From the Desk of the CEO
Dear Girl Scout Gold Award Class of 2024,
Congratulations on earning the Girl Scout Gold Award! This year’s Gold Award Class embarked on this award-learning journey following a global pandemic and in the early days of our collective recovery. When so much had changed, including the ways we worked, learned, and identified needs, I am impressed at your poise and sense of purpose. I see the determination, passion, and creativity that lives inside of you, and I am incredibly proud of your accomplishments.
This year, 17 Girl Scouts earned our organization’s highest award for girls, in our council. Perhaps even more impressive is that your collective projects contributed more than 1,800 hours into our communities. You partnered with dozens of local organizations with projects that impacted thousands of lives. The Gold Award Class of 2024 addressed issues surrounding mental health awareness, anti-bullying, food insecurity, environmental sustainability, art appreciation, and expanded on critical conversations about equity, diversity, and inclusion in education and the workforce. Our Girl Scouts didn’t just talk about improving a situation – you made plans, built teams, stuck it out, and really made our world a better place.
Becoming a Gold Award Girl Scout marks an important milestone in your Girl Scout career. The same vision, commitment, and leadership that brought you through the Gold Award process will now continue to carry you to new heights. This will distinguish you on scholarship applications, college admission essays, and on your resume – forever. The Gold Award will set you apart, in all the best possible ways. In addition to accomplishing a challenging personal goal, you now join an elite group of Girl Scouts who share this extraordinary distinction and honor.
As you take your next steps, to finish high school, enter college, join the military, or the workforce, I invite you to stay with Girl Scouts for a lifetime. I encourage you to revisit the drive and grit you harnessed to earn The Gold Award and hold on to the enormous feeling of accomplishment you have today. All the determination, passion, and creativity that it took to achieve this goal lives inside you. Girl Scouting gave you a place to direct it. Our world will always need people who want to make it better and Girl Scouts need people who know what that really means. We’re going to need you because you’re a change-maker, action taker and leader! And I know this is just the beginning.
Yours in Girl Scouting, Lisa
Y. Johnson
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Program
8:00 A.M.
Registration, Networking, Photography & Retail Store Open
9:00 A.M.
Pledge of Allegiance and Girl Scout Promise
Opening Remarks
Recognition of Gold Award Advisors
Gold Award Ceremony
Scholarship Presentations
Closing Remarks
11:30 A.M.
Class of 2024 Group Photos
Retail Store Open
SPECIAL THANKS
Ella Glassman, 2023 Gold Award Girl Scout
Jasmine Nguyen, 2023 Gold Award Girl Scout
Ronica Deshmukh, Troop 24529, Girl Advisory Board Member
Autumn Wilson, Troop 40210, Girl Advisory Board Member
Lani Nguyen, Troop 20695
Geri Emmett, GSSEF Board Member and Immediate Past President
Jennifer and Tony Montalto, Gina Rose Montalto Memorial Foundation
Zaida Alvarez and Juan Carlos Arias, The ECHO Scholarship
Posting photos today? Share them on social media and use #GSSEF and #GoldAward
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More than 100 Years of Extraordinary Projects from Amazing Girl Scouts.
Starting in 1916, the best and brightest Girl Scouts have undertaken projects to improve their communities — and the world! The Golden Eaglet insignia, the highest award in Girl Scouts from 1916 to 1939, marked the beginning of a long tradition of recognizing the extraordinary efforts of trail-blazers. From 1940 to 1963, this achievement was rebranded as the Curved Bar Award and remained the highest honor in Girl Scouts. From 1963 to 1980, the highest award was rebranded again as the First Class. Finally, in 1980, the Gold Award was established and has inspired girls to find the greatness inside themselves and to share their ideas and passions ever since.
In 2016, in celebration of its centennial, Girl Scouts of the USA recommitted itself to expanding the visibility of the Gold Award and the Girl Scouts who achieve it. To that end, Girl Scouts of the USA invited all women who earned the Golden Eaglet, Curved Bar Award, and First Class to unite as Gold Award Girl Scouts, and with this one name, further strengthening our brand and our movement.
In 2018, Girl Scouts of the USA and LinkedIn launched the Girl Scout Network. This opportunity invites our organization’s more than 50 million Girl Scout alums to connect with one another on the Girl Scout Network to enhance their career development among the 564 million LinkedIn users. Any girl who was a member may join — whether she was a Girl Scout Brownie for one year or stayed in a troop through 12th grade. Yes, there is a special built-in option for Girl Scouts who have earned the Gold Award, to add it to their LinkedIn profile.
About The Girl Scout Gold Award
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout in grades 9–12 may earn. Someone once described the Gold Award as being “what you really want to be remembered for” in Girl Scouting. For many, the leadership and organizational skills, and sense of community and commitment that come from “going for the Gold” set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship.
About The Gold Award Project
The Gold Award project is something that a girl must be passionate about — in thought, deed, and action. The project fulfills a need within a girl’s community (whether local or global), creates change, and will become sustainable. If it is an event, the event should be something that people will continue for the next year; if it is a service, it should be something that creates change or action with long-term possibilities; if it is something tangible, it should come with a plan for use and maintenance within the community. Undertaking a Gold Award project is far more than just a nice service project. Gold Award projects demand the highest level of organizational, leadership, and project management skills.
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Girl Scout Gold Award Class of 2024
VANESSA AROCHA ADULT, FORMERLY OF TROOP 11023
Project Title: “Be LOVE-ed”
Gold Award Advisor: Emily Zarzycki
Hometown: Cooper City Service Unit: Magnolia
Vanessa was deeply concerned about the lack of awareness surrounding mental health in her community, specifically for high school and college students. She watched as her peers struggled with school demands, work schedules, relationships, and everyday decision-making. She wanted to bring more awareness about mental health and squash the negative stigmas surrounding it, so she created an Instagram account that also functioned like a personal blog. Vanessa set out to reach young adults and teenagers with a comfortable, approachable, and safe environment where they could feel understood and seen – as well as raise overall awareness about mental health issues. She filled her account with tools, encouraging words, and information, sharing relatable personal experiences and uplifting advice with a goal to validate people for being human and normalizing the imperfections and hardships in life. Interactive surveys resulted in more than 60 positive responses about individual experiences and the value of discussing mental health with other young adults. Through a partnership with Cooper City High School, the page and purpose will continue to reach more people. Visit Vanessa’s Instagram account here: @weshouldbeloved
ALLISON BONNER ADULT, FORMERLY OF TROOP 10393
Project Title: “Sensory Solace”
Gold Award Advisor: Emily Zarzycki
Hometown: Weston Service Unit: Royal Palm
Sensory processing issues can make it hard for children to succeed in school. Once Allison learned more about the challenges presented by limited public school funding to provide tools in the classroom, she decided to use her Gold Award project to bridge the gap. She formed a working partnership with educators at Indian Trace Elementary School in Weston to discover ways she could support children who would benefit from extra resources to regulate or improve sensory issues in the classroom. Allison began by hand-making calming weighted lap blankets that are shown to provide input to sensory seekers and build tolerance for sensory avoiders. Then, with her team, she created a wide range of other tools such as glitter bottles, Orbeez bags, and rice finders while educating others about how to make them. For every classroom with the new supplies, Allison provided a “how to” handbook about each tool, how it is used, and the benefits of utilizing them. In response to one of her project surveys, a teacher wrote: “The tools have been extremely beneficial for the emotional regulation for my students. During high stress situations, such as testing and a tornado warning, the tools have provided immense relief and soothing joy for the students.”
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Project Title: “Girl Talk” Gold Award Advisor: Merribeth Manning Hometown: Hollywood Service Unit: Magnolia
Every teenager struggles at some point in high school, whether from social anxiety or academic stress. Jolie saw this manifesting in her own peer groups and came to learn that according to New York University, females reported significantly higher levels of stress than males (60% vs. 40%). According to the American Psychological Association, during the school year, teens reported stress levels that were higher than levels reported by adults in the same period. Jolie’s Gold Award project aimed to create a local – yet virtual –support group for girls by providing a safe space where teenagers could feel comfortable sharing their experiences with others in real-time. She started a weekly club and facilitated discussion among girls with a “topic of the week” – such as self-confidence and identifying factors that can lead to a potential mental health crisis. Girls met regularly and shared their struggles and raw emotions through authentic conversations. Jolie utilized social media to advertise the club to high school students in the areas of southwest Broward County. In addition to successfully creating a comforting community, participants also took surveys to give feedback about identifying the times of high stress in school, the effectiveness of using stress-relieving strategies, and the value of belonging.
ELIZABETH FARMER TROOP 10247
Project Title: “Project Pawprint”
Gold Award Advisor: Julia Dourvetakis
Hometown: Plantation Service Unit: Royal Palm
Elizabeth’s Gold Award project addressed the issue of puppy mills and society’s growing reliance on the inhumane breeding facilities that supply commercial pet stores. She knew education would be the key, so she created a program to educate students about the negative impact that puppy mills have on the lives of animals. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the dogs held in these types of facilities are seen as tools for potential profit that is prioritized over their well-being. Elizabeth partnered with the ASPCA, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and Humane Society of Broward County to create a set of educational materials and resources for teaching elementary age students about the benefits of adopting, the realities of breeding facilities, and methods to ensure their own pets are being shown the love and affection they deserve. Working with 2nd – 5th graders at Gator Run Elementary School in Weston, Elizabeth presented an innovative approach to these serious topics with games such as puppy charades, drawing Adopt Don’t Shop worksheets, and guided reflections. She watched as the children practiced what they had learned to become effective leaders in their own community about pet shelters, proper pet care, and animal rights.
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JOLIE COHEN TROOP 10604
Project Title: “Geography Club”
Gold Award Advisor: Karyl Bertram
Hometown: Weston
Service Unit: Royal Palm
Karina’s Gold Award project addressed the decrease in student interest in academic subjects related to geography, plus an overall lack of engaging and accurate resources designed to excite learning. The United States ranks 39th in geographical awareness, a drastically disappointing ranking for a developed country. Karina found this, and other statistics, as clear indicators about the lack of resources or emphasis on geography, a subject she dearly loves. She created a new club at Cypress Bay High School in Weston and built a new base of students who valued the study of places and the relationships between the people and environments that exist in them. Through a multi-media approach using videos, games, and other interactive activities, Karina built the club from the ground up with an academic advisor to start, and today has 25 members with three board members. The club’s members’ objectives are to increase collective knowledge about the importance of the topics, examine global impact – especially S.T.E.M. related innovations, political considerations, and human relationships in the areas of race and religion. A recent guest speaker introduced learning about geographic information systems (GIS), and the club members are now working to bring programming and materials to local middle school students so they can get excited about geography too.
RACHEL GOLDSTEIN TROOP 10604
Project Title: “The Healing Powers of Art” Gold Award Advisor: Ahlam “Lammy” Askar Hometown: Davie Service Unit: Magnolia
Art is at the heart of everything Rachel does. She wanted to reach more people to improve their quality of life by harnessing its power. According to the research from the World Health Organization (WHO), there is strong evidence that participation in the arts plays a positive role in improving physical and emotional health. Plus, it supports healthy social interactions, facilitates nonverbal communication, and increases feelings of purpose. Rachel partnered with Memorial Manor in Pembroke Pines where she created and personally led a new art therapy series for residents. Rachel presented guided painting classes for students at a wide range of events to teach and create art that would be used throughout the facility. This gave her the opportunity to teach others about the powers of art – and the art of giving back to the community and sharing time with our very valuable elderly generations. To share the creativity, lift spirits, and leave a legacy at Memorial Manor, Rachel created an original Art Cart with 50+ paintings, that residents use to browse, borrow, and trade for display in their rooms. The facility has received very positive feedback about the program and has incorporated it into ongoing plans for their community.
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NICOLE TORRES FIGUEROA TROOP 10811
KARINA
Project Title: “Women in the Arts” Gold Award Advisor: Melanie Smith Hometown: Boca Raton Service Unit: Luna
Marta is unshakably focused on the underrepresentation of women in the art fields and created a Gold Award project that would demand more attention for these artists. Despite notable progress in recent years, women continue to face significant barriers in achieving equal recognition and opportunities as their male counterparts. This lack of representation can be attributed to deeply entrenched gender biases and historical patriarchal norms. Marta created a website with an online discussion forum dedicated to promoting the visibility of women artists. Her goal was to provide a central hub for exhibiting creations and disseminating valuable resources featuring 16 artists including Faith Ringgold, Greta Gerwig, Mary Oliver, and Toni Morrison. To market her project and attract new website visitors, she leveraged social media platforms with 15 original videos for Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok. Marta wanted to share the power, value, and talent of female artists with a new platform to start a new conversation, inform others, and ultimately foster a more inclusive and equitable artistic landscape. Her evaluation showed that users’ knowledge grew in the following areas of importance: historical erasure of women’s contributions to the arts, recognizing the barriers faced by female artists, the importance of diverse artistic themes and perspectives brought by female artists, and themes of empowerment and activism in the field of art. Learn more here: https://womenintheartsgs. wixsite.com/women-in-the-arts
Project Title: “Ask Azi: All About Pets” Gold Award Advisor: Paula Fontaine Hometown: Cooper City Service Unit: Magnolia RACHEL HUH TROOP 10188
Named for her beloved beagle Azi, Rachel set out to build a Gold Award project to teach the community about animal welfare and spread awareness about animal cruelty. With her new website, she provided everything from general information about pet care, to ideas and suggestions for animal shelter adoption, and opportunities to help other shelter animals too. This was all to eliminate animal cruelty and ensure animals are living their best lives. To build awareness for her efforts and the project, Rachel conducted three community presentations to teach people about the proper handling of stray animals, how to help young children care for pets, and the ways the elderly both benefit from pet ownership and need oversight so pets receive consistent care as their human caregivers are aging. Her surveys demonstrated that participants gained valuable knowledge, and would practice skills related to pet training, storm preparation (as it related to pets), noticing changing pet body language, and knowing more about identifying pet cruelty. Website visitor comments continue to praise the project and thank Rachel for her dedication, “This site gives me much more useful information and I want to recommend this to other pet owners” and “Thank you for your information for pets. I have learned so much about pets. I hope people can learn from this site and take care of pets like humans.” Learn more here: https://dearaziaap.wixsite.com/pets
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MARTA HALL TROOP 22045
Project Title: “Sharing the Harvest: A Giving Garden Initiative at Potential Church and Beyond”
Gold Award Advisor: Joyce Shraim
Hometown: Pembroke Pines
Service Unit: Magnolia
Mia’s Gold Award project addressed the issue of food insecurity. According to the Florida Department of Health, 10.8% of the Broward County population had limited or uncertain access to enough food for an active, healthy life in 2020. People experiencing food insecurity often do not have access to healthy and nutritious food such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Because most food pantries can only offer shelf-stable goods, and knowing the overwhelming benefit of fresh fruits and vegetables as part of a balanced diet, Mia partnered with Potential Church in Cooper City (and Flamingo Road Nursery) to create a new community garden. She showed others how easy it could be to grow food and educated those who experienced food insecurity about the value of adding essential vitamins to boost the immune system through fresh foods. Her project also incorporated an education program for students about plant anatomy, the process of growing food, and the importance of giving back to their community. She wanted to share the root cause of poverty with children so they could understand and empathize with the hardships some people go through just to obtain a healthy meal. The garden is popular and flourishing – with tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, basil, green beans, peas, raspberries, kale, and green onions. It is directly supporting hungry people with free fresh produce from the garden and has relieved some financial stress on the pantry.
KATELYN KELLEY TROOP 20119
Project Title: “Adding Color to Change Perspective”
Gold Award Advisor: Melanie Smith
Hometown: Loxahatchee Service Unit: Phoenix
Elementary schools are an environment where children develop their early social-friendship skills; yet in 2023 a record 33% of U.S. elementary school children reported being bullied while in school. Katelyn wanted to use her Gold Award project to benefit young students and work to decrease bullying with simple, straightforward, and positive ways to educate them about how to treat others with respect and how to spread kindness at school. Katelyn believed that this effort in elementary school could result in the skills of empathy, humility, respect (for yourself and others), and compassion that will serve them well in middle school, high school, and adulthood. To achieve this goal, Katelyn partnered with the School District of Palm Beach County to introduce a colorful way to promote kindness through gameplay in campus courtyards and playgrounds. This included designing hard surfaces with eye-catching games for hopscotch, side-stopspin, and four square. Katelyn’s project went inside the classroom too; she produced a series of coloring sheets that supported a curriculum on topics that included how to be a good friend and the importance of kindness. After speaking to teachers within weeks of her project’s implementation, they reported an increase in overall classroom morale, noticing friendships increasing, and the use of kind and respectful words among students that demonstrated more patience and empathy.
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MIA KEEGAN TROOP 10188
Project Title: “Hispanic and Latino Engineers of Tomorrow” Gold Award Advisor: Tori-Lynn Saraniti Hometown: Cooper City Service Unit: Magnolia
Hispanics and Latinos often cannot envision themselves as working professionals in S.T.E.M. business fields. They can be held back by cultural norms pushed by some elite educational systems or even by their own families, because it can seem that without the right “connections” they lack credibility for acceptance into higher education and the workforce. To address this gap, Rachel created and hosted a series of virtual workshops featuring different engineering disciplines and educational pathways to becoming an engineer. Each session featured Q&A panels with experts, and all were designed specifically to engage Hispanic and Latino middle and high school students. Rachel introduced S.T.E.M. professionals from Cuba, Colombia, New York, Boston, and Houston to show participants how diverse and exciting this type of work can be, in college and beyond. To measure the effectiveness of the sessions, Rachel asked participants to complete pre and post surveys. Overwhelmingly, participants’ self-ratings improved after each session. Their responses indicated that students gained valuable knowledge, insight, and self-confidence about how to navigate studying engineering in college and increased curiosity and interest in pursuing a career in a S.T.E.M. field despite previous cultural barriers, hardships, or personal bias. Watch a session here: www.youtube.com/@HispanicsinEngineering
HARLOW KRAMER-DEW ADULT, FORMERLY OF TROOP 10171
Project Title: “Standing Up to Scoliosis” Gold Award Advisor: Paula Fontaine Hometown: Pompano Beach Service Unit: Sandy Beaches
Harlow’s very personal project focused on the need for more awareness about the surgery process for, and treatment of, scoliosis. Scoliosis is the abnormal side-toside curve of the spine and occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty. As a middle school student, Harlow hadn’t known anyone who had faced scoliosis and only knew of it because of the annual checks performed at school. With her diagnosis, she felt like there was an opportunity to discuss it in middle school, especially with a young person who had undergone procedures to address it. From bracing to surgery, she knew there was a story to be told. Harlow partnered with her doctors and nurses to create an educational video, printed brochure, and blog that covered education about what to expect as someone with scoliosis, feelings of fear and anxiety that comes with the diagnosis and before surgery, explanations of spinal fusion procedure, how to prepare for the day of surgery, and many ways to identify and reduce worry and stress. Harlow’s video is used currently in her doctor’s office for patients, and she communicates regularly with office staff to gather feedback, make edits, and review comprehension checks. This has proven to be a very powerful tool; respondents said the video “made them feel more confident about a scoliosis surgery/diagnosis” and the pamphlet “helped better understand what scoliosis is as a whole.”
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RACHEL KLUDY TROOP 11023
Project Title: “Girls Can Code Too!”
Gold Award Advisor: Sandra Clutter
Hometown: Cooper City Service Unit: Magnolia
Frances wanted to use her Gold Award project to battle the stereotypes that girls aren’t as adept at S.T.E.M. topics as their male counterparts. Frances discovered that despite equal access, the percentage of women pursuing S.T.E.M. subjects in higher education is on the decline (in 2023), and females earn just 18% of new computer science degrees. She was determined to introduce the concepts of coding to young girls, so they could expand their experiences in technology and engineering early in their education, build interest and confidence, and begin to envision new career paths for themselves. With her team of student volunteers, Frances led in-person, hands-on courses for 80 girls (ages 7-14) that spanned introductory lessons to progressive coding design – in multiple languages! Her coding course is girlcentric with unique games, female characters, and a supplemental workshop that introduced women in S.T.E.M. who have changed the world and improved our lives today, including Annie Easley, Ada Lovelace, and Radia Perlman. She continues to teach girls coding and is working now to have her program replicated in schools, after-school programs, and other youth organizations.
MITHRA NAIR TROOP 21025
Project Title: “Who’s Saving Who?”
Gold Award Advisor: Debra Byrne-Mathews
Hometown: Jupiter Service Unit: Jupiter
Mithra is passionate about animals and shelters regularly filled with senior dogs, dogs with medical issues, and breeds that are rashly considered aggressive or prone to inevitable health ailments. According to the National Library of Medicine, older dogs are at-risk for euthanasia in animal shelters due to their lower perceived appeal for adoption. A recent study found that potential pet adopters feared specialized veterinary care or chronic disease maintenance that kept interest in sick or senior companion animals very low. To increase awareness, improve the reputation and desirability of older animals, demystify breed stigmas, and ultimately increase adoption, Mithra partnered with Furry Friends Jupiter, Operation PAW, and Jupiter Animal Hospital to create a multi-faceted project. First, to address misinformation about older animals and some breeds and increase understanding for potential adoptees, Mithra created educational infographics for adoption centers and animal hospitals to be used throughout their facilities and shared on their social media platforms. This offered easy-to-understand, eco-friendly ways to educate the public. Additionally, Mithra created a companion brochure to promote shelter adoption that included a QR code for easy download. For the breeds that were often considered aggressive or illness prone, she created custom care kits for potential adoptees allowing them to better understand the animals they were meeting. Mithra successfully created a collaborative support system of animal lovers, clinics, and adoption centers throughout the Jupiter area.
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FRANCES LI TROOP 11023
Project Title: “Spreading Love for Our Environment” Gold Award Advisor: Sandra Clutter Hometown: Weston Service Unit: Royal Palm
When young students explore earth sciences including topics of climate change, pollution, endangered species, and overall environmental sustainability, it encourages them to become active global citizens. They begin to understand their “footprint,” explore conservation, and think critically to solve problems. Ava knew that integrating environmental education into mainstream school curriculum may also improve their progress in other academic areas. She partnered with Country Isles Elementary School in Weston to design and present an immersive learning experience to spark curiosity in 4th and 5th graders. Ava recruited a team of fellow television production students, as well as fellow Girl Scouts, to produce a series of ten classroom videos. She paired it with hands-on activities to support key messages about recycling, wildlife conservation, and biodiversity to advance the development of their critical and creative problemsolving skills. Feedback from teachers was extremely positive and served as a valuable supplement to the other science work, saying students “loved the videos” and “were engaged while watching them.” Additionally, Ava’s videos have been utilized to support Brownie and Junior Badge earning for the Brownie Eco Friend Badge and Junior Animal Habitat Badge.
CRYSTAL CHRISTINE ROBINSON TROOP 10188
Project Title: “A Fresco Expo: The Art House” Gold Award Advisor: Julia Dourvetakis
Hometown: Miami Gardens
Service Unit: Magnolia
According to Americans for the Arts, 91% of Americans believe that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded education. However, the organization also notes that “two-thirds of teachers believed that the fine arts are among subjects are getting crowded out of the school day by a focus on math and English,” which leads to the arts being generally overlooked in terms of awareness. Crystal knows the importance of the arts – as well as the social connection between the variation of music, visual arts, dance, digital design, film, theatre, and academic success. Her Gold Award project bridged the gap at Somerset Academy Middle/ High School and Somerset Arts Conservatory in Pembroke Pines to form a dynamic team of both art (and non-art) students to bring the spirit of creativity to the externally facing parts of the schools’ spaces. Crystal formed a partnership with the National Art Honor Society and created a six-part art workshop series that welcomed students from both schools. Additionally, she led an initiative to host small booth events throughout the school year encouraging the student body to become creators or interact with creators at the school (creators: those who practice art, film, theatre, dance, music, or digital design). Through her program, art students became empowered and felt confident to put themselves “out there” while others experienced bleach art, chalk art, and print media for the first time. The team of 20 students, led by Crystal, learned the process of painting a mural and the power of working as a team.
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AVA POUNDER TROOP 10393
Project Title: “Health in Your Garden”
Gold Award Advisor: Tori-Lynn Saraniti
Hometown: Weston
Service Unit: Royal Palm
Sarah’s Gold Award project focused on teaching people ways they can grow plants in their gardens that can provide relief to common ailments. The creation of a medicinal garden can be a part of proactively addressing a variety of health issues – from supporting a fit digestive system to reducing symptoms of anxiety. Sarah is passionate about natural remedies and sought to inform and empower others with education they could take into their own hands. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines medicinal plants as “plants that are used to treat, or prevent, illness or disease.” Sarah partnered with Flamingo Gardens in Davie to install a fully functioning medicinal garden with informational markers and created a series of presentations for the public to introduce the new feature. Visitors learned about basic skills related to planting and maintaining medicinal plants, such as soil preparation, planting methods, watering, and pest control. Visitors also gained knowledge of the medicinal properties and uses of various herbs, flowers, and plants, as well as information on safe, responsible use, potential risks, and common contraindications. In post-surveys, participants reported feeling “empowered to take control of their health and well-being by growing and using their own medicinal plants.”
Scholarships
Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida is a respected authority on the lives of girls—as well as the issues they face. Our organization is proud to partner with like-minded companies, foundations, and individuals who share our belief in the unlimited power of girls to make this world a better place. We work with other leaders in our community so Girl Scouts can have the opportunity to receive the financial boost they so often need to turn their dreams of higher education into a reality.
Barbara Ann Turner “Service from the Heart” Scholarship
The “Service from the Heart” Scholarship is presented in memory of Barbara Ann Turner, a dedicated volunteer. Barbara had many interests in her life, but nothing was as dear to her as the Girl Scouts. She served as a leader, council trainer, service unit manager, and women’s history committee member. She shared her enthusiasm and commitment to the Girl Scout volunteer spirit in the many service projects she organized. Her wish was that an ongoing scholarship be established to recognize exceptional community service. This dream was realized when the first scholarship was awarded in 2008 to a local Girl Scout. Thanks to the generosity of ongoing donations from Barbara’s friends and family, the scholarship has been increased and awarded annually to local a Girl Scout who has given exceptional service to her community.
Scholarship Award: $1,500 Jupiter Troop 20646 11th Grade Jessie Brooke
TELLERIA TROOP 10863 14
SARAH
Baxter
Davie Troop 10685
Florida State University Ella Glassman
