone at Hopkins School called I AM DAY, and a video all about this amazing, powerful day.
To earn the money needed for this project, the Troop spent many hours fundraising, They participated in the Girl Scout Fall Product and Cookies programs, created necklaces and sold them to family and friends, and spent a day at the recycling center. In all, the girls earned enough money to purchase the Buddy Bench and to support the needs of the rest of this project.
A few weeks ago, the girls wrapped the project up by writing and submitting the final Bronze Award paperwork to Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts for final approval. They were asked what leadership skills they added to the project and what they learned about themselves along the way. Their responses were true indicators of what they each gained from earning this award. They learned:
❖ to work as a team
❖ to contribute super ideas and suggestions to make this project work
❖ that educating others is a strength
❖ that patience is so important when working with a team
❖ that they are motivated, positive, responsible and creative.
Most importantly, however, they learned to be leaders. As quoted by one Troop member, “you don’t need to change who you are to fit in. It is better to just be yourself”.
About GS Troop 68067
Girl Scout Junior Troop 65294 has been in existence since 2011. There are five fifth grade girls in the Troop, all of whom are participating in the Bronze Award Project - Lucy D’Urso, Morgan Gedman, Elizabeth Howard, Annika Hutto and Karen Tang. They are so excited to have worked on such an important project for their Bronze Award. The girls bridged to Cadettes in May 2017 and received their award shortly after the Bridging ceremony.
About Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts
We’re Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts ― 50,000 strong, with 35,000 girls and 15,000 volunteers in 178 communities in eastern Massachusetts. We’re here to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. For more information, please visit hergirlscouts.org
