Weekly Girl Scout Gold Award Spotlight

Check out this week’s sampling of go-getting, innovating, risk-taking Gold Award Girl Scouts—young women who know what it means to lead with true G.I.R.L. spirit!

Susana, Girl Scouts of West Central Florida

There’s no doubt we’re in a technologically advanced era, with handheld devices transporting us into the digital world every day. Gold Award Girl Scout Susana, while volunteering at an elementary school, noticed that the kids were more interested in smart devices than books, so she organized a book drive in her community that resulted in the collection of more than 800 books. She then donated these books to San Antonio Elementary School students, teachers, and classroom libraries. Susana also read the newly collected books to students in kindergarten and first and second grades, which gave her a “book lady” reputation around school. This Girl Scout knew she’d crushed her Gold Award goal upon hearing from one of the kids that they’d read their book every day since they’d acquired it.

Learn more about Susana’s project.

Lily, Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains

After working at a nursing home, Lily couldn’t help but notice how lonely some of the residents seemed, so she sprang into action with her Gold Award project—creating a Facebook page that encourages members of her community to get involved at local nursing homes. Lily created her project, Sunshine for Seniors, to minimize the feelings of grief and loneliness residents of nursing homes may feel. She called upon community members to volunteer their support, and to familiarize new volunteers and staff she wrote a book about the residents of the home where she’d spent time, including information about their lives, such as their favorite foods and memories, to make it easier to start conversations with them. To meet the sustainability requirement of her project, Lily provided the nursing home with a questionnaire for families to fill out when adding new residents, making this Gold Award project shine for years to come!

Learn more about Lily’s project.

Caitlin, Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council

In times of natural disaster, it’s everyone’s responsibility to come together to support and provide aid to those directly affected. Caitlin’s love of music inspired her Girl Scout Gold Award project, which had her rallying 35 community volunteers to replace the sheet music lost during Hurricane Harvey for the Kingwood Mighty Mustang Military Marching Band at Kingwood High School. Caitlin and her volunteers also successfully recreated one of the band’s program manuals, and Caitlin developed a volunteer schedule to coordinate moving the band back into its original meeting hall from its temporary location. 

Learn more about Caitlin’s project.

Victoria, Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida

Gold Award Girl Scout Victoria’s G.I.R.L. Agenda? To increase awareness about and the availability of life-saving organ donations. She kick-started her advocacy efforts after learning that over 118,000 men, women, and children are presently awaiting lifesaving organ transplants. As part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Victoria produced and distributed a video that’s currently being shown in every Department of Motor Vehicles location in Florida, where it’s spreading valuable information about this important issue. The video provides DMV visitors with organ donation statistics, a debunking of commonly held myths, and registration information.

Learn more about Victoria’s project.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are recipients of one of the most prestigious awards in the world for girls. By the time they put the final touches on their seven-step projects, they’ll have addressed a significant problem in their community—not only in the short term, but with a plan to sustain the work for years into the future. They’re also eligible for college scholarshipsand to enter the military one rank higher than non–Gold Award Girl Scouts.

Got a Girl Scout Gold Award story to share? Send the details and relevant photos to socialmedia@girlscouts.org for a chance to have it featured.