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Local Girl Scouts Earn Top Awards

Jan 04, 2016 12:35PM ● By Julie Slama

By Julie Slama

South Jordan - Girl Scouting’s highest award is the Gold Award and can be earned by a girl in ninth through 12th grade. Nineteen girls across the state earned their Gold Awards. The Silver Award is earned by middle school-age girls and 114 Scouts earned that distinction. The Bronze Award is designed for fourth- and fifth-grade students and 374 girls earned that honor. Each award is based upon leadership, volunteer hours and a project that is sustainable that will improve the girls’ community. 

“Girls have hopes, ideas and dreams that when put into action can make an impact on society,” Girl Scouts of Utah Chief Executive Officer Janet Frasier said. “Girl Scouting’s highest awards provide a platform for girls to make a difference.”

Three South Jordan Scouts received the Gold Award. Kacy Christensen’s project, “Let Freedom Sing: The Musical,” involved working with youth to instill self-esteem through theater. She put together a musical theater program for her community, complete with auditions, rehearsals, script-writing, costumes and music. Her project will be sustained by teachers at her local elementary school who are interested in getting the songs and script so they can perform the show. She also posted the script and songs online. 

Tiffany Ferrel taught underprivileged children in Ecuador about oral hygiene for her Gold Award project. She went to clinics around Ecuador and helped kids with oral hygiene while giving them a take-away piece to teach their families. Her project will be sustained by Timmy Global Health. 

Kayla Lyman collected hundreds of books and traveled to Kenya to deliver them in person to the Sean Michael’s School, which serves children with disabilities. Her project will be sustained by the Student Occupational Therapy Association club who has agreed to collect books for the Sean Michel’s School as an annual service project.

Three local Girl Scouts earned their Silver Award, including Lora Huber and Weslee Kern, who provided supplies for students in Kliptown, South Africa. Lora gathered school supplies and donations of T-shirts and cleats from local soccer clubs for students while Weslee, who had helped at Kliptown School when her family vacationed in the area, realized they would need something better than plastic grocery bags to carry their supplies so she sewed and gathered 400 backpacks and bags for the school children. 

“It was really fun, knowing that every backpack we made was going to someone who needed it,” Weslee said. “I think that made collecting and working on them for all those hours completely worth it.”

Shelby Marie Steffensen helped homeless teens along the Wasatch Front by gathering supplies and making hygiene kits for them as her Silver project.

Fifteen South Jordan Girl Scouts earned their Bronze Award. Many of the Scouts helped at animal shelters, Tracy Aviary, and the Utah Humane Society while others made kits for an arts festival and helped children with disabilities.

The Bronze recipients include Sadee Adamson, Ellie Denbleyker, Sophie Grizzle, Shiloh Hancock, Kamille Hare, Alice Hegarty, Grace Hegarty, Amanda Johnson, Karyssa Kemp, Tierra Kunz, Alesandra Price, Megan Roth, Lexi Smith, Kenna Snell and Mercedes Stauffer.