This week, as part of our ongoing series featuring this year’s Gold Award Class of 2020 from Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, we’d like to introduce you to another group of girls changing the world. These girls, through their self-guided initiatives, committed to changing their communities through advocacy and education, and the results are truly amazing.
Read on to meet the next set of Gold Award Girl Scouts from GCNWI!
Ready, Set, Read!
“Part of my town is too far from the public library,” Girl Scout Jenna shared, “and it is very dangerous for children to travel by themselves to the other side of town. I wanted to encourage people of all ages to read when they do not have quick access to a public library.” To accomplish her goal, Gold Award Girl Scout Jenna placed two mini libraries around her neighborhood through the My Little Library organization.
Bringing Mental Health to Benet
Gold Award Girl Scout Adrian sought to address the issue of mental health awareness in her school, Benet Academy. “I remember talking briefly about mental illness for one day in my P.E. class… I knew that this did not nearly cover the importance of mental health.” To assist, she revamped the club Student Support Alliance, a student organization bringing a safe space and mental health awareness to the community.
College Preparedness
To earn her Gold Award, Girl Scout Courtney wanted to ensure anyone in her community who wants a college education has the tools to get them, because no one should be limited in their dreams regardless of their circumstances. Courtney presented skills workshops to incoming seniors and juniors in her school on the subjects of scholarships, financial aid, college selection, and more.
College Career Fair
Gold Award Girl Scout Kiayla, to provide students in her community the opportunity to learn about different potential career paths, hosted a Career Fair in her school. After recruiting a diverse group of professionals from her church, Kiayla’s Career Fair addressed the importance of career planning and maintaining long-term goals for success.
The Water Safety First Project
“Many children in my community don’t know how to swim or aren’t aware of water safety,” Gold Award Girl Scout Sarah explained, “because of this, elementary-age children are frequently saved at Rainbow Falls Pool.” In hopes of reducing the amount of saves and to increase attendance in swimming lessons, Sarah taught students at elementary schools in her community basic swimming skills and an opportunity to improve upon these skills at lessons.
Fusion Mini Library
For Fusion Academy, a school once without a library, Gold Award Girl Scout Avery is the person that lead the charge to solve the problem. In collaboration with students and staff at the academy, Avery developed and designed a miniature library with a “Take a Book, Leave a Book” system. All the books for the library were donated by the community, and Avery raised over $500 to build and paint the space.
Healthy C.H.E.F.
Gold Award Girl Scout DaKoTa Storm’s main goals were “to teach kids how to make healthy choices, how to create healthy habits, choose the right foods, and practice healthy fitness.” To address the issue of health and fitness in young children, DaKoTa Storm created a website, wrote a workbook available for purchase, organized workshops, and also created kits for Girl Scout Gathering Places and a few for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Megan’s Book Swap
Girl Scout Megan set out to address the importance of literacy at a young age, and it’s impact on a child’s future success. As part of her book swap, Gold Award recipient Megan donated over 3,000 books to students at St. Genevieve’s Catholic School. Every child received about 30 books, and implemented a book swap for the students to share their knowledge, develop their love for reading, and discover new authors, genres, and topics.
My Place In Space
“I’ve always had a great passion in astronomy,” Girl Scout Marie explained, but she wasn’t taught it in school until middle school. To earn the Gold Award, Marie created and held an astronomy workshop for girls in grades 1-3 and taught them about the solar system, types of stars, the moon, galaxies, and constellations. “Hopefully I inspired at least some of them to fall in love with astronomy and have a greater appreciation for the incredible universe in which we live!”
D.I.S.T.E.A.M. Learning
Gold Award recipient and Girl Scout Gianna brought a program her high school had never seen before: S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) challenges. Gianna lead a team of other high school girls and competed in regional, statewide, and even global competitions. She was able to help other girls love S.T.E.A.M. as much as she does, and her initiative continues on after her graduation.
Let’s Change the Future of Diabetes
“I tried to unite and inform my community in two ways: by providing new ways to become educated about diabetes, and by creating opportunities to contribute to research and prevention.” Gold Award Girl Scout Amanda accomplished these goals by first conducting in-depth research at one of the top universities in the country, developed a website, online blog, brochure, and children’s book, each explaining diabetes in unique ways and encouraging readers to take measures in their own lives to stay healthy.
Mobile Makerspace
To benefit the children of low-income families in North Chicago, Gold Award Girl Scout Claire created a mobile makerspace available to kindergarten through third graders attending the After School Enrichment Program at Forrestal Elementary School. This is a place for students to become inspired, make, created, build, explore, and try new things. “Through collaborating with local leaders,” Claire related, “I was able to see how a community can inspire success.”
Girl Scouts Change the World
It’s almost International Day of the Girl, and nobody celebrates the world-changing power of girls quite like Girl Scouts! Don’t miss the chance to party with, and learn from, the 2020 National Gold Award Girl Scouts, who don’t just change the world for the better—they change it for good!
Join Girl Scouts as we celebrate the world-changing power of girls on Saturday, October 10, at 4:00 PM EST, for an International Day of the Girl party. Register here!
Change-Makers and Goal-Setters
We extend our sincerest congratulations to these girls and all Gold Award Girl Scouts this year!
Want to share pictures of your project with us? Post on social media and use the #GCNWIGoldAward! You can also download these images to share your Girl Scout Gold Award pride.
Look out for next week’s 2020 Gold Award Spotlight!