By Brynne Hall
On June 11th 2023, Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania will celebrate our 2023 Gold Award Girl Scout class in a special ceremony at Bucknell University. Sixty Girl Scouts across our 30-county footprint have earned the prestigious Gold Award this year, which is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn.
These Gold Award Girl Scouts represent many different backgrounds, academic pursuits, interests, and goals but they have all made the world a better place through projects that focused on issues they care about.
The Gold Award is comprised of several different elements: identifying an issue in the community, researching its root cause, developing a creative long-term solution, and educating the community on why preserving the project is important to its future impact. Girl Scouts plan for their projects to continue after they are completed, typically, partnering with an organization or other outside group. Each Gold Award project is 80 or more hours of planning, research, meetings, implementation and spreading the word through the local community.
Our 2023 Gold Award Girl Scout class includes Girl Scouts from 15 different counties within our council footprint. Girl Scout recognition classes run from April 1-March 31, so this class earned their Gold Award between Spring 2022 and early Spring 2023. These Girl Scouts either graduated in 2022, are graduating in 2023, or are still in high school.
A wide range of issues were covered through these projects including:
- Animal conservation
- Environmental sustainability
- Sports programs
- STEM education
- Children’s issues
- Mental and physical health
- Civic engagement
- Public safety
Press releases regarding the projects were sent out throughout the year to each Gold Award Girl Scout’s school district, local media organization(s), government officials, troop leaders, service unit leaders, beneficiary organizations of their project and the Girl Scouts themselves. This allowed the Gold Award Girl Scouts to share the word on the amazing work they did on their respective projects far and wide.
Gold Award Girl Scouts are recognized at their ceremony with a pin, various certificates, governmental recognition and Gold Award goodies to share their pride. Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania hopes that this incredible class inspires Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts to strive for Gold Awards through the 2023-2024 recognition period, along with even younger Girl Scouts that dream of becoming a Gold Award Girl Scout in the future.
Scholarship opportunities are available each year for Gold Award Girl Scouts through GSUSA and GSHPA with the application period throughout Spring. Awarded scholarships are selected by a committee of community members from these applications.
Information and education about the Gold Award including project descriptions, webinars, gsLearn videos, and more can be found on our website. Fall 2023 webinar dates will be added soon to our events calendar for those that want to learn more about the Gold Award.
Brynne Hall is the Program Coordinator – Girl Leadership for Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania.