MADELYN ALLEN
From left, Madison Smith, Jordan Schilling, Julia Sick and Madelyn Allen.
The Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouts, has been a part of the program since 1916. Since then, more than 1 million young women have earned the award. The Gold Award recognizes girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through community service projects that have a sustainable impact on our community and beyond. In executing a Gold Award project, a girl first must identify a local issue that she is passionate about. She must identify the root cause of the issue and create a plan to address it. While working on her project, she also must educate people about the issue, and inspire them to get involved. Finally, her project must be sustainable, continuing once her efforts are completed. Just like the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Award, the Gold Award often plays a critical role in college acceptance and scholarship processes. As a recipient of the award, girls can enter the armed forces one rank higher than other recruits, and recipients usually have higher success rates when looking for a job. This summer, six Cherokee County Girl Scouts — Julia Sick, Katie Collier, Kyra Gosselin, Madison Smith, Jordan Schilling and Madelyn Allen — are working toward their Gold Awards. Here are some of the girls’ descriptions of their projects, and details of how you can get involved. 24
AROUND WOODSTOCK | August 2022
I’ve been a Girl Scout for 10 years, and I’ve always enjoyed being outside, in nature. With Scouts, I’ve gotten to go camping, hiking and canoeing, as well as learn about the importance of taking care of our environment. When I was a student at Holly Springs Elementary, I learned a lot about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). There are lots of opportunities in STEM, especially for women, but it seems like most of the careers involve being inside all day. For my Gold Award project, Fresh Air Careers, I researched and found many careers in the STEM field that enable you to spend time outside. Throughout this summer, I have been educating elementary students, especially girls, about these opportunities. In June, I had the pleasure to lead the science unit at our local Girl Scout summer day camp, Camp Camellia Rose. It was wonderful to work with more than 115 campers and explain to them all the options open to them in the STEM world. I also created a PowerPoint presentation that will be shown to elementary school students in our community about outdoor-based STEM careers. I would love to spread the word to anyone interested in STEM. If you would like additional information about the project, or the presentation, please email freshaircareers2022@gmail.com.
Madelyn at Camp Camellia Rose.
