When I was part of the Girl Greatness Awards selection committee in 2015, I was blown away by all the positive words girls have about each other and about themselves. In our Guide unit, we decided to talk about girl greatness using activities inspired by the awards’ meeting guide.

We started by talking about why girls choose Guides – they make friends, participate in group activities, give back to the community, and have fun! Then I shared why Girl Guides of Canada wants every girl to be a member.  After all, it’s in our Mission: Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada enables girls to be confident, resourceful and courageous, and to make a difference in the world.

We asked the girls what each of these key words means to them… and you can read their words below! I took the words of these girls to social media because I want everyone to know that GGC is a valuable experience for all girls.

Our girls learn that confident is “believing in myself… being bold!”

That resourceful is “using my abilities and things I have”…

That courageous is their “head held high”…

…and that making a difference is “using your voice to help.”

In a world that holds women accountable for the actions of others, that jokes female scientists should work separately because they’re ‪#‎distractinglysexy, and that shames girls and women for speaking out about their personal experiences with violence (just open a newspaper)… these qualities are so important!

We finished the activity by practicing positive acknowledgement. Each girl said something positive, specific, sincere and honest about the person sitting to her left. We reminded them to try and find words other than ‘nice’ or ‘cool.’ We heard:

“You are always open to talk to other people.”

“You always make me laugh, no matter how I feel.”

“You are always eager to participate in whatever we do.”

It’s easy to be bogged down in the minutia of planning this meeting, or that camp, or another badge… but this exercise was an amazing reminder that I am always learning from these girls – and they are always learning from me.

In the words of some incredible 9-12 year old girls… “believe in yourself” and “be brave”…

Guest post by Krysta Coyle. Krysta has ‘Guided’ across the country as a girl in Alberta, a Guider in B.C. and Manitoba, and now as a Guide and Ranger Guider in Halifax. She is a co-District Commissioner for Halifax South District and (the new!) National Link Liaison. When not busy with GGC, Krysta is a Ph.D. student in Pathology at Dalhousie University.

Girl Greatness Awards nominations are now open! Help spread the word to girls in Guiding.