Girl Scout Ambassador earns Gold Award

Megan Woody of Girl Scout Ambassador Troop 4478 earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award this year. The Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout can earn. It is earned by completing at least 80 hours on a project of lasting impact. Less than 5% of all Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award.

The goal of the project was to encourage and empower young readers through a literacy program that exposed girls and teens to read books with strong and empowering female characters.

Megan stated, “One of the big factors for my increase in self-esteem was reading about powerful young girls in books. I related to them and seeing them accomplishing so many goals stuck with me. Many girls do not read books with empowering female characters, or they don’t read much at all. I wanted to make a difference in solving the issue of girls’ self-esteem and sense of empowerment by encouraging literacy that will empower them, the way that books empowered me.”

In executing this project, Megan created a website with a guide to free virtual reading to make books more accessible, especially during the pandemic. The website also included a list of engaging activities for girls to participate after they completed reading a book.

Megan also hosted a monthly book club (7 in total) in which she encouraged girls to present a creative activity based on the book being discussed. The book club promoted critical and analytical thinking as they discussed various aspects of the book while also helping to create connections between the girls. In all, 27 girls participated in the project. Some of the girls helped Megan with website design ideas and book ideas.

Want to learn more about the great things that girls can do as Girl Scouts? Interested in joining? Check out our Council’s website at: https://www.gscnc.org/en/about-girl-scouts/who-we-are.html