If there’s one thing I want my Cadettes to remember about this scouting year, it’s that they helped to build a high school.

Last week, the church where our Girl Scout troop is based hosted a missionary priest from Rwanda who is trying to raise money to expand their high school. This is a nation devastated by a genocide that killed hundreds of thousands of their people and is still working to recover. The high school currently serves 125 girls, but the hope is to add more housing and classrooms to accommodate 400 students.

Brick by brick, they were asking for help. And, with the low cost of labor there (and the fact that shipping to Rwanda would be a logistical nightmare), a mere $2 could buy 30 bricks for the construction.

Helping build a high school was a perfect service project for our middle school Cadettes. We are active in our Catholic church and school community (three of our girls earned their Leadership Torch for service to the Little Flowers group at our church last year), and this project is a great way for them to work on their Global Action Award without it just being a “talk about.”

In just a few days, our idea to help this high school in Rwanda exploded from a “earn money by doing chores” to a challenge to Girl Scout troops at other Catholic schools to engaging our younger troops in hosting a “Baking for Bricks” bake sale at the church this weekend. Some of our Cadettes helped the Juniors at a baking session after school this week, and we have younger Girl Scouts contributing baked items, often as a family project.

After our Saturday evening service, we’d already “purchased” 1,800 bricks! Incredible!

There are so many ideas that can help your girls get engaged in helping other girls around the world. As Juniors, our girls made necklaces to sell and provided scholarships for two girls in Haiti through our sister parish. Our girls also attended the Compassion Experience, a free traveling exhibition. You just have to be ready for the opportunity when it does arise.

Looking for more ideas to earn the Global Action Award? This download will help you with exploring ways to help meet the requirements of this year’s theme of education.