Gold Award
ambassador high school girl scout wearing sash outside against green background
Become a Gold Award Girl Scout

Ready to change the world, for good?

GET STARTED

Elisabeth Bedard

Omak, WA

“Just be a good person, love all, and be open to learning new things. We are all learning every day, just make sure to not put others down.”

Elisabeth’s Gold Award addressed understanding the importance of pronouns and how to educate the community on why it matters. Using correct pronouns helps individuals feel welcomed and safe. Elisabeth realized that not everyone understood this and wanted to provide tools to educate and inform leaders, students, and anyone interested in learning more about this topic. She did several presentations to various groups, along with creating a video about using pronouns on why it is essential and how to better understand the LGBTQ+ community. After her presentations, she followed up with a survey to get feedback to help her continue improving how she communicated this critical topic.

Mackenzie Goodsel

Pasco, WA

“There is at least a little bit of good in every situation, sometimes you just have to look a little harder to find it. When it rains, look for rainbows.”

With mental health being a struggle among youth globally, Mackenzie saw the need to create greater awareness, understanding, and support, especially for teens suffering from depression, anxiety, and stress. She wrote and published a book about her own journey with her mental health struggles. By telling her story, Mackenzie provided readers with a concrete demonstration of dealing with mental health, who to reach out to for help, and ways to cope. She also realized that every journey is different, but by telling her story, she was able to help others not feel alone in their struggles. Mackenzie book, “When It Rains,” has reached hundreds of people and has been sold and distributed throughout the U.S. and overseas with overwhelmingly positive reactions. It is available to over 400,000 schools, bookstores, and institutions through a self-publishing website.

 

Sophie Henderson

Clarkston, WA

 

Sophie wrote a book on leadership for aspiring young leaders. Recognizing that many leadership resources are geared toward adults, Sophie created a modern, engaging, and relatable book on leadership tailored specifically to teenagers. Drawing from her own leadership journey, she aimed to empower young leaders by providing them with a book that was easy to understand, entertaining, and written with their age group in mind. Sophie’s project addresses the lack of accessible leadership guidance for youth by producing a resource that resonates with her peers and helps them embark on their leadership adventure and become the world changemakers of tomorrow

Sierra Livingston

Post Falls, ID

 

For Sierra's Gold Award project, she updated and revitalized the grounds of the VFW Post 3603. This included the creation of a Reflection Garden aimed to providing aging veterans the opportunity to maintain, harvest , and enjoy the benefits of fresh produce and flower gardens. This garden also serves as a tranquil sanctuary for veterans, providing them with a serene space for contemplation and healing. Additionally Sierra raised money to purchase a bird bath and flag retirement bin. This essential addition now allows members of the community to respectfully dispose of old and unused flags. Working in collaboration with the VFW, these flags will undergo ceremonial retirement, ensuring they are honored with the reverence they deserve, thus preserving the dignity of our national symbol.

 

 

Allison Merritt

Dalton Gardens, ID

 

Allison’s Gold Award project focused on animal shelters’ challenges in providing adequate resources for their canine residents. Due to overcrowding and underfunding, shelters struggle to create comfortable spaces where dogs can feel safe and secure. Allison chose to craft and donate dog beds to the Spokane Humane Society to address this issue. Elevating dogs off the floor and providing a comfortable place to lie helps dogs feel less stressed and safer. Allison led two instructive workshops to help others learn how to make these much-needed dog beds. She also created a step-by-step slide show for the Spokane Humane Society to educate others in the community on how to continue the work of providing safe and secure spaces for dogs.

Alaura Miller

Spokane, WA

 

Alaura’s Gold Award project addressed access to mental health support for youth within the LGBTQIA+ community. Many youth in this community report lack of support from friends and family members, and statistics show they are four times more likely to commit suicide. Alaura created a safe place for open discussions that positively impacted the mental health of youth in the LGBTQIA+ community. She also developed a podcast called “Conversations Over LGBTea” with inspirational stories and advice. These efforts will create a safe place that provides lasting support for the LGBTQIA+ community where individuals will continue to be heard.

Faith Noland

Spokane, WA

 

Faith researched the impact that wildfires in Eastern Washington have on soil microorganisms. With current changes to the Earth’s climate, understanding the full impact that wildfires and carbon dioxide emissions have on ecosystems is increasingly important. The impact fires have on fine-scale microorganisms had not been fully documented previously. Faith worked to combine and improve preexisting laboratory techniques to study how microbe populations and carbon dioxide emissions are affected by wildfires in the area. Her research has laid the foundation for further exploration into this issue. Her work has been presented at various science fairs, documented, and will be used in her high school science classes.

Elizabeth Ophardt

Spokane Valley, WA

Elizabeth’s Gold Award focused on how to combat and create better awareness of mental health challenges. During the pandemic, anxiety, isolation, loss of loved ones, and financial battles took a toll on individuals and their communities. Through research, Elizabeth learned that holiday lights and decorations can have a positive psychological impact by boosting moods and fending off seasonal depression, so she created the Parade of Lights. Elizabeth promoted the Parade of Lights through social media and events such as PSSC (Prevent Suicide Spokane Coalition) Let’s Talk Suicide, where she could network and discuss the event’s purpose. The parade spanned several blocks in her Spokane Valley neighborhood, with over 1,500 attendees in the first year. There were resource booths along the parade route with trained professionals available to talk about mental health and provide literature. She also started a Hope Squad in her high school, a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program. Parade of Lights will continue for years to come as she trains younger Girl Scouts in her troop to take over.

Shelby Sandford

Coeur d'Alene, ID

 

Shelby has had a passion for music since sixth grade. When moving from California to her new school, Lake City High School, she could not find information on their music program and assumed they didn’t have much available, causing her to lose interest in music. To her surprise, the programs at Lake City were amazing, and she joined several. Shelby realized that other students were in the same predicament and, unlike her, may have given up too soon. Shelby’s Gold Award focused on providing better, more accessible information to incoming students. She built a free website that could be easily maintained and connected with the school’s existing website to help incoming students understand what was available at their school. She provided all the needed information on music programs available at Lake City. She got the word out to middle school students entering high school so they, too, could continue with their passion for music. 

Katie Sturm

Spokane, WA

 

Katie wanted to help seniors enjoy their love of gardening without dealing with some of the physical challenges associated with it, such as constant bending to tend to plants. Katie decided to build raised garden beds for a local senior facility, Winchester Court. There were many benefits to her Gold Award project: because of the raised beds, it was easier to garden, plants were protected from pests and weeds, making it less laborious to care for them, and seniors could enjoy the fruits of their labor—literally. By giving these seniors access to gardening, Katie not only helped them by promoting mental well-being and staying active but also helped bring the diverse community of Winchester Court together to share in a positive activity. 

gold award girl scout wearing ambassador sash and pingold award girl scout wearing ambassador sash and pin
Gold Award

Get the guidelines.

Join

Volunteer

Donate

close