Ep 158 Empowering Kindergartners: Jola Strayhorn's Journey to the Girl Scout Gold Award

About this episode

Jola Strayhorn discusses her journey to achieving the Girl Scout Gold Award through a project aimed at helping kindergartners with social skills during the pandemic.

Jola created an engaging video aimed at teaching kindergartners essential classroom behaviors, which she identified as a need due to the social challenges faced by children during the pandemic. We discussed the research she conducted on the impact of the pandemic on young children, particularly regarding social anxiety and interaction skills. Jola shared her experiences working with her family friend's nieces, who starred in the video, and the challenges she faced during the filming and editing process. She emphasized the importance of patience and perseverance, especially when navigating the complexities of the Gold Award application. Jola also recounted her excitement about presenting her video to the children and the positive feedback she received from both the kids and their teacher. We explored her broader experiences in Girl Scouts, including her involvement with Media Girls and a memorable interview with CBS in New York, where she had the opportunity to meet the CEO of Girl Scouts. In addition to her Gold Award project, Jola shared her passion for running track at Union Catholic High School and her aspirations to compete at the collegiate level. She reflected on her…

People in this episode

Host: Sheryl M Robinson

Guest: Jola Strayhorn

Topics covered

• education
• youth empowerment
• social skills
• community support
• Girl Scouts
• Gold Award

Keywords

• Gold Award
• kindergartners
• social anxiety
• video project
• Girl Scouts
• community support
• track and field

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Girl Scouts, CBS

Places: Union Catholic High School, Boston

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