Brand New Brand You:
Girl Scout Gold Award Project
When beginning my Girl Scout Gold Award, I was nervous about the face to face time that I would have to do with a large number of people, as I was not very confident in speaking publicly. However, with every presentation, I felt as if I was meant to be a public speaker and I had never felt more confident. I am also much better at organizing my thoughts by putting them into different media forms including PowerPoints, tri-fold boards, videos, and pamphlets. I also learned about how to reach teens through different gaming mechanisms and social interaction. I turned a serious education lesson into a fun activity that would leave them with a lasting impression. But the biggest impact that this project had on me was that it made me believe that I was able to make a difference in people's lives. Being able to tell students about the different ways that their brands can change based off appearance, communication, and actions allowed me to feel as if I provided solutions to problems that the students may end up encountering. The main goal of this project for me was to raise awareness and touch the minds of others.
My Girl Scout Gold Award Project, "Brand New, Brand You", addressed the ongoing problem of lack of self brand awareness in teens. Your brand is a combination of your appearance, communication, and actions. All of these components add up to become our own personal brand. I chose this issue primarily because I observe people's brands and have noticed how their brands impact them in direct ways. This project was necessary for me to address because when researching the topic of personal branding in youth, virtually no results came up. My target audience was teenagers aged 13-18 years old. I felt that during those ages is where the most character development takes place, and the more malleable they would be. I presented my Gold Award Project to over 500 teenagers, using an interactive slideshow with activities in order to engage the teens. I created a pre and post survey in order to measure the impact of my project as well as handed out a pamphlet with everything that they saw in the slideshow. When reading the results, I felt as if I had made an immediate difference in the teens’ lives. Many of the students said that they had felt as if the presentation had opened their eyes to what their brand is and what they would like it to be, which was the mission of my Gold Award project!
Throughout my project as I enlightened myself on the topic, I discovered more about myself then I even imagined which helped me hone in on my own brand! By creating a website on Weebly, I was able to provide all the resources I used including my interactive slideshow as well as a 20 minute video elaborating on the slideshow, so that anyone could use the materials I created for their own. Lack of personal branding in teens is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed worldwide in order to prevent teens from losing their way and presenting themselves in a harmful way.