The impressive speaker was presenting remarkable research on the timely topic of depression in youth. She successfully captured the attention of her audience by being well-prepared, interesting and believable. She maneuvered through her facts, figures and data points with expert grace and skill. The microphone and projection screen were almost like natural extensions of her body. If I did not know better, I would have thought the expert at the front of the room was a time-tested researcher from Purdue University. Instead, her credentials revealed she is actually a seventh-grader at Clay Middle School.
Zeba Kokan is the seventh-grader who wowed her audience with a presentation created in order to earn her Girl Scout Silver Award. Troop 1636 is lucky to have Zeba, as she was an inspiration to the crowd and clearly deserves the award. Not only was Zeba an excellent presenter, she uncovered and shared information which opened some eyes and exposed data that may have been previously unknown.
She created a PowerPoint presentation to present her findings, but she also created a brochure to bring awareness of the problem to her peers and adults. One of the goals of the brochure is to provide hope to someone who might be experiencing depression and come across the helpful information. In the brochure, she points out famous people, including Isaac Newton, suffered from depression. But, there is treatment, thus giving hope to someone reading the brochure. She details the symptoms of depression, what are some of the common causes of depression and offers encouragement.
Although the detail and effort that went in to creating the foundation for the presentation were well-conceived and thought-out, it was the delivery of the material which seemed to inspire the crowd. Clearly a future leader, her parents appeared to be very proud. They were there to witness her triumph in person and I was inspired by the family support.
Congratulations to the latest Girl Scout Silver Award winner from Troop 1636. She earned every bit of it.