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Some girls definitely have a harder time than others in Girl scouting and each council is very different. Whether it’d be precedent, culture, unanimous issues, there must be a reason that council is acting differently than they should— I would have reported an issue. Communicating four weeks apart is merely unacceptable. My experience has been different— my councilor and I keep in touch daily. I do understand that selling cookies is meant to grow leadership and money knowledge. I have always kept track of the money I sold and how to maximize the sell of cookies as a learning experience. However, It is is also disheartening to know that there are people advising others not to join for a bad experience. Avoiding something completely prevents any type of endeavor to take place, and cuts any chances of possibility. If I were mentored to not join, I would be a completely different person since the program helped me grow in ways with my project. Delete the project from my life, I would probably not be in the same high tier I believe I am in. Sympathies to your daughter. I hope you can find yourself taking action. Here are links that might help. https://www.girlscouts.org/en/contact-us/contact-us/council-support.html https://www.girlscouts.org/en/contact-us/contact-us/customer-support.html https://www.girlscouts.org/en/contact-us/contact-us/report-infringement.html Cookie percentages: 27% covers transportation costs ($1.08 of $4 box) 21% goes directly to troop for supplies ($0.84) 19% goes to train volunteers ($0.76) 15% upgrades camps and subsidize costs for needy scouts ($0.61) 12% goes to leadership programs ($0.49) 6% goes to local administrative offices and support ($0.22) These percentages are found online. https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/02/03/good-question-where-does-girl-scout-cookie-money-go-2/

Participate in the fall and spring sales is required for earning the award. Something has to be sold to get the participation award. However, It is not required to sell hundreds of boxes. https://www.girlscoutsla.org/content/dam/girlscouts-girlscoutsla/documents/product-sales/cookies/Cookie Program 2018/FAQs Participation Definition FINAL 2.pdf Earning the silver award is not mandatory. To compensate, Girl must complete double the mandatory book amount. https://www.girlscouts.org/gogoldonline/ You do earn patches for completing journeys. They look like this: https://www.girlscoutshop.com/search?keywords=Journey patch Going to the workshop is still mandatory to complete the gold award: https://www.girlscoutsla.org/en/events-repository/2017/gold_award_workshop_246401942.html Comparing service projects solely, the Gold Award is more rigorous. Comparing the award, is more difficult with differences in the structure of the programs. Unanimously, however, It it is a shame that the Gold Award is not highly recognized as the Eagle award. In some scholarships I had applied to, I could only check off “Eagle award” as a characteristic with no Gold Award to check out. It’s somewhat disheartening. Keeping its name now hopefully will grow its recognition. Congratulations to your daughter who will earn her award in the future. Please encourage her since the award is definitely one that allowed me to gain qualities I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Both Eagle award and Gold award are two different awards, both target the community as service projects. However, the means to reach each award is different, and so is its executions. Here is a side by side comparison using both national authentic websites. Boy Scout- Eagle Scout as a Rank requirements (according to scouting.org) - 6 month life scout - Serve position as life scout - Must complete 21 merit badges - Scoutmaster conference - Completed the Eagle Scout service project workbook - Plan, develop, lead a service project helping community not of Boy Scouts - Does not have to attack a root issue of a community, but benefit community - At least group of three people (two do not have to be in scouting) - No time requirements since The hours point to level of excellence - no requirement a project must have lasting value Girl Scouts- Gold Award requirements (according to Girl Scouts.org) - have been a cadette - Have earned the Girl Scout Silver Award - must participate in the Fall Product and Cookie Programs, and earn the participation patches for both programs. - Attended the gold award workshop - complete a senior/ ambassador journey book - Plan, develop, lead a service project helping community not of Girl Scouts - Must attack root issue of community and benefit community - Work alone only and must build a team to lead - work a minimum of 80 hours in the service project - Must have lasting value beyond girl involvement major differences: - Boy Scouts must have 21 merit badges, girls must earn participation patches for fall product and cookie sales - Girl Scouts must work alone, Boy Scouts may work with two other people - Girl Scouts must attack a root issue, Boy Scouts have to benefit an organization/community - Girl Scouts have 80 hour minimum, Boy Scouts do not have time requirements Comparison: Comparing the service project requirements between the Eagle and the Gold, the Gold Award service project is undeniably more rigorous to attain than the Eagle service project. To attain the approval, girls must work 80 hours alone, while boys work in teams with no specific hour requirement. Although Girl Scouts do have ranks called “Dens” (daisies, brownies, juniors, cadetes, seniors, and ambassadors), there is no “Gold Award Ambassador” as a rank. The Gold Award is only a Award, and the girl becomes a Gold Awardee. Award for the service project requirements can be comparable, but only boys have rank requirements (award requires project, rank requires 21 merit badges). If we are comparing title, the Gold Award do have approximately the same requirements as the Eagle Scout Rank. Therefore, Girls do about the same work for a lesser label.