My memory of the Achievement Day program was going over to some lady’s house in the neighborhood to do a craft or make cookies for the old folks home with other girls from church before we were old enough for the Young Women program. Apparently I did a less-memorable budgeting activity as well (see below). There were “requirements” that we would pass off according to prescribed “values.” I remember my mom had to sew together a pillow that had squares screen printed on it. Each square was assigned an iron-on patch for each value, and every time we fulfilled a requirement, we got to put a tiny dob of puff paint in the square. I recently asked my mom if she still had the pillow so I could include it on this page, but she thinks we threw it out.

A more formal description of Achievement Days:

“A now retired program, Achievement Days was aimed at 8-11 year-old girls and… was designed to give girls the opportunity to apply gospel values in their lives through goal-setting and twice-monthly activities. Boys the same age are involved in Cub Scouting. In areas of the world where Scouting is not available, boys officially participate in Achievement Days.”

- The Primary Presidency as quoted in the Deseret News article Achievement Days: the gospel in action by Julie A. Dockstader, published Aug 23, 1997.

Achievement Days is not to be confused with another program Mormon children were concurrently enrolled in, Gospel in Action.