Congratulations to the following Girl Scouts for earning a Gold Award Scholarship to help fund their service projects:

• Emma C.
• Sydney K.
• Abigail K.
• Dorothy L.
• Naomi L.
• Kara M.
• Ella M.
• Kameryn R.
• Jamyriah S.
• Vidhi S.

Amelia D. – Amelia’s Gold Award Project was creating a location-aware iOS walking tour app to make the history of Lemont, Illinois, her hometown, more accessible. The app features 31 historic sites spread over three different walking tours. Each tour has an audio component, picture, and description.

Angela M. – Angela’s Gold Award Project involved re-recording and digitizing concert music from the high school library. The music was then entered into a spreadsheet that listed the individual songs by title, composer, and band.

Danika B. – Danika’s Gold Award Project was born of the desire to create a leadership guide for children’s choir organizations to help promote community and belonging amongst its members. Following the shutdowns of COVID-19, Danika saw the need for reconnection. She wanted to bridge the leadership gap by creating a guide that could be used specifically for the choir she had been a member of for 11 years but more broadly for any children’s music organizations that seek to create a system of leadership for their older students.

Dorothy L. – Dorothy’s Gold Award Project allows community members, students, and visitors to learn about the town’s history with my seven trail walk signs since her town’s History Museum is not always open. Along with the signs, she also created a Munster History patch with requirements and a shadow box for a local girl (Tagalong Girl Scout) who passed away from kidney cancer at six years old.

Ella M. – Ella’s Gold Award Project collaborated with the local library to emphasize diverse books for teen library patrons and the broader community. The creation of both physical shelves and online recommendation lists comes in the wake of rampant book bannings around the country, which attempt to limit the availability of diverse books. Combating book banning begins at a local level. As the library is a public avenue of reading for young people and teens, her project implemented and sustained a cognizant approach to curating diverse recommendation lists.

Tanvi C. – Tanvi’s Gold Award Project was making activity booklets for inpatient pediatric patients. They were fun and educational booklets, one about the jungle and the other about the ocean.

Madelyn D. – Madelyn’s Gold Award Project involves the hospital where she am also a patient, Lurie Children’s Hospital. Madelyn wanted to give back by having a toy drive at an event in January at her former elementary school. The toy drive was a big success, with over 100 toys and gift cards donated to the children of Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Laurel M. – Laurel’s Gold Award Project gave homeless Chicago children access to educational toys and therapeutic skills. Laurel teamed up with Revive Center for Housing and Healing to do this. She created three large cabinets that hold the toys and can make a safe, enclosed space for the children while their parents get help at Revive Center for Housing and Healing.

Anna M. – Anna’s Gold Award Project was to partner with the Will County Chapter of Project Linus to make blankets for children who have been abused, lived in abusive situations, or are seriously ill and in a hospital.

Lillian O. – Lillian’s Gold Award Project was a dance shoe donation bin for her local park district dance program (Oak Lawn Park District Infiniti Dance Company). Lillian noticed kids would come in every two weeks complaining of tight-fitting shoes because their parents could not afford to keep up with their ever-growing feet. Now, parents can donate gently used dance shoes and ask for them whenever they need them.

Ilona E. – Ilona’s Gold Award Project was the product of a lifelong involvement with their community’s Farmers’ Market. Applying STEM principles, Ilona created an easy-to-use, sustainable database for the Experimental Station to recruit and maintain a volunteer infrastructure essential to the continued success of this Farmers’ Market. She also identified and implemented some structural improvements to give our community a safe and comfortable space to gather and browse at the market.

Veronica H. – Veronica’s Gold Award Project aimed to support and enhance the Riverside Brookfield Music Department. Veronica shared her voice at several school board meetings to tell the community the importance of staffing music educators, cleaned and redecorated the practice rooms, and volunteered for a semester to assist in classroom operations in a choir class. As a result of her project, she was able to provide a better educational experience within the music program and Riverside Brookfield High School as a whole.

Abigail K. – Abigail’s Gold Award Project aimed to help grieving individuals and families by teaching the community to crochet bereavement blankets for a local funeral home. In her project, the community and young Girl Scouts came together to learn the commitment and determination it takes to support others while undertaking the skill of crocheting. Both aspects of this project gave participants a skill and perspective that will last a lifetime.

Oliva L. – Oliva’s Gold Award Project honored first responders in my community. Olivia designed and constructed an honor garden to recognize the contributions that first responders make every day.

Kara M. – Kara’s Gold Award Project taught her community the difference between Service Animals and Emotional Support animals. It highlighted the important “rules” that come with seeing a service animal in public, such as not petting them because they are working. Lastly, her project provided sources where people within her community can find information on how to obtain a service or emotional support animal.

Hailey M. – Hailey’s Gold Award Project built plantar boxes to grow different vegetables and herbs that could be given to the homeless community through a local charity, Eliza’s Angels. In addition, Hailey made a website that helps educate others about the issue of homelessness and helps them push to do something about it.

Marie N. – Marie’s Gold Award Project was to provide food for those in need by raising money for the material of a micro pantry, building and placing the pantry, hosting a food drive, supplying the pantry, and announcing the new pantry through social media and friends.

Sofi L.– Sofi Lynn’s Gold Award Project consisted of contributing to and building up a network of Community Fridges in the area around the city. A community fridge is a refrigerator accessible to the public that operates on the ideology of “take what you need, leave what you can.” It helps people access healthy foods and share excess food so it doesn’t go to waste. A significant part of her project was making information easily accessible so people could be informed about community fridges and how to locate them.

Jamyriah S. – Jamyriah’s Gold Award Project focused on welcoming asylum seekers within my community. Due to the rising health concerns in local shelters in the community, Jamyriah provided families with hygiene survival kits as a way to say welcome to our community.

Emma C. – Emma’s Gold Award Project addresses the lack of an informative and inclusive sexual education curriculum in schools. Emma created a website with this information and rewrote the sexual education lesson plan regarding LGBTQ+ people, as well as a social media account to track the progress. Emma also presented a slideshow that covered LGBTQ+-related politics and gave resources to a local LGBTQ+ youth club.

Madison C. – Madison’s Gold Award Project is a women’s empowerment club she started at her school that aims to empower and improve gender equity in our school and community. The club has supported girls’ events and accomplishments within her school and community and promoted leadership and volunteer opportunities. The club host monthly meetings covering various topics, such as different types of feminism, women’s rights issues, and working to solve and help community problems.

Nooriyah D. – Nooriyah’s Gold Award Project focuses on building confidence, courage, and community for middle school-age girls through a mentorship program. Nooriyah collaborated with the Chicago-based non-profit MYTT (Mentoring Youth Through Technology) to develop the curriculum, based on academic research and feedback from girls, for engaging activities covering topics from diversity to creative expression to health.

Sophia W. – Sophia’s Gold Award Project is a website for parents in the Chicago area to find definitions and professional help for their children with disabilities.

Campbell E. – Campbell’s Gold Award Project aims to bring education and awareness of our environment to their community. Campbell designed and interactive nature walk to teach people about indigenous trees and stimulate people’s appreciation for the natural world. These experiences will enhance observation skills. Nature produces countless opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, and STEAM education.

Reese B. – Reese’s Gold Award Project involved building a little library for my community to use for free. Reese collected donated books of all different levels and genres and worked directly with the Willowbrook council to place the library in Farmingdale Park. Reese wanted to share her love of reading with her neighborhood and give everyone a chance to embrace the enjoyment of discovering new books and sharing their favorites with others.

Marina B. – Marina’s Gold Award Project aimed to provide extra support to incoming first-year students at my high school, Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRFHS). Marina worked with feeder middle schools and the OPRFHS History Department to create a “Bridge Committee” where curriculums were exchanged to expedite students’ transition into History classes. Marina also designed materials covering school-specific academic supports and study techniques for different types of learners. By providing academic support to current freshman and future OPRFHS students, Marina hopes to help others by increasing the likelihood of success and improving the academic transition experience.

Honor D. – Honor’s Gold Award Project created a Vacation Bible School curriculum where children are introduced to a new bible story each day. Honor then applied these teachings to their lives and to help them create a foundation for their relationship with God. Honor also included daily themes which all of the snacks, games, crafts and activities of the day will be centered around.

Aine K. – Aine’s Gold Award Project was a digital newspaper that kept students at her school informed and interested in school events. It included four main sections discussing current school events, school sports teams, school art programs, and events promoting cultural celebrations within the school and local community. The newspaper will continue after Aine graduates through a club with 11 members.

Katherine K. – Katherine’s Gold Award Project was to build a library for a special education school. This school had never had a library before, so she created a safe environment for enjoyment through literature, games, and interaction.

Evyenia L. – Evyenia’s Gold Award Project aims to address sustainability and pollution awareness, specifically within the education system. Evyenia created a unit within the classroom where students could raise and care for zebrafish. This unique, hands-on opportunity allowed students to learn with real-life fish right in front of them. Also, it benefited students interested in pursuing an animal science field in the future.

Kiley M. – Kiley’s Gold Award Project addressed the lack of interest in reading for children in the summer and the lack of a library in her area. To help solve these problems, Kiley added two Little Libraries to two different parks in my community, making it more convenient for families to access books, as most people can walk to the locations where she put the Little Libraries.

Madeline P.– Madeline’s Gold Award Project mobilized high school students who can draw, write, speak a different language, and serve to create bilingual Spanish-English children’s books for grades K-2. Madeline made online resources for these books and printed 400 copies of 12 other stories to share with elementary schoolers.

Cae P.– Cae’s Gold Award Project increased education about LGBTQ topics in their high school. Cae created detailed presentations about LGBTQ history, people, and concepts related to specific school subjects, such as LGBTQ US History, LGBTQ Poetry and Literature, Transgender Medicine, etc. The presentations were shared with their school’s teachers and posted online for public use.

Sara P. – Sara’s Gold Award Project consisted of multiple interactive storybook walks that were available at a local park for families. Each walk consisted of a book set up on signs throughout a trail with activities to go along, and it was available for a few weeks at a time.

Elise R. – Elise’s Gold Award Project helps students get the SAT scores they want by offering study methods and tips on how to approach the test. The initiative was incorporated into the high school as a class.

Leah R. – Leah’s Gold Award Project focused on the lack of knowledge of flag care that America has overall as a country. Leah taught a class for younger girls about flag care, flag code, flag folding, and flag retiring. Leah then held a ceremony open to the public where we retired flags she had collected in a flag drive.

Kathryn R.– Kathryn’s Gold Award Project included making geometry videos for students struggling with the subject. My videos include examples, vocabulary, and basic explanations of the concepts.

Breana S. – Breana’s Gold Award Project was designed to foster a love of reading in people of all ages. To accomplish this, the Golden Mini Library provides free, easily accessible books in a variety of genres.

Hannah W. – Hannah’s Gold Award Project aims to provide the church with a local outside solution for sharing books and information with community members. Located outside the church near the preschool entrance and the community playground, the library provides literacy materials for young children. It includes advertisements for the youth ministry held at the church, upcoming events at the church, and more.

Mikenna D. – Mikenna’s Gold Award Project focused on recording and preserving the stories of seniors and veterans in my community. Mikenna collected interviews with various seniors and shared them as a podcast series through her YouTube channel and website. The stories were then shared with wider communities to inspire future generations.

Stella F. – Stella’s Gold Award Project connected the elderly and elementary-aged children in her community. Through the project, children could express creativity, practice writing, and have fun making letters to older adults living in a local nursing home. In return, the residents thoroughly enjoyed receiving the letters and felt more connected to those outside the nursing home.

Esra A. – Esra’s Gold Award Project addressed the issue of animal rehabilitation to ensure the survival of native animal species. Esra built nest boxes for the Willowbrook Rehabilitation Center specifically intended for squirrels in need of rehabilitation so that they could be released back into the wild.

Courtney F. – Courtney’s Gold Award Project was aimed at people who want to become more eco-conscious but don’t know where to start or just lack knowledge about the environment that surrounds us. By writing excerpts about various topics about the environment, like how to become more eco-friendly during the holidays and what saving the bees truly means, Courtney was able to reach out to the community and share how we can grow into a green future together.

Larinda F. – Larinda’s Gold Award Project is designed to protect pollinators through habitat restoration and outreach. To combat habitat loss, Larinda partnered with Garden For Wildlife to document and grow native perennial pollinator gardens. Larinda focused on supporting our endangered Monarchs by researching at the Chicago Botanic Garden, distributing milkweed, and hosting my educational booth at the annual Schaumburg Monarch Festival.

Anna M. – Anna’s Gold Award addressed the negative environmental impact of the fashion industry. Anna held multiple presentations for my school and local Girl Scout troops, educating people on how to be more sustainable with their purchases. Anna also held a Thrifting Event that collected and sold clothing items from our community.

Emily P. – Emily’s Gold Award Project found me designing, installing, and developing a plan for caring for a pollinator garden at the Matthew Ives Memorial Track at South Middle School in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Sarah P. – Sarah’s Gold Award Project helped increase the population of monarch butterflies in my town by supplying several businesses with Butterfly Boxes. Milkweed was planted in the boxes to attract Monarch Butterflies, which will help with pollination and increase the area’s biodiversity.

Alysa S. – Alysa’s Gold Award Project aimed to promote the conservation of animals through the avenue of video games.

Brianna J. – Brianna’s Gold Award Project focuses on improving self-esteem. For her project, Emma created a short story about learning how to overcome challenges, uncover more about oneself, and grow. She then worked to publish this story both online and have it available at local libraries. Brianna also presented my project to local Brownie troops, where she also did a storytime featuring her story.

Jada L. – Jada’s Gold Award Project educated and informed young adults, teens, and parents of individuals who may struggle with mental health issues in the form of a podcast. The podcast used her own personal experiences to create a connection with the listener on subjects like peer relationships, home life, and education.

Kameryn R. – Kameryn’s Gold Award Project involved creating a website to support teenagers in enhancing their mental wellness through physical exercise, healthy eating, and coping mechanisms. The platform provides valuable tools and techniques to empower teens to achieve and maintain mental well-being. The project focuses on promoting a holistic approach to mental health for adolescents.

Vidhi S. – Vidhi’s Gold Award Project focused on raising awareness about Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a lesser-known disease. Vidhi conducted informative presentations for various school clubs and contributed care packages to Lutheran General Hospital to support pediatric CF patients. This initiative aimed to improve understanding and aid for individuals affected by the condition.

Olivia T. – Oliva’s Gold Award Project is a platform where artists can share art dedicated to certain mental health issues. By sharing their work, Olivia is promoting student artists and connecting them to an online audience that will be exposed to new artists and educated about mental health issues. To further raise awareness about mental health issues, the platform will also direct viewers to sites where they can learn about the issue and donate to a related charity or organization.