Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont is pleased to announce that Payton Velligan, Denver, has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting.
Velligan, daughter of Chris and Michele Velligan and a member of Girl Scout Troop 20958, focused her project on single-use material waste and pollution. She worked in partnership with Keep Lincoln County Beautiful and gave presentations to local elementary schools, designed and purchased a recycling receptacle for a local park and organized a community clean-up event.
By earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, Velligan has become a community leader. Her accomplishments reflect leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart.
“Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award designation is truly a remarkable achievement, and this young woman exemplifies leadership in all its forms,” said Lane Cook, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont. “She saw a need in her community and took action. Her extraordinary dedication, perseverance and leadership is making the world a better place.”
The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, recognizing girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects. After the minimum requirements are completed, the Gold Award project is the culmination of a girl’s demonstration of self-discipline, leadership ability, time management, creativity, initiative and a significant mastery of skills. Each girl must dedicate a minimum of 80 hours to planning and implementing her project, which must benefit the community and have long lasting impact. Since 1916, girls have successfully answered the call to go gold, an act that indelibly marks them as accomplished members of their communities and the world.
Some universities and colleges offer scholarships unique to Gold Award recipients, and girls who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive advanced rank in recognition of their achievements.
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