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.

Celeste Briscoe recently took on a critical issue for teens with her Gold Award project, “Teen Mental Health,” inspired by the struggles her peers faced during and after the quarantine. As a student at Buena High School, Celeste recognized that many teens were suffering in silence, often due to the stigma surrounding mental health issues. She wanted to create resources that would be both accessible and discreet for those needing support. To help her fellow students, Celeste developed a website that compiles local and online mental health resources, providing teens with the tools they need to find help. Additionally, she placed QR codes around the campus—including one for the National Suicide Hotline—making it easier for students to seek assistance privately. Understanding that not all students might actively engage with these resources, Celeste took her project a step further. She created a calming “Green Space” on campus—a small garden filled with fragrant and visually soothing plants. This tranquil area offers students a space where they can experience a sense of calm, even if they aren’t consciously seeking it. By simply walking past or spending a moment in the garden, students are given a break from the stresses of school life, supporting their mental health in subtle but powerful ways. Through her innovative project, Celeste not only provided valuable mental health resources but also fostered an environment where students can experience well-being without having to ask for it.

Celeste tells us, “I learned to keep being persistent even when you hit a wall or it’s not going the way you want. Trust in God and it will get done.”

Christina Stuck’s passion for native plants and pollinators inspired her to embark on a revitalization project at her local library, transforming an underused garden into a vibrant haven for pollinators. As part of her Gold Award project, she carefully selected and re-planted areas based on soil type and flowering seasons, ensuring a variety of native plants would flourish. A standout feature of her project is the custom-built pollinator nesting box for mason bees. The box has already successfully housed a dozen bees and their eggs, and will serve as a permanent home for future generations. Christina also installed 14 informative metal signs throughout the garden, each identifying native plants and the pollinators they support. To celebrate the completion of her project, Christina hosted an interactive community event, drawing over 70 attendees. Families of all ages engaged in fun, educational activities, from chalk garden art to bug antennae headbands and seed bomb crafting. Guests learned about pollinators beyond the honey bee, gaining a deeper appreciation for the role native insects play in the ecosystem. With this project, Christina has left a lasting legacy for both the community and the environment, raising awareness of native pollinators and the critical habitats they need to thrive.

Christina says, “I learned how to manage volunteers, plan a large event, plant a garden, and educate the community.”

For her Gold Award project, Elizabeth Lunney took on the important task of fostering environmental awareness in her community. Elizabeth constructed a permanent cinder block composting structure at her local elementary school, creating a space where students and community members can engage in hands-on learning about composting. This structure will provide an ongoing educational experience, teaching future generations about the importance of composting and sustainability. In addition to building the compost site, Elizabeth developed educational materials to further enhance learning, ensuring that composting education extends beyond the school garden and into the community at large. Her project not only benefits the environment but also helps instill valuable lessons about sustainability in her community for years to come.

Elizabeth explains, “I learned that just because a project requires a specific skill to reach a goal it doesn’t mean someone without that skill can’t be helpful. Everyone has their own unique talents that can contribute to a project, one only has to have the open mindedness to see the benefits that come with involving different people.”

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