Girl Scout Silver Award

Girls working toward earning the Silver Award and their advisor (leader) are highly encouraged to attend a Silver Award workshop.  Advance registration is required.  To register, please contact Linda Wislon at 865-688-9440 or 1-800-474-1912.

Girl Scout Silver Award Workshop Schedule

Date	Location	Time
September 20(Saturday)	New Providence Presbyterian Church         703 West Broadway Ave. Maryville, TN 37801	9:30-10:30 a.m.
September 30(Tuesday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	6:30-7:30 p.m.
October 11(Saturday)	First United Methodist     101 E. First North Street Morristown, TN 37814	9:30-10:30 a.m.
October 20(Monday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	6:30-7:30 p.m.
November 20(Thursday)	Methodist Medical Center 990 Oak Ridge Turnpike Oak Ridge, TN 37830(Cheyenne Building)	6:30-7:30 p.m.
December 11(Thursday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	6:30-7:30 p.m.
January 10(Saturday)	Pellissippi State Technical Community College     10915 Hardin Valley Rd. Knoxville, TN 37933	TBD
January 20(Tuesday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	6:30-7:30 p.m.
February 21(Saturday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	9:30-10:30 a.m.
March 10(Tuesday)	TBD	6:30-7:30 p.m.
April 21(Tuesday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	6:30-7:30 p.m.
May 30(Saturday)	Girl Scout Council Office Knoxville	9:30-10:30 a.m.

Benefits of Earning the Girl Scout Silver Award

The Girl Scout Silver Award is the second highest award in Girl Scouting. It is a national award with national standards, awarded by Tanasi Council on behalf of Girl Scouts of the USA.

• Girls who earn this award are recognized as future community leaders.
• Younger girls look up to girls earning the Silver Award and are in continuous need of mentors.
• Although girls do not have to earn the Silver Award to be eligible to earn the Gold Award, the Silver Award helps girls develop skills that will help her to stretch as she goes for the Gold Award.
• Learning to work with different groups of people is a lifelong skill. Silver Award candidates learn that cooperation, leadership and compromise all go into teamwork.

Tips for Reaching for the Silver Award

Cadette Girl Scouts in a troop or as individually registered girls, ages 11-14 (or grades 6 – 9), can begin working on the Silver Award requirements. Any printed pieces for the project should contain the following: Girl's Name, Girl Scout Silver Award Project, Girl Scouts of Tanasi Council.

Approval from the council is not required for the Silver Award, but advisor and parent approval is.

Girls need to prepare to spend the required 40 hours of their own time on the project.

The Silver Award Final Report must be received by February 1 for the girl to be recognized at the council recognitions event each spring. Girls must submit Girl Scout Silver Award Final Report to the council office upon completion of the project. The girl will receive a letter confirming that the award has been earned.

The Silver Award Pin is a gift from the council for a girl's effort to earn the award. For individual girl or troop ceremonies, contact the council office to make arrangements to receive the pin.

Resources for Girls Earning the Silver Award

Items Girls need to earn the Silver Award:

GSUSA – produced:

• Studio 2B Basics Binder and “Go For It” Silver Award insert. These materials list in detail all the requirements for girls to accomplish each step of the Silver Award.
• Studio 2B Focus Books – The Silver Leadership Award requires the Uniquely Me! The Real Deal focus book, and the Silver 4Bs Challenge requires the Looking In, Reaching Out focus book.
• Interest Projects for girls 11-17. This book contains all the details and requirements necessary to complete Interest Projects.

All of the above items are available through the Girl Scout Shop at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , 865/281-8990 or visit us at the Girl Scout office.

Tanasi Council produced “Reaching for Silver” booklet and required paperwork.

In addition, the following resources are available to assist girls earning the Silver Award:

• Girl Scout staff, at the council office, are there to assist girls with questions or challenges that earning this award may present. 865/688-9440.
• Visit the Tanasi Council web site at www.tanasi.org for details on the Silver Award.
• Tanasi Council has several filing cabinets full of Silver Award projects from the past. Girls, parents and advisors are welcome to schedule a time to review some of the past project details. 865/688-9440.
• Often girls who have earned the Silver Award are willing to meet with or speak to girls, parents and advisors about their experience. This can be very inspiring to girls and give them the chance to ask questions peer to peer.

Money and the Silver Award Project

Girl Scouts of USA suggest girls refer to the guidelines in the Girl Scout Gold Award “Go for It” insert for details on money related issues. The information below is taken from that resource and has been adapted to refer to the Silver Award rather than the Gold since is applicable to both awards.

One of the challenges facing every girl “Reaching for the Silver Award” is financial. Often, when the planning gets serious, adjustments have to be made in the implementation. On the one hand you are asked to meet a need in your community; on the other hand, you have some major constraints outlined in Safety-Wise, GSUSA Policies and by Tanasi Council. So what's a girl to do?

1. You can't ask for money as a girl member of Girl Scouts. You can't ask for materials or services (technically called gifts-in-kind) either from the business community. This asking is considered fundraising by both the IRS and GSUSA policies - and for a lot of reasons, legal and otherwise, adults are the only people who can raise money for Girl Scouting.

What you can do: If you really need to get a donation of materials or need some funds to accomplish your project, work with your Girl Scout advisor to accomplish this. They have a book, the Volunteer Resource Guide , that has all the details and requirements for girls and troops related to money.

2. You can't raise money for another organization as a Girl Scout. That means you can't have a car wash and tell people that you are giving the proceeds to a homeless shelter for meals, you can't ask for pledges for a walk-a-thon to benefit breast cancer research, and you can't hold a benefit dance to raise money for someone's kidney operation.

What you can do: This is where it gets a bit tricky.

• Your troop can hold a car wash or birdhouse sale and can charge a fee to an approved event for your troop's treasury. However, your troop must have council permission for any money-earning activity. Discuss with your troop the need for funds for your project, and determine as a group if this is how the troop would like to spend a portion of their troop treasury. If there are several girls, the troop may decide to donate a specific amount to each girl's project, but the decision is up to the troop as whole.
• Pay for the expenses associated with the project out of your own pocket.
• Obtain support by seeking materials from individuals such as friends, family, your church, school or other organizations you are a member of, rather than soliciting the business community.

Some Questions Asked by Tanasi Council Advisors and Girls

So, what is the real message GSUSA is sending about money and Silver Award projects? Projects that may incur significant expenses or materials are not the best choices for girls. Girls need to select projects that utilize resources readily accessible to them such as their own time, talent, effort and that of other volunteers in the community.

So, it is best if I pick a project that does not require much money or supplies to accomplish, or that involves a material drive with individuals or community groups, correct? Yes, that is best.