Karina Olsen of Wilton Receives Highest National Girl Scout Honor

June 4, 2012— Karina Olsen of Wilton has earned her 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.

Karina’s Gold Award project, “The Neighborhood Garden,” was a vegetable garden she built at her town’s local teen center, which grew ten different vegetables. These vegetables were donated to her town’s local food pantry. She also created bulletin boards with recipes for anyone to use. Karina organized a committee that would take over the care of the garden. She is studying education at Principia College.

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 will also receive 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.