Callie Lippard of Girl Scout Troop 12948 in Burke County has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award for a community leadership and service project that addresses the declining pollinator populations through education.
To spread awareness of the importance of pollinators in the ecosystem and inform community members on how they can help these populations, the Girl Scout Senior partnered with St. Mary’s and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Morganton for her Gold Award project, “Protecting Pollinators,” and installed an educational pollinator garden beside the church’s vegetable garden.
“My project benefits the pollinators as well as the people who visit my garden because they will most likely learn something new or feel compelled to do something to support pollinators, such as growing flowers,” said Lippard, a Girl Scout of 11 years. “My goal was to inform others about the fact that pollinator populations are declining, to show them that pollinators provide a lot for us and we need to do all we can to support their populations.”
The garden includes a variety of flowers that are beneficial to species like bees, butterflies and birds with QR codes that lead visitors to a website Callie designed with more information on the plants. She hosted a luncheon at the church with only food and drinks provided by pollinators to demonstrate their importance to the food industry along with educational handouts detailing the many foods and drinks that pollinators make possible.
Girls in high school can earn the Girl Scout Gold Award by creating sustainable change on a community or world issue. They address the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions to drive change and lead a team of people to success. Each girl must dedicate a minimum of 80 hours to planning and carrying out her project that benefits the community and has a long-lasting impact.
Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they are the leaders our community and world need, and those from the Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont (GSCP2P) council have created community gardens, addressed issues in foster care, combated bullying in schools and so much more.
This Gold Award is sustained past Callie’s involvement as the church’s garden club will maintain the area. The Girl Scout said, “Pollinators are essential for human survival, and by making this garden, I have contributed to the growth and continuity of pollinators.
Thousands of Girl Scouts across the country earn the Girl Scout Gold Award
each year, which first began in 1916 as the Golden Eaglet. Earning the Gold
Award opens doors to scholarships, preferred admission tracks for college
and amazing career opportunities. In 2024, 40 GSCP2P Girl Scouts earned
their Gold Award.
To learn more about earning a Girl Scout Gold Award, visit https://www.girlscoutsp2p.org/en/members/for-girl-scouts/badges-journeys-awards/highest-awards/gold-award.html.
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