The Gold Award is the highest award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting. It’s a national standard that acknowledges a girl’s accomplishments, leadership, commitment, creativity, and personal effort to make the world a better place. Each Gold Award is a significant achievement in a girl’s life and an extension and compilation of all she has learned through her Girl Scout experience.

Our sixteenth highlighted Gold Award features Sarah Ziff and her project “I Voted: Registering and Casting a Ballot.” Her project focused on addressing a critical issue: the lack of civic participation among the youngest voting group. She highlighted a significant problem with startling statistics: in the 2014 general election, only 52% of eligible 18-24 year olds in California were registered to vote, and a mere 8% actually voted. This low turnout among young voters means that issues important to them often go unaddressed. Understanding that voting habits formed early in life tend to persist, Sarah took action to inspire her peers to become active participants in democracy. She collaborated with government and US history teachers at her school to develop an engaging lesson plan for twelfth-grade government classes. This curriculum was designed to inform students about voter registration and the process of reading a ballot, making these essential civic duties accessible and comprehensible. Through her project, Sarah worked diligently on her school campus and in government classes to encourage student involvement in the democratic process. Her efforts were aimed at ensuring that the voices of young people are heard and that they recognize the importance of their participation in elections. By taking the first step in educating her peers, Sarah has made a significant impact on promoting civic engagement among young people.

Sarah says, “Holding myself accountable and reminding myself to keep working and set aside time to focus on what needed to be done was a true test to my time management skills and determination. Throughout this process I continued to grow my abilities to communicate with others, thinking from new perspectives, comfortably speaking publicly, and research information.”

For our seventeenth Gold Award project feature, Sofia Villegas’ project titled “Building Gardens and Knowledge.” Her project beautifully interweaves education and sustainability to empower young minds and cultivate a greener future. Recognizing the transformative power of gardening, Sofia focused her efforts on educating elementary-aged students about the critical importance of gardening and how the knowledge gained can pave the way for their success and ensure food security in the future. At the heart of her project was the creation and donation of two garden boxes to her local elementary school. These garden boxes serve not only as a hands-on learning tool but also as a sustainable resource for the school, fostering a direct connection between students and nature. Alongside these garden boxes, Sofia developed a comprehensive gardening guide specifically tailored for classroom use. This guide is designed to teach children the basics of gardening, from understanding soil health to nurturing plants, providing a valuable resource for teachers to incorporate into their curriculum. Sofia’s dedication to spreading the impact of her project didn’t stop at the school. She extended her outreach by teaching local Girl Scouts, using the gardening guide she meticulously crafted. Through these sessions, Sofia inspired a broader audience, instilling a love for gardening and an appreciation for sustainability in the next generation of leaders. Her project not only equips students with practical gardening skills but also plants the seeds of environmental stewardship and food security awareness, ensuring a lasting legacy of knowledge and growth.

Sofia tells us, “I am now a freshman at UC Berkeley studying landscape architecture. In the future I hope to become a landscape designer/architect and design functional and sustainable environments for future generations.”

For more information about the Gold Award and how Girl Scouts are creating positive change within their communities, visit here.