Gold Award

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Reflecting Positivity
Kyrsley Hernandez from Troop 6866 focused on body positivity to earn her Gold Award. Kyrsley used her voice to start a body positivity campaign on social media with the goal of helping people at her school and online through live streams, posts, school presentations, and class talks about eating disorders and body positivity. Kyrsley has provided binders, presentations, and other resources to continue to benefit students at her school.

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Busy Boards!

Riley Hillis from Troop 6092 earned her Gold Award by researching and creating busy boards as a type of therapy to help improve cognition and quality of life in elderly patients with intellectual impairments. She donated the boards to several local senior living facilities and spread awareness of the dangers of cognitive negligence through a presentation she developed. Caretaking staff at the facilities will continue to use and maintain the busy boards to sustain the program.

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Love Your Lungs

Lydia Horton from Troop 2061 focused on vaping to earn her Gold Award. “Love Your Lungs” focuses on the issue of vaping among teenagers to spread awareness of the effects of vaping on the lungs. Lydia researched and addressed the issue by creating an anti-vaping video to educate students at several schools about the risks and truths of vaping and empower them to choose better for themselves. Her project will be sustained through a website she developed to share resources necessary for others to offer anti-vaping presentations.

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Gender Expansive Teaching: Exploring gender diversity and inclusion in early childhood curriculum

Bird McGuire from Troop 5209 addressed gender diversity and inclusion education to earn their Gold Award. They are working to bring awareness to understanding gender identity and creating more inclusive environments by providing resources for teaching young children about gender. Bird created a website to house the curriculum and other resources, added social media to expand awareness, and conducted pre/post surveys to gauge results. The website and social outreach has reached thousands of people and will continue to be a resource to sustain the program.

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Creating a School Garden with Special Needs Students

Ann Marie Nguyen from Troop 6850 created a school garden with special needs students to earn her Gold Award. Ann Marie worked with students at Easter Seals Academy to help them learn the importance of food origin, nutrition, and how to plant and grow fruits and vegetables. She helped the students create a mobile garden to care for and taught them how to incorporate the fruits and vegetables from the garden into their diets. Students will maintain and tend the garden and teachers and therapists will continue teaching about gardening and healthy diet.

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STEM Careers for Kids

Maddie Peck from Troop 6866 focused on STEM careers for kids to earn her Gold Award. She developed educational posters and presentations to educate children on different careers in STEM, focusing on uncommon or lesser-known options. She also provided science experiments and helped students develop an understanding of STEM as a large part of everyday life. Maddie trained several students to continue her presentations, and shared her resources with teachers at several schools, as well as her local library, for future use.

Mary Tate

STEM is for Them
Mary Tate from Troop 6760 earned her Gold Award with her female STEM initiative, STEM is for Them. She was also selected by GSUSA as a national 2024 Gold Award Scholarship recipient. Mary’s project worked to bridge the gap between girls and careers in STEM. Mary planned, organized and hosted a STEM event for 4th-6th grade girls in her community to show them what opportunities exist for them. The event was based on curriculum Mary designed and wrote, and featured STEM activities led by females in the STEM field. Mary has provided her resources to her school district’s STEM department so it can continue to provide the event in future years.

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Sexual Harassment is Everywhere

Allison Reed from Troop 4369 tackled sexual harassment awareness to earn her Gold Award. Allison worked to bring awareness to sexual harassment by creating an anonymous, safe way at her school for students to share their experiences and seek assistance at their comfort level. Her classmates are thankful for the resources she has given them and counselors at her school will continue to share her information in the future.

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Free Little Library

Harlie Schalchlin from Troop 2334 addressed inaccessibility to books in her community to earn her Gold Award. Harlie worked with staff at her local city hall and built a free little library filled with books. In an effort to break accessibility barriers, the library also featured a QR code for access to free tutoring and reading materials. Book exchanges and donations will help sustain Harlie’s library and her troop will continue to help maintain it.

Service Project	Take Action Project (Sustainable)
Volunteering at a park to pick up litter.	Ridding an area of non-native vegetation and reseeding the area with native vegetation as well as educating community about importance of native vegetation via workshops.
Collecting books and building a Little Free Library	Establishing a reading program for at risk youth at the homeless shelter. Building a Little Free Library in an area of low literacy where there is no library access and creating media campaign for community about how to use and donate.
Planting a butterfly garden.	Working with city parks department to start a community garden that the city will maintain and teaching gardening skills to younger girls during workshops.
Decorating and displaying a poster with healthy eating tips.	Host workshops for elementary students to learn cooking skills and send them home with a recipe book developed as part of project.
Building a picnic table for your park.	Creating a Leave No Trace interpretive guide for education trail near elementary school.

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Gold Award

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