Girl Scout Wins Gold Award With Bethel History Video

BETHEL, CT -- A Bethel resident earned the prestigious Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' highest honor, and was presented with it at a ceremony at Town Hall on Friday. Rachel Salvador, 18, has been working toward that achievement from when she first joined the scouts in kindergarten.

Comparable to the Eagle Scout Award in Boy Scouts, the Gold Award is the culmination of a scout's career. Some universities offer scholarships unique to Gold Award recipients, and women who enlist in the U.S. armed forces may receive advanced rank in recognition of their achievement.

For Rachel, a self-professed history buff who loves working with children, the choice of her capstone project was inspired.

"I had this idea to work with the (Bethel) Historical Society," she told The Patch. "I know that at the elementary school they do a unit on the local history, and they do the tour, and I wanted to do something that would go along with that, and take it a bit further. So I made a film. I went into the Historical Society's archives, they have all these old photos, i picked out the photos I wanted, then I went to those areas today, and I took photos, and I paired them up with the old photos."

The result is "Connecting With History" (posted below), an eight minute and 15 second history of the town of Bethel that is as entertaining as it is informative.

The Girl Scouts of America weren't the only ones impressed. Rockwell Elementary School has added the video to its second grade curriculum.

Rachel graduated Bethel High School in 2017, and has just finished her first year at Vassar. She has not declared a major yet, but is leaning toward a STEM career. She credits her work in the scouts for giving her the foundation to succeed in just about anything.

"I think I learned a lot about responsibility and leadership from Girl Scouts, through this project, and through other projects, and getting all the badges, and selling all the cookies. It teaches you really valuable life lessons."

The only problem with earning something like the Gold Award is figuring out what comes next. When you have at last achieved the very pinnacle of an endeavor you have been pursuing since kindergarten, what do you do for an encore?

"I am a lifetime member of Girl Scouts now," Rachel said. "That means I am always going to be involved, and I hope to pay it forward. I plan on being a Girl Scout leader when I am older, and stay connected with the scouts.