Changes to Personal Progress


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Has anyone received the new Personal Progress materials yet? We're still waiting on them in our ward.

So far as I can find online, the new changes are basically:

1) Updated books -- new cover, include the Virtue value, and minor changes to all the other values. They appear to be spiral-bound, which I think is fabulous. They're also pink.

2) Young Women will receive certificates when they move from class to class.

3) Young Women receive a scripture bookmark ribbon whenever they complete one value, along with the sticker emblems we had before.

4) The medallion has been redesigned to include the age group symbols -- beehive, rose, laurel wreath -- and a ruby. It's also round.

5) Young Women can now receive a bee-shaped Honor Bee charm after finishing their Personal Progress. The requirements are to read the Book of Mormon again and to serve others for 40 hours, including some time mentoring another Young Woman in her Personal Progress.

6) The torch logo is now all gold, presumably to reflect the Virtue value(?). I think it was blue and red before.

Have I missed anything? I'm making a video about the changes to show to my Young Women, so I'd hate to leave out something important.

I love the addition of the Honor Bee charm -- I think it's good to give Young Women something specific to work towards after they receive their YWR (and hopefully motivate them not to procrastinate finishing until their last few months in Young Women's!), and scripture study and service are two of the most important things I can think of.

I also love the ribbons; you can always use more bookmarks in your scriptures.

I don't like the new medallion so much, though -- I just think the old one was prettier. Perhaps I'm biased.

Do you like the fact that they've made the new books pink? They're very excited about it -- I definitely preferred the purple.

What do you think?

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I think the reason they made the new books pink is dumb. They're emphasizing femininity and "not being like the boys" way too much. Some girls are tomboys, some aren't, and some just don't like pink, so why force it? I do, however, LOVE the spiral binding. I wish they would have spiral bound the journals also.

I also am glad they came up with the ribbons, even though I know they're bound to get lost. One thing you left off your list was the bookmark clip that the ribbons can thread through. With the PP system the way it is now (as opposed to when I was a YW), there's no achievement steps or milestones. We used to receive necklace medallions when we completed all the Beehive requirements, then all the MiaMaid requirements, and then all the Laurel requirements. They haven't had anything for a long time to pace with, so I'm glad they've got the ribbon system now.

I'm also excited to finally have an update theme poster. FINALLY! I also like the idea of the theme "cards" that the girls can put in their lockers or stick in their mirror at home or something.

My PP books were shipped automatically, and I've ordered the rest of my materials, but since they ship directly to the bishop's house, I don't know if they've arrived yet (I missed church yesterday due to a sick little daughter). I'm the YW president in my ward, and I'm really looking forward to getting the new materials. We have New Beginnings scheduled for March 7th (our Stake YW Presidency asked us to wait until after we got our materials to have it).

If you get the New Era, there was a four page spread on PP in the January issue. If not, you can see it here, along with more info on the Young Women page of the Church's website and the Personal Progress section specifically.

I don't really like the new medallions. I think they're too busy. I like the version they used just before this version. I really like, however, that you can choose (as you could with the just older version) whether you want gold or silver. In my day (whew!) it was gold -- that was it. In the 12 years since I earned it, I think I've worn my medallion twice. I hate yellow gold jewelry.

Current:

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Just-retired:

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My old version:

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I think the reason they made the new books pink is dumb. They're emphasizing femininity and "not being like the boys" way too much. Some girls are tomboys, some aren't, and some just don't like pink, so why force it?

Exactly -- one of them said something like, "we think these young women are pink." Their young women must be very different to mine, I suppose. I've always liked the fact that Personal Progress is so customisable (and rightly so, since it's personal) -- I think there are plenty of "boy things" that would make absolutely fabulous PP goals. I do like their increased focus on the temple and the Book of Mormon, though, so I'm looking at the positives!

I don't really like the new medallions. I think they're too busy. I like the version they used just before this version. I really like, however, that you can choose (as you could with the just older version) whether you want gold or silver. In my day (whew!) it was gold -- that was it. In the 12 years since I earned it, I think I've worn my medallion twice. I hate yellow gold jewelry.

I think you're right about the busyness.

I have the just-retired version, and I picked silver without thinking twice, so I'm also glad they kept that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We had one of the new medallions given this last Sunday in our Ward, I really liked how the Bishop presented it. He said that the Ruby represented Virtue to remind every young woman to be virtuous.

That being said I also think it is very busy, but I do like how they represented the Beehives, Mia Maids and Laurels. I looked at the link to the New Era article that Wing put up and it looks like a lot of fun new stuff for the program. Makes me almost wish I was a teen again...ok maybe not.

I like that you can order it in silver as I much like Wingnut did not much like the only yellow jewelry option that I had when I got mine. I also agree that the whole "we think these girls are pink" thing is a bit weird as well, I was not a pink girl and would still be that way if my husband hadn't taken great efforts over the 9 years of our marriage to reinforce into my brain that pink looks good on me even though I don't like the color.

However, that being said, I don't really think the book color matters all that much considering how often things seem to change.

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Also, they say that you can no longer read the Book of Mormon as your Faith project.

I hadn't noticed that yet. It makes sense though, since there's only one project option for virtue, and that is to read the Book of Mormon. When I earned my medallion, reading the Book of Mormon all the way through wasn't even a requirement at all! I'm glad it is now, though.

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  • 8 months later...

Phew, so many changes. We're trying to budget them all into the coming year. We were actually looking if we could buy ribbon ourselves to save some money, plus the current ribbon colors aren't typical YW colors, but we love the gold thingys on the bottom. Does anyone have any idea what they're called and where to get them? And just so I can put my 2 cents in...I received my YW medallion as a youth (a long time ago) when they were only gold and it was the girl. When I had the opportunity to do it again I chose the older one (the not so busy one) in silver this time since we needed to use them up anyway;)

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  • 2 months later...

I was kind of mad that they change it my last year of high school! Because then I was more rushed into finishing the last value! :P. I love the new books they came up with, especially the binders, it's definitely more updated!

I received the new one, but for as a gift for Christmas, (total sentimental gift.) My Grandmother who just passed away a week after, had given me her Young Women's medallion. She knew how much it meant to me to finish, and she always wanted a part of her to always be with me. The gold one with the girl.

So I like either one, depending on what meaning you give to it :).

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I wore my medallion to work the other day, and some young girl who came in had no idea what it was, it was so different!

Personally, I think they're all equally gorgeous. I guess it's just a matter of taste.

Right now, the popular value project I see with girls I know is at camp. We give this weekly Honor Trail to the Scouts, but when girls' camps sign up, all the girls on staff literally fight over who gets to be in charge of the Value Trail in order to pass it off as a project.

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