2019 marks 15 years since Girl Scout Troop 60357 of Lakewood petitioned state lawmakers to designate the Yule Marble as the Official State Rock of Colorado. The girls embarked on the project to make Colorado the most geologically patriotic state in the union, with red, white, and blue geologic symbols (mineral: http://bit.ly/2HuK7P2, rock: http://bit.ly/2EmmZjW, and gemstone: http://bit.ly/2M1Ysqv). The project also enabled them to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor for fourth and fifth grade Girl Scouts.
Now, Girl Scout alumnae are reflecting on what the project meant to them and the impact Girl Scouts has had on their lives.
“Now, in 2019 looking back over the last 15 years, I realize that this project did more for me as an adult than I ever could have imagined.”
“It’s pretty awesome to say that I was part of a group of young, ambitious women that took on the seemingly impossible and succeeded.”
MiKayla Loseke
“The most important lesson I learned from all this hard work is you can achieve anything you put your mind to. A group of young girls with the help of a few very strong women were able to pass a bill into law in the state of Colorado. We weren’t experienced in the way governments work. We had no idea what we were doing. (The help we received from Senator Betty Boyd was incredible, we wouldn’t have been able to do it without her.)”
“I learned to be proud of my accomplishments. Our troop is going to be a part of Colorado’s history forever, and having that accomplishment, knowing that I was part of something great, gives me the courage to continue doing great things.”
Laura Eckhardt
“The Yule Marble Initiative gave me a sense of hope for my own life and for the lives of those around me. My 12-year-old self was bold enough to go in front of a room of politicians and tell them that ‘even the smallest citizen can have a voice,’ and what was amazing was that those intimidating politicians listened and also agreed with us. What an empowering feeling for a bunch of pre-teens! I try to carry that feeling with me throughout my life and let it be a reminder when I doubt myself or the world around me, that change is possible and even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant of us are capable of making great changes in the world around us. That gives me hope.”
Emily Cameron
“I like to use this event as an example when I am working with fourth and fifth graders who are just starting to want to make their marks on the world. I share with them that a group of kids just like them, from their own neighborhoods, were able to make such a large and lasting change in their community, and that if they see a need, they too can reach out and do something about it.”
“Yule marble has become so much more than our Bronze Award project, it laid the foundation for the kind of people we grew up to be, and the kind of power we all have to make a difference in our world. If a bunch of little girls can change their world and make it just a little bit better, imagine what the rest of us can do if we set our minds to it.”
Caitlin Corenblith
