3 Berlin Girls Receive Highest National Girl Scout Honor

June 6, 2012— Vivian Carlson, Blayne D. Michalski, and Natalie Von Achen of Berlin have all earned their Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

In order to earn the Gold Award, Senior and Ambassador level Girl Scouts between the ages of 14-17 spend at least 80 hours researching issues, assessing community needs and resources, building a team, and making a sustainable impact in their community. Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award is a major accomplishment in a girl’s life and a powerful example of how Girl Scouting helps girls develop the courage, confidence, and character to be successful leaders today and in the future.

Vivian Carlson’s Gold Award project was “The Healthy Vegetarian,” a cookbook for vegetarian teenagers and their families. The book contained a guide to eating healthy with some healthy recipe ideas. She also started a vegetarian club, incorporating a cooking demonstration of one of her recipes. Her cookbook and ideas for meetings will be continued by the club. Vivian studies photography at Parsons The New School for Design.

Blayne D. Michalski enhanced YMCA-Camp Thundermoon’s outdoor activities offerings by developing outdoor exercise activities as well as addressing recycling for the benefit of the community. The site was in need of outdoor activities for campers, which Blayne developed and provided for camp attendees. Her project will be a part of the YMCA-Camp Thundermoon community for years to come. She is studying applied mathematics and statistics at Bryant University.

Natalie Von Achen created a “memorial booklet,” which contains locations, inscriptions, and pictures of memorial trees, benches, and rocks around the town of Berlin. She meticulously logged all of these locations and designed the booklet. This booklet allows people to find memorials around that had not previously been documented and will continue to help town residents find what they’re looking for. Natalie is studying chemical engineering at the University of Connecticut.

An award with national standards, the Girl Scout Gold Award represents an individual’s accomplishments, leadership, commitment, creativity and personal effort contributed to making their community a better place to live. This year, 57 young women from around the state earned their Gold Award. Many of the awardees attended a special ceremony on June 3 at Saint Joseph College to receive their certificates from Girl Scouts of Connecticut and Girl Scouts of the USA, as well as a congratulatory letter from Girl Scouts of Connecticut CEO, Jennifer Smith Turner. The Gold Scouts also received certificates or letters from Governor Dannel P. Malloy, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, the Connecticut Marine Corps League Auxiliary, and Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed fraternity.

For more information about the Gold Award and Girl Scouts of Connecticut, please visit us at www.gsofct.org.