9 October 2008
GSUSA Young Women of Distinction
Posted by admin under: recognition .
I had heard that the honorees already knew who they were, but we didn’t so I asked GSUSA who all of the 2008 Young Women of Distinction were and I was told that a press release was coming out. Well, here it is!
Girl Scouts of the USA has named America’s top ten Girl Scout Gold Award recipients as its 2008 National Young Women of Distinction for extraordinary leadership demonstrated through their remarkable community action projects. The Girl Scout Gold Award, Girl Scouting’s highest achievement, is earned by five to six percent of Girl Scouts ages 14-18.
The 2008 National Young Women of Distinction will be honored on Oct. 31 at the 2008 Girl Scout National Council Session/51st Convention in Indianapolis—the theme of which is “Girl Scouts Can Lead Anywhere.” Among the 2008 honorees are a Delaware girl who taught younger girls to believe in themselves through hands-on experience in robotics, a Wisconsin Girl Scout who raised over $12,000 for needy students in Mexico, and a young woman from Colorado who honored a friend and shed light on a significant and tragic issue, suicide, facing teenagers today.
“The 2008 National Young Women of Distinction are outstanding examples of the kind of leadership Girl Scouts are capable of,” says Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. “By the courage, confidence and character they display, these young women make it abundantly clear that Girl Scouts truly can lead anywhere.”
Girl Scouts of the USA and an external committee comprised of professional women selected the 2008 National Young Women of Distinction from a pool of a hundred applicants who had already earned the Girl Scout Gold Award. Each honoree has spent one to two years on a community action project that has far-reaching effects in her community and beyond.
The press release goes on to list the girls and includes a little background and a picture of these outstanding citizens of America. Briefly, the YMoD’s are: Abbe from the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, Carla from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, Emma from the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, Erin from the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council, Jenni from the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council, Natalia from the Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council, Sarah from the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes, Shannon from the Girl Scouts of Colorado, Sohini from the Girl Scouts of Central Texas, and Whitney from the Girl Scouts Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
Click on the link above if you’d like to see the full press release from the GSUSA. Congratulations to the most outstanding Gold Award recipients of the past year!
- University of Evansville Loves Scouts
- Wilmington Willpower
- GSUSA Green
- Be Distinct Next Year for Your Gold Award in This One
- Sunday’s Golden Girls (delayed) – 10/5/2008
4 Comments so far...
Smoky Scout Says:
9 October 2008 at 1:19 pm.
As a member of the Gold Committee at my Council who constantly deals with the issue of girls raising funds, I am curious as to how one of these recipients raised $12,000 for needy students in Mexico. It has been our understanding that girls can ask for donations of stuff but not of cash. Hmmm…
LauraB Says:
9 October 2008 at 6:24 pm.
True, and as GS you aren’t supposed to be able to raise money for an outside organization or cause. Safety Wise, page 76, Chapter 6, Program Standard 33 states: “Girl Scouts, in their Girl Scout capacities, may not solicit money for other organizations. Girl members may support other organizations through service projects or a donation from their group treasury.”
Also, as a Gold Award recipient, I dislike the “Women of Distinction” program. I do not think the National Council should declare any Gold Award “better” than any other – it’s the same award! Scholarships sponsored by private organizations are their own matter.
admin Says:
9 October 2008 at 6:35 pm.
I agree that all Gold Award recipients are equal in rank, but I like highlighting some just because it brings the Gold Award more recognition for the public who mostly still don’t know that it exists. It’s one of the reasons why I want to keep highlighting it here.
I unfortunately know first hand about the money raising thing. One my Girl Scouts wanted to do a walk for cancer as her Bronze Award project thinking most of the awareness that it would bring to the event, but was turned down by the council because it was mainly getting people to sponsor her and therefore she was earning money for their organization. She still did that, but didn’t get any Girl Scout recognition for it. Instead, she added to her effort and became a volunteer to help set-up the event and hand out things to the participants which allowed her to be recognized for her non-monetary contribution with a Bronze Award. As a leader we keep finding out ways to work within the system to let our girls achieve their goals.
I keep assuming that the girl recognized for the Mexico fundraising must have purchased things for someone with the twelve grand. Otherwise, she couldn’t even earn her Gold Award much less be further recognized. Maybe it was just a poorly worded part of the press release. Hey, I know. I’ll send an e-mail to Michelle. She never got back to me after saying they needed a little more time to get out the press release, but maybe she can answer this question now that they don’t have to work on it.
LauraB Says:
10 October 2008 at 4:45 pm.
…and collected nearly $12,000 in monetary and supply donations to provide backpacks, sports equipment and school supplies for nearly 2,000 Citlaltepec students.”
So I guess somewhat poorly worded. I think there’s a loophole around the fact that so long as she never directly asked for money she’s okay. I mean, if she was asking for notebooks, let’s say, and the store or person instead donated $500 for her to go purchase notebooks, that would be okay, to my understanding. She didn’t ask for money, but it was offered to her. Looks more like the $12000 is referring to dollar value of the supplies, but it also seems there was some cash involved.
