Girl Scouts of North East Ohio (GSNEO) is proud to honor 36 Gold Award Girl Scouts this year. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout senior or ambassador may earn.  The Gold Award project challenges girls to identify an unmet need or core issue in their community, research and investigate it, recruit volunteers and build a team to create a plan to address the issue or need.  Across northeast Ohio, members of the community are seeing great changes take place.  Elementary schools are receiving valuable STEM resources. Places of worship are seeing improvements to their buildings and to the safety of their congregations. Animals have new habitats and resources to support their populations.  These things were all made possible because of Gold Award Girl Scouts!

When compared to non–Girl Scout alums, Gold Award Girl Scouts soar when it comes to seeing themselves as leaders, providing service to others through volunteerism, and having positive attitudes about themselves and the lives they lead.  Over 90% of Girl Scouts not only attributed their success in life to Girl Scouts, but they also said they could not have had access to the same experiences anywhere else.  

Nationwide, only five percent of eligible Girl Scouts go for the gold. This year, 36 Gold Award recipients from northeast Ohio will join the ranks of generations of young women who are recognized for making a difference, both locally and globally.  It’s not only Girl Scouts who understand the value of the Gold Award.  Some universities and colleges offer scholarships unique to Gold Award recipients, and girls who enlist in the U.S. armed forces automatically enter the military one rank higher.

2021 Girl Scout Gold Award recipients in the Today’s Family coverage area including city and project title:

• Elyse Ertel, Mentor • Cubby Clean Up 
• Alexandra Fox, Mentor • The Instrument Initiative  
• Meredith Mallon-Jeffrey, Gates Mills • H2O at SFA 
• Brigit Morgan, Chardon • CMS Music Room Reno 
• Alexis Ochi, Mayfield Heights • Mayfield Village Greenview Train Bluebird Houses 
• Keira Oyen, Chesterland • Tubes of Love 

Bios can be found at gsneo.org/goldaward.

Earning the Gold Award is just one of the amazing things girls can do as part of Girl Scouts. To join GSNEO, or learn more about volunteering, please visit gsneo.org.