Some of you expressed an interest in knowing more about some of the things that Winter has been doing. This post will tell you.
In our church, when a girl is 12 years old, she enters the Young Women’s program. This program goes until age 18.
Each young woman works toward the goal of earning her Young Womenhood Recognition Award (for which she will receive a certificate and a medallion) through a program called Personal Progress. They have 6 years to earn this, but they can earn it before that.
Winter turned 13 in December. In March of this year, she completed all of the requirements to earn her young women’s medallion. Her self-motivation is very inspiring to me.
To earn the medallion, she has to complete 6 choices for each of the following values: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountibility, good works, integrity, and virtue. She also needs to complete a 10 hour project for each value, though the project can take longer than 10 hours (most of hers took much longer than 10 hours).
After she completes the 6 activities and the project for each value, she earns a ribbon to go in her scriptures. Each ribbon corresponds to the color that represents that value.
After she completes personal progress, she earns a medallion that she can wear.
Once a young woman has earned her medallion, she can earn an Honor Bee. In order to complete her Honor Bee, a young woman must read The Book of Mormon and complete 40 hours of service.
After that, if she desires, a young woman may earn her medallion again. Winter has made a goal to earn her medallion 3 times before she is 18 (once every other year), and to earn her Honor Bee 3 times (she’d actually like to earn it 6 times, but we heard she may only be able to earn it one time a year; we are still learning the details on that).
One of the biggest challenges for Winter was coming up with projects for each of the values. She worked with her young women’s president and with me to plan projects.
To help other young women who are looking for ideas, I’d like to share her projects for each of the values.
Note: A young woman does not have to be of our faith to earn a medallion (see the answer to question 6 if you are interested in this).
Faith: Winter marked the footnotes in her scriptures to make them more obvious when she reads, including Hebrew and Greek translations.
Divine Nature: For this project, Winter memorized The Family: A Proclamation to the World.
Individual Worth: Winter spent many hours researching her family history. She was able to find several more lines on our family history, and she took the names of two ancestors to the temple.
Knowledge: Winter learned more about sewing by making doll clothes for her sisters for Christmas. You can see some of the clothes she sewed here.
Choice and Accountibility: Listened to General Conference (this is 9 hours) and wrote in her journal for an hour about her favorite talks.
Good Works: Winter volunteered 10 hours in preparing for the young women’s garage sale (to help all of the girls earn some of their money for camp).
Integrity: Winter made a modest skirt. She started using this tutorial and them made changes to it.
Virtue: This is the only project that is assigned. For virtue, a young woman needs to read The Book of Mormon. For most girls, this is the most difficult (and longest) project. Winter completed this project first; she started working on it right after she turned 12.
I am excited to see what else Winter will accomplish in her life!
Thank you for sharing. I found it all very interesting. And big congratulations to Winter for completing it all in such a short time period!
She is beautiful. I can see her sweet and wise spirit shining through. Congratulations Winter that is a big accomplishment! Also, I had never heard of the Honor Bee. So cool!
What an inspiring child. I’m so impressed with her and her hard work. You must be very, very proud.
Winter is such a beautiful young woman of God.. She is so inspiring. . Congratulations Winter .
Way to go Winter! The new medallion (which probably isn’t so new anymore) is beautiful.
Back when I was in Young Women’s we had the 4 necklaces (Beehive, Mia Maid, Laurel, and the medallion). I still have mine. What’s more, my mother – who converted when she was 19 and then was called to be Laurel advisor when she was 20 – earned hers, too. I am not positive but it’s possible my dad’s mother (who was LDS – his ancestry in the church goes back to the 1830s) earned hers too; although of course it was a totally different program back then.
Winter, you are a great encouragement to young women and especially your siblings. Keep up the great works!
What an inspiring girl she is. I am so happy for her. You can tell that her faith is important to her and I am sure God has many plans for such a wonderful girl. I know you and your husband are bursting with pride.
Way to go Winter!
Good for her! She is an inspiration to others.
Congratulations on your hard work and accomplishments, Winter!
Winter is so what we hope our daughters will be as they grow.
Among other things she is also lovely, smart and accomplished.
I enjoy reading about what your children are doing…almost as much as I enjoy reading your life tips.
Thank you for sharing.
What a nice wholesome young lady! I’m sure she is a wonderful role model to her younger sisters. Congratulations, Winter!
It is good to see a young woman so motivated and I am sure that she is an inspiration for your other daughters and sons as well.
Winter has even inspired me! When you showed the picture of her lovely hair pinned up I was inspired to do the same. I have long hair and even though I like it long I don’t like to have it down, except for certain occasions. So, I usually wear it up and for the most part I would throw it up with scrunchies or hair clips but now I pin my hair up almost every day. With my hair pinned up instead of just thrown up I feel as if I am dressed for the day and am polished even though I work from home now and no one sees me. I’ve had several compliments on my hair when I go out to the store or recently from my chiropractor! Thank you Winter and thank you Brandy for sharing her and her accomplishments with us.
She is Lovely!
How wonderful! I love her pinned up hairstyles. In the photos above, she has some pinned up and some down. She uses Pinterest to find new ideas.
Thank you for sharing Winter’s accomplishments. It was lovely and refreshing read.
You can see the impact you, your husband, and your faith have on your children – which is also so refreshing!
Congratulations to Winter! Also, to her mom and dad who have set such great examples for her. Thank you for sharing this, too. I enjoy reading about the youth of today who are doing such great things. You should be very proud of her. Beautiful pictures, as usual.
Congrats to Winter on a job well done.
You must be so proud of your daughter. She is beautiful. Cheryl
I was so happy to read where you said that Winter inspires you! I am a person who thinks it is important to let our children know that they are already individuals who affect the world around them. What a wonderful thing for a daughter to inspire not only her family, but those in her community as well. 🙂
She’s a beautiful girl in and out and a wonderful example to other girls in this day and age. I had never heard of the Personal Progress before. What an incredible program! Keep up the great work Winter!
what a wonderful accomplishment! Congrats to Winter! I admire her hard work and determination!! You and your husband must be so proud Brandy!
This is really lovely! I really like how your church encourages self development!
Bravo Winter!
What a great accomplishment .. I am so proud of Winter.. She is a beautiful and talented young lady, I wish her the best, in all the work she is doing to receive these great accomplishments.. Know you and Dad are super proud of her too.
Keep up the good work, Winter.
Congratulations, Winter – and to your family and YW leaders who provided support and encouragement. I am the only LDS member in my family, but my daughter has begun attending meetings with me. She started her PP at late 13 ( just turned 14) and felt like she was very behind – she’ll be very excited to learn this is so very “doable” with dedication.
I couldn’t agree more. My mom made a similar comment to me about something at church when I was 18 and I’ve never forgotten it. It meant more to me that any other accomplishment in life, including college graduation!!
The medallion & Winter are both beautiful. I hope that other young ladies, including her sisters, are also inspired when they see her proudly wearing it.
I look forward to hearing what else she does. 🙂
Debby
This brought tears of joy to my eyes. Winter is a like the song, “I am a Child of God” and she is inspiring!. I would not be surprised at all if she eventually goes on a mission!!! Bless you Brandy, and your husband, for taking care of your children, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally.
Congratulations to Winter and to you, too, for being so supportive of your daughter. Thank you for sharing her accomplishments with us. We all need to hear more about all the wonderful things our young people are accomplishing.
Congratulations Winter! You accomplished a lot!
I love the photos – the ribbons in Scripture in particular.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Lea
Congratulations to Winter for such an huge accomplishment! And Brandy, thank you for sharing the program information and her great work!
What an accomplishment!! Thanks for sharing this!
Having that kind of dedication at her age is incredible! I love how she strives to continue to achieve more thru your faith. Thank you for sharing Winter w us Brandy!
Wow! Congratulations, Winter! I think you must have inherited your mother’s work ethic and diligence.
What a lovely girl. This is so impressive. I love all the components they do and the medallion and ribbons. Just wonderful. Congratulations WInter.
What a beautiful, smart young lady! Congratulations!
Of course it’s doable! I look forward to the day you announce on here that your daughter has completed her PP too!
What an inspiration she is. Her sweetness shines from her eyes.
What a lovely and accomplished young lady Winter is! I love how self-motivated and mature she is for her age.
How proud you must be. Congratulations Winter!
Very nice accomplishment Winter. Brandy, you and your husband have obviously done well in bringing up your children in a “more than just a Sunday” faith. They will have a strong foundation as they grow into adults.