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 next Gold Award project features, Hadley Julca with her project “Her-Story: Empowering Girls Through History, A Hands On, Project Based Approach to Learning.” Hadley created a seven-unit curriculum that teaches history from a female point of view called “Herstory.” Her curriculum approach is project-based which means she incorporated different hands-on projects for the students to work on ranging from art to cooking. In addition to the curriculum she also hosted a free three-day workshop for younger children to educate them about women in history.

Hadley says, “Working on this project allowed me the chance to see how I can apply my unique background and talents to the things I want to accomplish in real life, be it my theater career, becoming a professor, or continuing my work with kids.”

Hadley is currently earning her BA in Theater Arts at Cal Lutheran University. She is excited to study Shakespeare at Oxford next fall through their study-abroad program. After college she plans to obtain her master’s degree in Shakespeare Studies to continue teaching when she is not onstage. Hadley hopes to continue working with children and hopes to build her own theater company where low-income communities children have access to the arts.

Our fourteenth Gold Award recipient features Hayden Kelly, with her project “Solar Light Flagpole Project.” Hayden installed solar lights on the flagpoles that were previously flying at night without lighting. She then made a trail throughout the terrain so that all flags and poles could be easily accessed when the time comes to replace torn and tattered flags. Hayden wanted her Gold Award to be sustainable being eco-friendly was very important for her. Hayden wanted to make sure the lights were bright enough to shine on the flags, but dim enough to minimize any light pollution in the area. Hayden connected to the local community by sending out a survey to locals asking for their opinions. She received positive feedback and praise for her project. Hayden hopes that throughout her life she will be able to make small changes that lead to larger ones in a positive and lasting way.

Our next featured Gold Award recipient, features Juliana Girotto with her project “Strathearn Historical Park native Plant Garden.” Juliana gained the idea for her Gold Award Project after visiting many local historical sites. She recognized each site was lacking the funding and/or manpower to make improvements. She wanted to make sure her Gold Award Project ensured others could learn about these historical site areas in great condition. At one of her favorite historical parks, Juliana sought to completely revamp a line of garden boxes which contained dead, overgrown plants. Juliana’s project served to beautify these garden boxes by giving them a fresh, educational purpose, adding new plants which are solely native to California, and adding custom-made signs for each garden box. The signs include information about local Native American tribes using the native plants to their advantage. Juliana took her project even further by creating a corresponding webpage which included additional information about local tribes to follow. A route passing by the boxes has also been implemented on school tours in the park.

Juliana says, “From doing my Gold Award project, I was able to gain new experience in learning and implementing problem-solving and communication skills.”

Juliana plans for the future include graduating high school, going to college the following year, and traveling more with friends and family.

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