Gold Award Spotlight

MaryAnn L. Save the Bees: Don't be a Hater, Save the Pollinators

Bees are one of the many essential pollinators that are in danger because of things humans do. For my Gold Award, I wanted to publicize the importance of pollinators to encourage other people to take part in saving them. The main issue that my Gold Award project addressed is the lack of information that people have—community members aren’t aware of the issues bees (and other pollinators) are suffering from: stress, pesticides, disease, and poor nutrition. Beekeepers, researchers, scientists, and farmers are learning new information, but the community doesn’t know how or why to help the pollinators. I taught over 300 people from all over my community about the endangered pollinators, at events such as “Coming Out of Hibernation” in Boyertown and Green Lane Park’s “Birds & Wildlife Festival.” I also created and hosted “Save the Bees, Please,” at Green Lane Park. This workshop for kids was well attended and provided hands-on projects to teach them about pollinators. I taught attendees about the importance of pollinators in our world, and how our food supply would perish if the pollinators all vanished. The kids in attendance created a pollinator habitat and seedballs that they could plant in their own gardens. I also researched, designed, fundraised, planted, and maintained a pollinator garden at Green Lane Park to inspire people and show them what they can do to help. This garden will be maintained by educators at the park who will use it to continue teaching about the importance of pollinators. I learned so much about myself while working on my Gold Award. For one, I learned that I could use power tools and I am not afraid to do hard manual labor. I also learned how to budget my donated funds wisely to make the garden look as good as it could with the resources I had. I had to make tons of decisions about things that were happening, and before this project I was super indecisive. During my project, I was able to learn how to make smart decisions independently. I also got to practice my public speaking skills during all the community programs! All in all, becoming Gold Award Girl Scout was worth all of the hard work!