Gold Award Girl Scouts

Gold Award Girl Scouts are the dreamers and the doers who take “make the world a better place” to the next level. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable—proof that not only can she make a difference, but that she already has. Seniors and Ambassadors who earn the Gold Award tackle issues dear to them and drive lasting change in their communities and beyond.

To learn more about these amazing Gold Award Girl Scouts and our other awardees, page through our Award Yearbook.

Lydia Albers

Appleton, WI

There is a mental health crisis in the US amongst teenagers. After much research, Lydia realized that music impacts the brain by enhancing senses and releasing dopamine, and allows students to further discover themselves. After seeing the benefits of playing musical instruments in her friends and herself, she created “Instruments for All” an instrument library in Appleton North High School’s LMC that allowed students to check out ukuleles and guitars as well as song books.

Toren Anderson

Stevens Point, WI

Toren provided access to natural spaces at her school. She increased students’ access to nature and worked with administration to advertise its benefits, including making a video to share with students. Toren also shared her project plans in the hopes of encouraging others to implement this idea in their own communities.

Alexis Brazil

Greenville, WI

Alexis’ Gold Award project was about mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Her project included social media infographics, a podcast, and a presentation activity. Working in partnership with the National Alliance of Mental Illness, she created educational sessions that were presented to both student leaders and high school students in the Hortonville Area School District.

Abigail DeMeuse

Fish Creek, WI

Abigail created a community garden to provide a space where people can grow their own fresh food. The garden gives people who do not have a space to garden the ability to plant and maintain a garden. Community members can now grow produce, learn gardening skills, and share knowledge with others while promoting sustainability and access to local food.

Lily Esselman

Curtiss, WI

Lily installed a pollinator garden to the entrance to the Abbotsford School District’s School Forest. This new school forest now benefits from a bee habitat, educational signage, and a website. Lily also incorporated an educational component into the curriculum of the Horticulture, Agriculture, and Floral Landscape Design class at school.

Hazel Flink

Abbotsford, WI

Hazel’s Gold Award project involved planting a songbird garden in a corn field to help reduce nitrates in the wells in the field. The field has been planted with tree saplings that will be a school forest in the future. She also educated people on the danger of birds striking windows and how to use dots and cords on windows to prevent birds from flying into the glass.

Isabelle Francis

Custer, WI

To address the lack of musical progression in elementary students due to limited class time, Isabelle created a supplemental orchestra program to help beginning orchestra students to get a jump start on their instrument and to be ready to play in Junior High. The program is now accessible online.

Anastasia Griesbach

Kaukauna, WI

Anastasia’s project was to advocate for homeless individuals and raise awareness on how the community can get involved. She did this through her parish and school to show the importance of volunteering, teaching them how to make and distribute sleeping mats. Working with her church and school, she educated others on the issues homeless people face and the importance of offering support.

Hailey Hince

Cameron, WI

Hailey started a pickleball club at her school, placed two pickleball equipment kits at Cameron’s Public Library for community members to use, and purchased pickleball paddles, balls, and nets for the school to use. Every week her pickleball club has a practice during study hall where all students can participate. She also hosted a tournament where students competed for Kwik Trip gift cards.

Gabrielle Hostettler

Berlin, WI

Gabrielle’s project, United Through Music: A Space Where Music and Mental Well-Being Converge, involved building a dynamic & diverse music library. She felt a lack of unity amongst her classmates and wanted to create something for the school’s band room that everyone could enjoy and share their musical tastes with others, that would also provide resources to learn new musical skills.

Aubrey Mancl

Fall Creek, WI

Aubrey created a pollinator friendly garden for residents at Dimensions Living, a local memory care facility. Her project addressed a couple of issues: utilizing outdoor spaces to bring back native plants and increase the presence of pollinators, and providing an activity for the residents to give them access to therapeutic activities to help reduce memory decline.

Greta Melzl

Combined Locks, WI

Greta provided a habitat for pollinators in the form of a pollinator garden. A large part of her project involved educating her community on the dangers of pesticides and why they should avoid them if possible. She made garden signs and informational brochures for the public library to increase the number of individuals who have access to her information.

Dakota Miller

Berlin, WI

Dakota saw a need to educate her community on the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. She hosted a Kids to Kids sale in her community, an event with educational components and activities that gave kids the chance to give away items they no longer needed, and get new-to-them items. Her work helped children understand the importance of recycling, reusing, and buying things second-hand.

Alena Otto

Bloomer, WI

Alena created and ran a summer school course, “Safety 101,” for grades 3-6 at Bloomer Elementary. She wanted to provide education for kids pertaining to different situations they could find themselves in, including fire safety, what to do if you are lost, how to safely get off of ice, and how to be safe when home alone. Through her network of teachers and community members, she was able to successful run the course and also leave a plan for next year’s team of educators to take over.

Emily Parker

Wausau, WI

Emily created “Letters of Encouragement,” a community project based in Marathon County, WI that provides letters of encouragement written by community members to incarcerated children and serves as a way to connect incarcerated youth to the community as well as educate the community on the juvenile detention program. Nearly 200 letters have already been delivered!