Girl Scout Gold Award

To plan for my project, I spoke with the Program Director of Girl Scouts, Marla Howard, my Girl Scout leader, Thuy Nguyen, and my project advisor, Kim Huynh-Vu, to brainstorm possible ideas for my project. They guided me through every step of the way to accomplish the Gold Award. After choosing an idea for a project, I spoke to the Director of the Alum Rock Youth Center, Carlos Villarreal, to see if the community and facility could benefit from a health fair. He was over- enthusiastic about the proposal because he was constantly looking for new programs for the center. He referred me to the facility’s advisory council to seek financial aid and advice for the project. When I met with them, they offered a free facility rental, tables, chairs, DJ, and to print 1000 of the flyers for my project. They also gave me input for my fair. Immediately afterwards, I contacted many health-related organizations, which took numerous weeks. I also called for donated goods such as snacks, water, lunch, paper, etc. Staples, Costco, Jamba Juice and Subway were among these donations. In the end, there were no extra expenses from my pockets for the project. Some of the items were paid for with my Girl Scout cookie sales and nut sales over the years in scouting. After my project had a solid ground, I submitted my project proposal to the Girl Scout Council and set a date for a required interview before I could officially start working on my project and counting the hours. I passed the interview easily because of my preparation. The fair was constructed from over 100 hours of organizing, advertising, communicating, and leading. Many hours were personally spent to request representatives from the organizations. Very productive days of advertisement, facilitated by contacting media, posting flyers, posters, websites, high school marquee boards, and by word of mouth, lured in 600 attendees. I also attended Assemblymember Joe Coto’s health fair to see an example of a health fair. When I told him that I was coordinating a health fair myself, he offered to help. He and his field representative, Darcie Green, gave me lists of contact information for media, organizations, and tips. Some of their interns offered to help me on the day of the fair. On the actual day, I constantly walked around the facility, making sure that the representatives of the organizations, volunteers, and attendees were comfortable for the six-hour setting. To hear a child’s excited voice when he or she claimed a free giveaway or participated in an activity that he or she would not normally be exposed to was invigorating.