​Troy High Student Earns Girl Scout Gold Award

Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan Honors Troy Resident with Prestigious Gold Award

DETROIT—Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM) is thrilled to honor Srishti Gowda, of Troy, with the highest award in Girl Scouts: the Girl Scout Gold Award. She is among 19 young women who have taken the initiative to bettering their communities through sustainable community change projects.

For her Gold Award Project, Gowda created an improved organ donation education toolkit in partnership with Gift of Life Michigan. That toolkit was be distributed to Driver’s Education schools throughout the state of Michigan. Because of her efforts, she made an impact on the 84,000 students that take Driver’s Education yearly in Michigan, by providing them with increased knowledge of organ donation. This included a student letter, a parent letter, Driver’s Ed teacher flyer, an online Kahoot quiz, and an informative flyer. Gowda also signed up more than 150 people on the organ donor registry, which benefits roughly 1200 lives—since one organ donor can save eight lives. She spoke to the Troy High student body and collaborated with her high school’s administration to foster effective organ donation education amongst the Troy High community.

“Because I had to balance school, extracurricular commitments, and make progress on my Gold Award, I developed a strong sense of time management and professional collaboration skills,” said Gowda. “I will carry the values I gained for the rest of my life.”

Chief executive officer of GSSEM, Denise Dalrymple, shared in her excitement.

“We couldn’t be happier to congratulate and honor our 2020 Gold Awardees,” said Denise Dalrymple, Chief Executive Officer of GSSEM. “These Girl Scouts are the brightest examples what Girl Scouting is about, inspiring girls to be leaders and change agents. This award is an honor for them, but truly we are the ones who are honored to support and promote these go-getters as they take bold steps and share their work with the world.”

The Gold Award is Girl Scout’s highest honor and is presented to Girl Scouts who address a community issue or problem they are passionate about. They’re required to spend a minimum of 80 hours investigating the problem, creating a plan, and implementing it. Some of the projects have reached beyond Michigan to national and international communities.

GSSEM has launched a social media campaign to highlight a Gold Award Girl Scout, running until June 5. The posts will detail the remarkable contribution each girl made to improve her community. Follow @GSSEM on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to join the digital recognition.

For a full list of Gold Award Girl Scouts and their projects visit gssem.org/honors2020.

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