Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, the largest girl serving organization in Massachusetts, celebrated the 2023-24 class of Gold Award Girl Scouts on Sunday, May 19, 2024. Nearly 40 Girl Scouts took action to transform their world by investing over hundreds of hours creating lasting impact on issues important to them.
The Gold Award is the highest and most prestigious award a Girl Scout can earn. It is available to youth in high school who create sustainable change on a community or world issue, from teen nutrition to mental health to environment sustainability. Gold Award Girl Scouts address the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions to drive change, and lead a team of people to success.
Among the local Girl Scouts who earned their Girl Scout Gold Award were Samantha McCoy and Allison Morley of Peabody.
Samantha McCoy earned their Gold Award for their project titled Everyone Deserves a Healthy Smile. Samantha understood the importance of dental health and wanted to teach her community about keeping their teeth clean, paying specific attention to those belonging to vulnerable populations like children and the homeless. For her Gold Award, Samantha visited a local soup kitchen and three dental health fairs. From there, she handed out necessary dental care supplies and informed those interested on how to take care of their teeth. She also offered participants the opportunity to fill out comment cards, where she tracked her project’s impact and her audience’s acquired knowledge. Samantha’s project will be sustained beyond her involvement by the local soup kitchen, and through different dentist’s offices in her community who have committed to continuing the dental education for all members of their town.
Allison Morley earned their Gold Award for their project titled From Page to Stage. Allison was frustrated with the lack of performing arts opportunities in her community, and believed that these opportunities could aid participants in developing essential life skills. Allison confirmed that lack of opportunity did not equate to lack of enthusiasm, as she developed workshops for local elementary students to put on plays of their own. The students displayed interest in various elements of theatre arts, including performance and stage lighting. This skill development confirmed Allison’s hypothesis that the arts could be used as a means to encourage reading comprehension and build self-confidence. Allison’s project will be sustained beyond her involvement through “play kits” that she provided for the elementary school and the library, thus offering an evergreen resource for artistic kids of the future.
For more information on Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, please visit their website, www.gsema.org, or follow their social media channels, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for the latest updates on the organization.
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA) is 30,000 strong, with 20,000 girls and 10,000 adult members in 178 communities in eastern Massachusetts, building Girl Scouts of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. GSEMA is the largest girl serving organization in Massachusetts and the 10th largest Girl Scout council in the United States. Girl Scouts is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, join, or learn more, visit gsema.org.
