2021 Gold Award Girl Scouts

Jade's project “Expanding Athletic Opportunities for Girls” aimed to provide the same opportunities she enjoyed growing up while playing softball to other young girls. Softball provided Jade with the opportunity to attend college and gifted her with courage, friendships, and lifelong lessons. Wanting to share the sport with other girls and provide the needed recognition and equal support, Jade hosted clinics, created skills and recruitment videos, presented a petition to city council leaders, held a used equipment drive, and promoted recreation leagues through social media and local newspaper. In the end, Jade learned how big her voice could be to evoke change in my community and beyond.

Accompanying Project Videos:

Jessie noticed that many people purchase pets, chicks specifically, when they are young and cute but don’t understand the care an adult chicken will need. Fueled by her love of animals, she partnered with the Washington County 4H to have a booth about chickens in the Animal Education Barn at the Washington County Fair in April 2021. She was able to talk with over 8,000 people over the 4-day fair. In addition, she created videos to discuss raising and caring for chicks as they are young and grow to full size. The videos are available on her website, YouTube, and Instagram. Jessie learned leadership and organization skills coordinating volunteers to assist her at her booth and to get her materials prepared, and she became more comfortable talking with people she doesn’t know.

Chicks From Day One - Blog
What to Feed Chickens - YouTube
Different Purposes of Chicken - YouTube
The Importance of Chicken Coops - YouTube
Chick Information - PDF

Kayla combined her love of children and passion for healthcare in her Gold Award project, working with the University of Utah Health Hospital to create a program to help the pediatric patients feel more at ease and educated about their surgeries. Kayla sewed 100 surgery friend dolls with their own hospital gowns for pediatric patients to decorate, hold and love, and have their health care providers demonstrate what procedures the child will undergo. She also created instructions for the hospital to give to future volunteers to continue to create surgery friend dolls so future pediatric patients will benefit from this program.

Surgery Friend Doll Instructions - PDF
Doll and Gown Pattern - PDF

Mikayla’s project “Mask Up Everyone” focused on making information accessible to everyone regarding how to keep themselves and others safe and healthy from COVID-19, including proper mask wearing. In addition to making masks, Mikayla gathered information on the importance of wearing a mask, complete with a mask pattern, proper size/fit, and materials. According to her research, the best fitting and effective handmade mask is the Olson mask. The masks produced as part of her project were donated to the Navajo Nation in February 2021. Mikayla’s passion for this project comes from the persistence of COVID-19 and the ways it affected everyday life, from having school online to cancellation of sports, supply shortages, and many health concerns. Through her Gold Award project, Mikayla learned many new techniques in sewing, communication, and goal setting. She also learned in the research process not only about masks but also myths on how COVID is spread.

Olson Mask Sewing Instructions - YouTube

Shaylee focused her project on organ donor awareness because of the many people in her family affected by kidney disease and the numerous organ transplant stories she’s heard as a result. Her project aimed to raise awareness about the importance of being an organ donor, including how it takes only five minutes to sign up on your driver’s license and how being a donor could save up to 8 lives. Shaylee learned the larger scope of the impact of live organ donation beyond her family, meeting many people and hearing their stories. 

Girl Scout Gold award video on the importance of Donor Awareness - YouTube
Be an Organ Donor - Facebook Page
Be an Organ Donor - Instagram Page

Tamma started her Gold Award project by creating a video and flyer about dalmatian toadflax, an invasive species. She mapped toadflax in the Timpanogos wilderness area and delivered the data to the Forest Service. With this data in mind, Tamma organized three weed pulls with volunteers and posted her flyer at various trailheads. Through this, she learned how to create educational materials, work with others, and set deadlines. Tamma choose this project because she loves the outdoors and wants to help improve it.

Invaders in our Earth: Dalmatian toadflax - YouTube