Gold Award Girl Scouts The Girl Scout Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting; it recognizes girls in grades 9-12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects. Since 1916, girls have successfully pursued the highest award, an act that indelibly marks them as accomplished members of their communities and the world. Jana Albustami worked with her troop and the Iman Academy Southeast Elementary School to install recycling bins around the Iman Academy school in Webster. Jana also hosted three recycling workshops for elementary students that helped share resources and information about the importance of recycling, and the overall impact it has on global water and air pollution.
Ruthanne Martin observed how poverty in the Dominican Republic was related to lack of trade schools and skills. She approached this problem at the school level by teaching children in the villages how to make bracelets from T shirts. This is a skill that could provide jobs for them in the future. Dominican Republic is a tourist country, so the students could sell the bracelets to tourists to make money.
Nerissa Alvarez started The E-Mavs News Club at YES Prep Southwest to create a digital newsletter for YES Prep Southwest staff and families. Nerissa noted that paper newsletters were always discarded and thrown away, wasting both resources and production time. To streamline the process, Nerissa began a digital newsletter that includes real life issues, news, and even entertaining activities for readers.
Madelyn Szynal noted that there would be a significant shortage of pilots in the upcoming years worldwide due to the pandemic and decided to teach others about aviation. Together with her volunteers and the Lonestar Flight Museum, Madelyn was able to host three separate aviation workshops. Additionally, she hosted an Aviation Education Day to help others explore and learn more about aviation.
Emma Hamilton noted the lack of resources and information on mental health her school supplied to both teachers and students. Emma remodeled and installed new furniture in the teacher’s lounge of her local school and included posters and hand-written notes for teachers to help remind them how much they are appreciated. Additionally, Emma held a guided meditation with almost 100 students to help teach them how to deal with stress and anxiety. Anjali Kadur addressed the root cause of the decline of reading and cultural awareness by starting a book club with children from ages 11-13 to promote 20 min of reading a day. Anjali created passports for nine countries on a website with information on their food, holidays, and flag. In each of the books as well, there was a cultural resemblance to the country of the month. Meetings were held every week during the school year.
12 Fall 2021 l The Golden Link
Madeline Vanlandingham worked with several organizations to address air pollution and quality through a community workshop with expert speakers. Additionally, Madeline led volunteers to plant trees near benches and play areas in the Willow Waterhole community area. Madeline was motivated to take on this project by her own passion for reducing carbon footprints and teaching others about the importance of greener living.
