NEW ORLEANS, La. (BRPROUD) — Seven Girl Scouts in Southeast Louisiana made it to the pinnacle of their organization.
The seven girls received the Gold Award.
The prestigious award was handed out at a ceremony which took place at the Old Governor’s Mansion on June 16.
The requirements necessary to earn to the Gold Award include:
- Showing exceptional leadership skills
- Organizational skills
- Completion of a community service requirement
“While many of us were struggling to find what to do with our time during the pandemic, these girls were out finding solutions to the big problems in their communities. We couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments,” says Rebecca Pennington, GSLE’s Chief Executive Officer.
The seven Girl Scouts and their projects are listed below:
- Taylor Chiasson of Thibodaux was concerned about children’s lack of access to public and school libraries and the effect it could have on their development. Because of this, Taylor developed a web series and YouTube channel called “Anytime Reads” with dramatic readings of popular children’s books.
- Ashlei Douglas, of Metairie created a program called “Eliminating Stress in Youth” to raise awareness of stress issues and address the stigma that prevents students from getting help. She took her message to the students at two magnet elementary schools in her area; Airline Park Academy for Advance Studies and Metairie Academy for Advanced Studies, teaching them how to identify stressors in their lives and brainstormed productive ways to manage stress with each group.
- Kennedy Ertel, of Luling constructed free libraries to help make reading more accessible to the people in her community and promote recycling and resource-sharing.
- Noelle Ford, of Slidell developed a program to help peers in her high school identify stressors and cope with high levels of stress and anxiety.
- Reva Keller, of Waggaman motivated by the issue of student access to affordable learning materials, created several small free-standing libraries outside the fire stations in her community.
- Emily Kraus, of Terrytown wanted to bring awareness to issues such as habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change to children at their early stages of life, in hopes of making children more likely to care and seek education about the environment. For her project, she researched and wrote an ABC book about environmental science.
- Meghan Michel of Covington developed a program called “Naturally Confident” to help teach children outdoor skills so they can be confident in the outdoors. In partnership with Northlake Nature Center, Meghan developed an outdoor skills patch program that teaches kids safety, first aid in the outdoors, and how to pack and navigate the center’s 400-acre preserve.