Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey proudly recognizes those members who earned the highest award in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award.
Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award requires girls to complete a significant and sustainable service project that demonstrates leadership, planning, and a commitment to community improvement. Each girl earning this distinct honor has dedicated a minimum of 80 hours to make their project a reality. The skills and experiences gained through this process are invaluable and can set applicants apart in the college admissions process and professionally.
To earn their Girl Scout Gold Awards, our members identified issues in their communities, took action, and found or created solutions to address real-life problems such as environmental sustainability, racial justice, challenges to mental and physical well-being, gender inequality in STEM, and more. Through their take-action projects, Gold Award Girl Scouts demonstrate the breadth of issues American teens feel are most prevalent in society today.
In addition, Girl Scouts of the USA awards annual Gold Award Scholarships that recognize one outstanding Gold Award Girl Scout per council each year. These girls have been selected because their project exemplifies the core components of the Gold Award, and they demonstrated extraordinary leadership to drive lasting change in their community and beyond.
We encourage you to review and celebrate with us the work of many of our Gold Award Girl Scouts as noted below. Be sure to revisit this web page periodically as it is updated.
Gold Award Girl Scout Natalia
was concerned about how much waste was being produced and disposed of
each day at her high school during lunchtimes. She developed her Girl
Scout Gold Award take-action project to find a better way of managing
the waste. Being a member of the Green Team at West Morris Central High
School in Chester, she set out to lead the team to build three compost
bins in the school garden and establish a system to collect school food
waste. She created a YouTube video and shared her success with the New
Jersey Composting Council to promote composting in schools around the state.
Gold Award Girl Scout Shaye
addressed the need for adapting toys for children with special needs.
She shared what she learned with other Girl Scouts and their families,
teaching them how switches work and how to create battery interrupters,
so that others would be more aware of this need in the world. Shaye was
able to donate 32 altered toys to schools for children with special
needs. She even reached out to and met with the marketing and product
development team at the Target Corporation to present her ideas for
adapting switches on toys.
Gold Award Girl Scout Kareena
focused her take-action project on the world water crisis. She studied
the water crisis in India, created an educational program for
middle-school children, and produced a series of podcasts on the subject
entitled, “One Drop at a Time,” during which she interviewed leaders and
experts on the issue. She reached out to the Eileen Fisher Corporation
to learn more about their work in water conservation and to interview
their staff, which availed her of the opportunity to participate at a
conference with the company’s Social Consciousness team and create a
video presentation that was shown company wide. Kareena also met with
students from USKids4Water (USK4W) to plan Hack4Water, a hackathon
geared towards immersing students in working to solve water-related issues.
Gold Award Girl Scout Autumn
focused her take-action project, Sweating Out the Stigma, on addressing
society’s preconceived notions about people with special needs and
challenges, particularly among high school students. Autumn created a
program that brought children with special needs together with high
school students to play Pillo Polo. She recruited and trained student
volunteers to help conduct the program. As a result, Autumn discovered
that the children involved in the event were learning to work with
others, were gaining confidence, and were improving their coordination,
while the volunteers were gaining a better understanding of the special
needs community and learning to see each person beyond their disability.
Gold Award Girl Scout Gianna
addressed the issue of land erosion that is linked to the high
mortality rate of sea turtles. With her take-action project, Save Her
Eggs (S.H.E.), Gianna created a website and worked to educate the
Tuckerton community about the issue, offering advice on how to handle
dead or wounded turtles or turtle eggs found in the environment.
Throughout the year, and especially prior to nesting season, the
Tuckerton Seaport distributes materials containing a QR code that links
to her website.
Gold Award Girl Scout Kathryn
established Empowerment Hikes for women in the Ramsey area, which she
designed to increase the knowledge of women in history. After
researching leading women in various fields, including STEM, politics,
and local history, Kathryn shared their stories during community hiking
trips, as well as promoted the hikes and information on social media and
in her school.
Gold Award Girl Scout Emma
focused on educating her community about the rich history of Armenia
and the current struggles of the country’s people in her take-action
project, Learn About Armenia. Being of Armenian heritage, Emma’s project
was deeply personal. She created a website that includes interviews with
Armenian people and showcases their culture, history, art, religion, and education.
Gold Award Girl Scout Rhea
named her take-action project, Removing the Filter, and set out to
create a social media movement towards building self-confidence and
emotional well-being among pre-teens and teens. She hosted a series of
local workshops that promoted body positivity and shared activities that
could help girls combat negative self-imagery. Rhea highlighted the gaps
in her school’s health curriculum regarding these topics and met with
school officials to advocate for integrating mental health and body
positivity topics into the school curriculum.
Gold Award Girl Scout Ariel
focused her take-action project on the educational needs and rights of
students challenged with Dyslexia. She collected and donated learning
tools to her local school system and gave presentations to students and
parents about available resources to help alleviate the struggles that
students dealing with Dyslexia may experience. The Newton Town Council
was impressed by her work and issued a proclamation designating October
as Dyslexia Awareness Month in town.
Gold Award Girl Scout Hadley
addressed the lack of awareness of opportunities for women in the field
of aviation. Her Women in Flight project aimed at dispelling the myth
that aviation is a man's job. Hadley conducted local workshops for women
and girls on the topic of aviation with the intent of fostering more
interest in the field and inspiring more women to become pilots. She
packaged her plans and documents into turnkey kits for hosting
additional workshops and provided them to Lincoln Park Airport for distribution.
Gold Award Girl Scout Ishika
worked to improve the quality of life for senior citizens in nursing
homes by exploring ways to foster social interaction and combat
isolation and loneliness. Her project, Social Activities for Seniors,
included the creation of self-care kits and activity carts filled with
items curated by her community. Ishika led a campaign to encourage
fellow high school students to volunteer at the facility and showed them
how to host social activities and events among seniors.
Gold Award Girl Scout Riya
addressed the waning interest in STEM at her local middle school with
Project Revive Math League. She believed that the school’s MathCounts
program, which had been eliminated, was a key factor in inspiring
students to explore STEM careers. Her efforts to revive it resulted in
more than 35 students joining the club. Riya and her former math teacher
coached the students into becoming a competitive math team, and her blog
about her experiences continues to inspire and instruct other schools
towards establishing math clubs.
Gold Award Girl Scout Manasvi
focused her take-action project, “Special” Just Means Unique, on
addressing the lack of funding for special education programs and the
inaccessibility of helpful materials for special needs students. Manasvi
collected and distributed fidget toys for students to local schools and
hosted a presentation for teachers explaining their use. She petitioned
New Jersey government officials asking them to increase funding for
special education programs and authored an act for them to pass into law.
Gold Award Girl Scout Olivia
addressed a lack of anti-bullying education among third-grade students
in her town. Her project, It Starts with You, was designed to help these
students identify bullying and learn how to avoid or stop it. Olivia
conducted presentations at the school and provided follow-up information
for students and teachers to continue their learning. She also helped
the students establish a club that will continue to increase awareness
of bullying and prevention of it in the future.
Gold Award Girl Scout Cara
addressed the need for more hearing people to learn basic signs in
American Sign Language (ASL) to respectfully support deaf and
hard-of-hearing individuals. With her take-action project, Spreading
Deaf Awareness and Empowerment, Cara created American Sign Language and
deaf culture sensitivity training classes and an awareness video. She
held in-person classes to teach basic ASL and increased awareness of
hearing challenges by having attendees engage in role-playing situations
and group discussions.
Gold Award Girl Scout Valencia
was inspired to educate young minds on Alzheimer's because of her own
experience growing up with her grandparents. She wrote a children’s book
that explains Alzheimer’s in simple words to help young people learn
what they can do at home to support their loved ones living with
dementia. Valencia hosted several live readings of the book via Zoom to
groups and individuals. She held briefings with parents and children
dealing with dementia patients, prior to printing her book to ensure
that her book was relatable and accurate and ready for publication, and
then she published it as an e-book and posted it on YouTube in 10
different languages.
Gold Award Girl Scout Siya
promoted an inclusive environment for all through education, inclusion,
and acceptance of those with autism. Her Project EnAble includes an
interactive online game, slideshow, informational brochures, and an
animated video that has been shared with both local and global
communities. Additionally, Siya founded the Project EnAble Youth
Ambassador (P.E.Y.A) Program, which calls for driven teenagers to use
Project EnAble resources and spread the outreach of the program.
Gold Award Girl Scout Aria
addressed the growing vaping epidemic in her community and its
potential health consequences, specifically in youth. She utilized a
peer-to-peer educational approach to inform youth about deceptive
marketing and the harmful effects of vaping. Working with local school
officials and youth advocates she conducted virtual and in-person
presentations for students at different schools. To increase adult
awareness of this issue, Aria reached out to mayors, town newspapers,
and libraries, and utilized social media. Social media was key in
promoting her message. She recorded her presentation on YouTube, created
trendy content for her @ditchthevape Instagram account, created a
YouTube video entitled “Incorruptible,” and wrote and published the
article, “Anatomy of the Vaping Epidemic.”
Gold Award Girl Scout Jenna’s
project had two major goals: to save the Glen Rock High School Girls’
Golf Team as it was going to be eliminated without enough freshman
players, and to address feelings of negative body image and self-esteem
among girls. “After struggling with my own athletic ability and
confidence in middle school, I knew that golf was a great opportunity
for other girls to get involved in a team sport as I did.” Golf is a
sport that doesn't involve running or contact and can be used to
introduce girls into sports, building their confidence.
Gold Award Girl Scout Georgeena
was concerned about the impact of isolation on young children during
the pandemic. “The early years of socializing are important for children
to develop interpersonal skills,” says Georgeena. As part of her
take-action project, she created and implemented a 10-point program to
help children gain lost opportunities in ten key areas, including
learning to understand facial cues, learning personal space versus
engaging with others, learning eye contact, and respecting others,
learning to feel comfortable interacting without a mask, and more.
Through her efforts, she helped adults become aware of the real effects
COVID isolation can have on their children.
Gold Award Girl Scout Faith’s
project addressed the alarming honeybee population decline. Faith made
a difference by bringing awareness of this issue to her community and
creating a pollinator garden for bees in her community. She felt that
there is much information to be learned about honeybees that all people
should know including their importance, the reason for their decline,
and ways to help them.
Gold Award Girl Scout Hailey’s
project addressed opioid addiction and awareness. To create
educational materials, Hailey met with many experts on alternatives to
pain medication such as: a nutritionist, the school’s athletic trainer,
health officer, a yoga instructor, a mindfulness teacher, a therapist, a
physical therapist, and the local police chief. After meeting with these
experts, she organized an event that allowed them to speak about
alternatives to opioids for managing pain and to educate her community
on these alternatives.
Gold Award Girl Scout Krisha
sought to combat feelings of isolation during the pandemic for local
youth. She hosted a virtual camp. After recruiting a team of high-school
volunteers, she created pre-recorded instructional videos of fun, camp
activities. Then, in virtual meeting spaces like Zoom, children tuned-in
to have an interactive camp experience.
Gold Award Girl Scout Sophia sought out to improve awareness of bone marrow donation and increase the number of stem cell donors with her project, Building the Registry. Inspired by her own mother’s need for a stem cell transplant and the journey to find a matching donor, Sophia campaigned to encourage fellow students to attend a swabbing event and register as donors. Her “Be the Match” presentations resulted in bringing more than 65 people to the event.
Gold Award Girl Scout Sofia raised awareness of pediatric cancer with her Dunk Cancer project and 3K event. She worked to educate her community about pediatric cancer and advocacy with the help of Grace Eline, a cancer survivor from the WITH Grace Initiative. Sofia set up a table at the event where attendees could make cards for pediatric cancer warriors and their families and attach them to care packages. She was able to collect enough items to donate 149 care packages to five different hospitals. In addition, she created a how-to- manual for hosting awareness events, which the WITH Grace organization now has on its website.
Gold Award Girl Scout Sarah created the Girls Speak program, which focused on the importance of building girls’ confidence and public speaking skills. She created and presented a series of workshops for girls to help them learn how to find their voices and confidently use them. Sarah convened a panel of professional women who noted the importance of public speaking in their careers and offered advice on how girls could gain confidence in their abilities to use their voices. She used social media and developed a website to promote and support her efforts, and trained girls and women to present Girls Speak programs of their own.
Gold Award Girl Scout Sofia promoted the work she did toward earning her Girl Scout Gold Award on her college application and was awarded a full scholarship to Ohio State University to be part of a Women in STEM program. For her take-action project, she used social media (Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram) to reach hundreds of girls interested in STEM fields and created a social networking space for them with women engineering students from various universities and professional women engineers from corporations. The networking platform allowed young girls to have direct access to inspiring professionals and ask questions about careers in STEM.
Gold Award Girl Scout Emma experienced the challenges of being hard of hearing and communicating with others while wearing a mask during the pandemic. Masks present serious challenges to members of the Deaf and hard of hearing community by hindering the ability to lip read or gauge facial expressions. Masks also hinder voice projection, which makes it difficult for those with hearing impairments to understand clearly what is being communicated. As part of her take-action project, Emma created an awareness campaign to help make more people conscious of this issue. She educated school and healthcare personnel, conveying to them the need to slow down and be patient with the hearing impaired, and encouraging them to speak clearly and project as much as possible when wearing a mask. In addition, she worked to encourage the hearing-impaired population to advocate for themselves and make others aware that they are hearing impaired, as well as to use various communication tools for more effective communication.
Gold Award Girl Scout Ava conducted a First Communion outfit swap for her take-action project. She collected donations of Communion outfits from the parish of St. Vincent's Martyr and brought them to a parish in need in her community. These outfits will be used year after year for children to borrow them and use them for their special day. She is hopeful that this idea will continue to expand to other parishes in need.
Gold Award Girl Scout Hansa chose her project given her passion for culture, and cultural inclusion. As a first-generation American, she often experienced the feeling of exclusion since her culture differs from many of her peers. “As an Indian-American, I have been raised with the beauty of culture and diversity around me, and wanted to share this with my community.” Her One Love Project promotes cultural inclusion, primarily through a lesson plan that is currently being used for children in grades 3-5. Through this project, Hansa created a video featuring a dozen children from her town, who were willing to spread the message of the One Love Project. Hansa’s project has reached almost every classroom at Bogert Elementary School in Upper Saddle River, and is actively being taught to Girl Scout troops around her county.
Gold Award Girl Scout Casey was interested in exploring how children who receive Occupational Therapy have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown and lack of access to doctors’ appointments and therapy. Casey’s project was to create “take home” bags and a guidebook to support OT AT HOME for children and their parents. She worked with the Special Education Department at Clifton Public Schools to host a Make-and-Take activity night for OT patients and their parents.
Gold Award Girl Scout Ella focused her project on the dwindling number of native butterflies in her community. Addressing the issue of conservation, Ella reintroduced native plants that the local butterflies relied on, and distributed more of these plants to members of the community for planting in their own gardens.
Gold Award Girl Scout Alexa addressed mental health and wellness with her take-action project. With proven data supporting the positive impacts of the outdoors and daily exercise, she created a clean, safe hiking trail that anyone can hike to destress.
Gold Award Girl Scout Katherine focused her project on raising awareness of the importance of early childhood vision exams to improve the quality of life for children. Katherine experienced the loss of vision in one eye when she was a young child because she did not receive the necessary medical attention at an early age that would have saved her sight. Good eyesight and eye health are crucial to learning and to functionally well in all aspects of life. Her project involved reaching out to several news sources, pediatricians, preschools, social media, and social service agencies to inform parents that it is essential to bring their children to the eye doctor. The newspapers and social media alone reached over 30,000 households. Katherine also recruited several optometrists to host an all-day free eye clinic for children.
Gold Award Girl Scout Haley etched 50+ mirrors at her local elementary school to reflect positive words back at the students to help build up their self-esteem. This project was especially important during the global pandemic as students returning to school had faced variables that no one could have ever imagined.
Gold Award Girl Scout Eliza created an instructional and compelling video to teach others how to lobby local elected officials for change. The video, just under 30 minutes, includes interviews with troop members, elected officials, other local activists. Eliza’s troop had spent years lobbying for the plastic bag ban in New Jersey.
Gold Award Girl Scout Kaitlin’s environmental themed project focused on the alternatives to plastic bags along with negative effects of plastic bags. The theme was Educating, Providing, and Continuing. From creating educational materials and hosting virtual meetings to raising funds for reusable bags for the community, Kaitlin’s project made her community a greener place.
Gold Award Girl Scout Isabella created a Women in STEM Club at her high school as a way for students to combat the stereotype that women cannot work in STEM. To learn about STEM, the club members performed various experiments and interviewed women who currently work in STEM fields. Isabella documented the club's progress on its YouTube channel, STEMpowered, and Instagram to inspire other girls to explore STEM.
Gold Award Girl Scout Madeline’s project was made up of 3 different aspects: the creation of a Future Teachers Club, the establishment of a Future Teachers Academy, and adding an Education Track to Morristown High School's Career Night. Madeline created these three initiatives to support students as they pursue teaching and educate them on the career path.
Gold Award Girl Scout Bridget’s project centered around giving back to the arts in her community. With the help of various volunteers, her core project team performed a physical inventory of all the costume pieces, created a digital log, and developed a tracking system. The resulting inventory system will impact musicals and plays to come, as it will be simpler to find and maintain the things needed for productions, as well as track items that are loaned out to other neighboring schools and organizations.
