Aubrey Jones of Girl Scout Troop 02473 in Guilford County has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award for a community leadership and service project that provides mental stimulation for residents at a local retirement home.
Aiming to address cognitive health and daily well-being, the Girl Scout Ambassador created a mobile library cart for her project, “Mobile Book Library at Countryside Retirement Community,” to address the lack of accessible reading materials and mental stimulation for elderly residents in long-term care.
“I wished to provide residents with a variety of books and craft materials to give them mental stimulation and enhance their daily lives and activities,” said Aubrey Jones, a Girl Scout of 13 years. “I was able to serve the residents at the nursing home by bringing the book cart around to different rooms and offering many different activities for residents to complete.”
Aubrey assembled a book cart filled with hundreds of large-print books, magazines, audiobooks, picture books and homemade bookmarks to be wheeled around to different rooms for residents. Employees and volunteers were taught how to function the cart as well as the donation box to ensure that residents will continue to have access to these resources.
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 Scout must dedicate a minimum of 80 hours to planning and carrying out their 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.
“Having no books or other mental activities will oftentimes lead to negative effects on elderly individuals’ daily lives,” said the Gold Award Girl Scout. “My book cart was an effort I made to eradicate this issue locally and give easy-to-access books to those who need it directly so that they can keep a healthy body and mind.”
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 2025, 30 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.
