Oceanside Scouts Awarded Highest Honor

Oceanside, NY (July 9, 2018)—Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently hosted its annual Gold Award ceremony at Adelphi University. During the event, more than 70 local Girl Scouts earned their Gold Awards, including Heather Brody, Skye Margies and Rebecca Richter of Oceanside. The Gold Award program recognizes the power and dedication shared by an elite group of young women who earn the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Each girl spent more than 80 hours over the past year planning, executing and presenting the results of her project, which aimed to make the world a better place for others as well as herself.

“These young women are among an exclusive group of leaders who have earned the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. I commend each and every one of them for the countless hours they have spent dedicated to their project—not only to empower and better themselves, but to make the world a better place,” said Rande Bynum, Chief Executive Officer, Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “Gold Award projects have positively impacted girls’ lives, their communities and the world for over one hundred years.”

The Gold Award Girl Scouts each tackled a project that held a deep significance to them. Their projects are described below.

Heather’s project strove to raise awareness about how to resuscitate a choking victim, especially in school cafeterias. The invention of a new resuscitation tool for chocking victims, LifeVac, inspired her to educate her community members and local schools on its importance. Heather held informational sessions in her community and created a petition that received over two hundred signatures, which would require all schools to have LifeVac in the event of an emergency. Her YouTube video shows how the LifeVac works and its life-saving benefits. The LifeVac has saved eleven lives and Heather’s campaign continues to raise awareness.

Heather is a recent graduate of Oceanside High School where she was a member of the Math Honor, Art Honor and National Honor Societies. Heather will be attending Marist College’s honors program in the fall. Her fondest Girl Scout memory is learning archery and spending time with friends.

Skye wanted to empower young women and help boost their self-esteem through her project, “Confidence is Happiness.” Knowing that confidence in girls drops during puberty, Skye wanted to create a program that would help girls find their confidence. She met with three different groups of various aged girls, helping them complete group activities and exercises to help boost their self-esteem. Skye created a website where Girl Scout troops and teachers can access the materials and activities.

Skye is a recent graduate of Oceanside High School where she was a member of the National Music Honor Society and Key Club. Outside of school, Skye was an avid dancer, attending classes since she was two years old. Skye will be attending SUNY Purchase this fall to study photography. Her fondest Girl Scout memory is going to A La Carte Cooking School to prepare a three-course meal for her troop and leaders.

Rebecca educated the teens and children in her community about the importance of being safe on social media through her project “Social Media Me.” Rebecca developed workshops that educated attendees on how to safely use social media as well as the importance of not letting social media define who you are. Rebecca helped show the teens and children in her community that being yourself is more important than comparing yourself to others. All the materials are available on her social media page.

A recent graduate of Oceanside High School, Rebecca was a member of the National Honor Society and active member of the color guard. . Rebecca will attend Stony Brook University as a Health Science major and plans on becoming a Dermatologist. Her fondest Girl Scout memory was earning all her badges and exploring new interests.

Approximately 1 million Girl Scout alumnae have developed Gold Award projects that addressed local or global issues. After identifying an area of interest, a successful Gold Award recipient performs hours of research and prepares a project proposal to be submitted for feedback and approval to the Girl Scout Council before embarking on her project. The Girl Scout presents her final conclusions as the last step of the journey.

Lifelong value comes with having earned a Gold Award. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, Gold Award Girl Scouts display more positive life outcomes pertaining to sense of self, life, satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service and civic engagement. Recipients of the award who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive advanced rank for their achievements and can receive scholarships or other recognition from most colleges or universities.

We’re the Girl Scouts of Nassau County: We’re 23,000 strong – 17,900 girls and 5,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ from Nassau County to change the world. Our extraordinary journey began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low. On March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, she organized the very first Girl Scout Troop, and every year since we’ve honored her vision and legacy, building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. We’re the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. And with programs in Nassau County, across Long Island and throughout the United States and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success.

We’re the Girl Scouts. To volunteer, reconnect, donate or join, visit www.gsnc.org or contact Donna Rivera-Downey at 516 741-2550.