Girl Scouts of North East Ohio honored 59 Gold Award recipients last month at the John S. Knight Center in Akron.



The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador may earn. The project challenges girls to identify an unmet need or core issue in their community, research and investigate it, recruit volunteers and build a team to create a plan to address the issue or need.



The Gold Award projects touched many institutions in the community — from elementary schools receiving STEM resources to houses of worship getting improvements to their buildings to animals receiving new habitats, stated M. Jane Christyson and Laura Watson Schultz, Esq., in a joint letter included in the program notes at the ceremony.



"Girl Scouts are creating and implementing many incredible Take Action projects in order to effect meaningful and sustainable change to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting," the joint letter stated.



"For over a century, girls who have earned this distinction have shown that they are not only enterprising and engaged young women, but are courageous leaders and visionary change makers. This prestigious award is earned by only five percent of eligible Seniors and Ambassadors nationwide."



Two of the Gold Award winners are graduates of Nordonia High.



June Guy of Northfield; Scrap the Stereotype — She has been a Girl Scout for 13 years. She has earned the Girl Scout Program Aide and Volunteer in Training pins.



She is a membership delegate for her Girl Scout Service Unit and represented Girl Scouts of North East Ohio at the Girl Scout National Convention 2017. June received the Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship from Girl Scouts of North East Ohio at the Women of Distinction event.



For her Gold Award project, she set out to bring awareness of the Cleveland Scrappers, the local beep baseball team. Beep Baseball is a sport designed for the blind. First, June came up with a team agreement and team-building exercise to reunite the team. She wanted the team to have a strong foundation before promoting them. June then designed fliers advertising the team to both potential fans and sponsors.



After advertising the team, she brought the squad into her community for more opportunities to reach new fans. She organized an adapted version of the game to be played against the coaches from the Nordonia Hills Athletic Association.



June created a good sportsmanship five-station rotation that local Girl Scouts could participate in after the game, earning their good sportsmanship badge in the process. With the combination of her efforts, the Cleveland Scrappers gained fans around the area.



June enjoys listening to music, reading, writing mini-stories, and painting. She willattend Cuyahoga Community College this fall.



Kendra Lippincott of Sagamore Hills; Nordonia Infinity Cheer — She has been a Girl Scout for 13 years. She was inspired to earn the Gold Award when she saw differently-abled students who wanted to participate in extracurricular events but were unable because of physical barriers.



She came up with the idea of starting a local cheerleading club — Infinity Cheer — that allows all students to participate in a supportive environment. Kendra put together a team to take on training and support for these cheerleaders.



She also designed shirts, helping to create a sense of team unity. Kendra’s efforts greatly improved community among the student body. It gave the students involved a sense of pride and belonging. She attends Grand Valley State University.

