Silver Award: Beautifully You
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Girls today are bombarded with messages about beauty. It's no wonder when girls look in the mirror that negative body images often look back and distort their reflection into a harsh critique of perceived flaws rather than an accurate view of themselves. Research shows that up to 80% of adolescent girls and women report feeling unhappy with their appearance or what they see in the mirror. Zeroing in on perceived flaws triggers anxiety, shame, and negative self-talk, which can tie a girl's self-worth directly to her outward appearance.
Girl Scout Cadette Ryan from Troop 388 in Virginia Beach and a middle-schooler, knows this all too well. She sees it all around her — in school, on social media, and when talking to friends. She also knows that negative talk can start long before middle-school years.
“When you are a kid, you look around at all the people that are around you and you compare yourself to them or you look at yourself and think why you look a certain way,” Girl Scout Cadette Ryan said. “They look at the color of their hair and eyes and skin and wonder why it looks different from others. For my Girl Scout Silver Award project, ‘Beautifully You’, my goal was to address the issue of kids feeling bad about the way they look or wanting to look different. I wanted to make them see who they truly and uniquely are.”
Ryan drew from her creative talents and her passion to make change to design a confidence-building wall at Strawbridge Elementary School, a school she once attended. With mirrors she collected and recycled through donations, and design work she implemented, she created a wall that became a source of strength for the students and faculty at the school. It also became a reminder for her that she is perfect exactly as she is.
“This project has been transformative for me and for others,” she said. “I discovered that as much as I do really love the person that I have become there are still times where I look in the mirror and wonder why my hair doesn’t look as perfect as the girl sitting next to me. This project has helped me to see that I am perfect the way that I am and my hair suits me perfectly and anyone else wouldn’t look like the person that is perfectly, beautifully, and uniquely me.”
Congratulations, Ryan!
