Girl Scout Troop Working on Anti-Bullying Book

Four seventh graders in local Girl Scout Troop 17092 are currently working on their Silver Award project, Stop Bullying Now, An Anti-Bullying Book. They are making a book of short stories, poems, and art that share the impact that bullying has on people. They are collecting submissions from the community, especially youth. Submissions can be send to se include your name and age, unless you would like to remain anonymous.

The girls have selected this project to raise awareness for the impacts of bullying. Lilyann Downard, a 7th grader at Central Lyon in Rock Rapids, Iowa (formerly of Twin Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake) said, “we saw that people around us are aware of bullying but aren't doing as much to stop it as they could. This book could inspire them to help.” Mahika Kandula, a 7th grader at Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake added, “this started as a small idea, then it became a bigger idea.”

The troop consists of 4 girls who have been in classes together since the 3rd grade, though they haven’t all been Girl Scouts that entire time. Sydney Pearson, a 7th grader at Twin Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake, shared that “one goal for this project is to help others who have been hurt by bullying to feel not so alone. We have a goal to collect at least 50 submissions and reach at least 100 people with our project.” Lisa Kuksenko, a 7th grader at Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake, says they want to “lower the percentages of kids who get bullied or fall into depression, feel they are worthless, etc. because they were bullied.”

To fund the publishing of the book, the girls have launched a Kickstarter campaign. Any excess funds raised though the campaign will be used to purchase extra books to donate to each of the schools that the girls attend. Supporters of their Kickstarter can pre-order a book which will be sent to them by January. The campaign is active until May 17 and can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1367755418/girl-scout-troop-17092-silver-award-anti-bullying/.

The Girl Scout Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. It gives girls the chance to do big things and make their community better in the process. Girl Scout Cadettes are in grades 6 through 8.

Any questions about this project can be e-mailed to their troop e-mail address, troop17092@gmail.com.