Community Corner
Naperville Teens Earn Girl Scouts’ Highest Award for Leadership and Community Service
Nearly 80 local high school students recently earned Girl Scouts of the USA’s most prestigious national honor for girls, the Girl Scout Gold Award. Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana honored their accomplishments during a special ceremony on June 8, 2013, at the Hilton Rosemont Hotel.
Amy Baniewicz, Nicole Coughlin, Brianna Evans, Rachel Frankland, Evan Hill, Carter Jordan, Jenny Kaeppel, Priyanka Ketar, Saoirse Lucy, Miriam McKee, Maya Neal and Allison Susin of Naperville received their Girl Scout Gold Awards after completing a complex series of requirements, including the implementation of a significant community service project.
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Baniewicz, 19, and Susin, 19, earned their Gold Awards by initiating “Naper Carriage Hill Pool Renovation,” which involved the completion of many smaller project to improve the community pool.
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Through her project “Bedding for Waifs and Strays,” Coughlin, 18, made bedding, hammocks and an educational pamphlet for Waifs and Strays Animal Rescue.
Evans, 17, helped a local pet shelter with her project which built a wooden shelving unity so they may better organize and store all of their supplies.
“Spay Today, Neuter Now,” the project initiated by Frankland, 18, informed pet owners of the importance of spaying and neutering animals. “I've always aspired to earning my Gold Award, so to actually complete it is amazing,” Frankland said. “It made me believe that with effort, I can achieve anything!”
Inspired by her love of music, Hill, 17, hosted a musical exhibition to re-introduce instruments and vocals to an underprivileged senior citizen home. At the culmination of the program, a keyboard and music portfolio were donated to the home.
Jordan, 18, established a children’s library at DuPage AME Church. Her project, “P.A.G.E.S. Library,” consisted of a book drive and the construction of shelves.
Driven by her own experiences with bullying, Kaeppel, 18, introduced “Rachel’s Challenge Anti-Bullying Program” to students at her school. “I may never know how much my story impacted someone,” Kaeppel said, “But if it changed even one person’s life for the better I will never regret what I went through.”
Through her project “Technologically Green,” Ketkar, 14, established a program that encouraged students and families to recycle electronics in a way that does not harm the environment. “This project raised my confidence as a leader and honed my communication skills,” Ketkar said.
Lucy’s project, “Jump Start to a New Life,” used grant money to purchase healthy living items for a women’s shelter.
McKee, 18, organized monthly food tastings at People’s Resource Center Food Pantry in Wheaton to introduce clients to healthy, easy recipes with ingredients commonly found in food pantries.
With her project “Link Up,” Neal, 16, connected civilian students with military and National Guard students.
“Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award is an immense accomplishment which requires girls to use the leadership skills they developed in Girl Scouting to affect positive change in their communities,” said Maria Wynne, CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana. “These young trailblazers create a legacy of social impact with their projects and learn a lot about the strength of their abilities in the process. They lead by example, and are helping to move the needle on gender inequities in leadership.”
“[This project] taught me that I have the power to make a change in the world and show others that they can do anything they put their minds to as well,” Kaeppel said.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout ages 14-18 may earn. The leadership skills, organizational skills, and sense of community and commitment required to complete the process set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship. Girls complete seven steps to earn the Gold Award, including the completion of a significant service project.
The project fulfills a need within a girl’s community (whether local or global), creates change and is sustaining. The Gold Award recognizes the work of Girl Scouts who demonstrate leadership culminating in 65 hours or more, dedicated towards their service project. Girls complete a minimum of 40 hours in a leadership role before embarking on the final project.
Girl Scouts of the USA recently launched The Gold Award Alliance, a group of women who have earned Girl Scouting’s highest awards since 1916, including the Golden Eagle of Merit, Golden Eaglet, Curved Bar, First Class and the current Girl Scout Gold Award introduced in 1980. Recipients from any year are encouraged to get connected to other award recipients by visiting girlscouts.org/goldawardalliance.
As awareness of the Girl Scout Gold Award continues to grow, so does its prestige. An increasing number of colleges are offering financial incentives to those who earn Girl Scout Gold Awards and admissions counselors view it as a sign of an individual girl’s ability to lead.
Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana impacts the lives of nearly 84,000 girls and 24,000 adult members in 245 communities in six Illinois counties (Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kankakee, Lake, and Will) and four Indiana counties (Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter). Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.
