KATY, TX (Mar. 22, 2018) – According to the Girl Scout Research Institute’s (GSRI) report, The Power of the Girl Scout Gold Award: Excellence in Leadership and Life, Gold Award Girl Scouts receive greater lifetime benefits than their peers with regard to positive sense of self, life satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service and civic engagement thanks to their experience in Girl Scouting, including earning their Gold Award.
Photo Caption [CarmenGarza/Elizabeth Holland]: Carmen Garza and Elizabeth Holland, seniors at Tompkins High School, have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award. To earn the award, Garza with help from nine volunteers she recruited, painted and decorated the Special Pals shelter on Greenhouse in Katy to make the environment more welcoming for customers wanting to adopt. She also created brochures with information about adopting a pet and what new owners can expect. Holland created a digital training presentation that combines PowerPoint with embedded videos and photos to address questions and topics for new managers of Destination ImagiNation (DI) teams. Holland has been a part of the non-profit organization that promotes creative problem solving since fourth grade. Her team qualified for Global Finals six times and she used her Gold Award project to share her experience and best practices with younger, rising teams. To learn more about the Girl Scout Gold Award, visit www.gssjc.org/goldaward.
Carmen Garza and Elizabeth Holland, both seniors at Tompkins High School, have become Gold Award Girl Scouts. The honor recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable community service projects that require a minimum of 80 hours to complete. Less than five percent of Girl Scouts earn the award.
To earn the award, Garza with help from nine volunteers she recruited, painted and decorated the Special Pals shelter on Greenhouse in Katy to make the environment more welcoming for customers wanting to adopt. She also created brochures with information about adopting a pet and what new owners can expect.
“I have always been an animal lover, and if doing this project meant that abandoned animals would get a home, then this was the project for me,” said Garza.
Holland created a digital training presentation that combined PowerPoint with embedded videos and photos to address questions and topics for new managers of Destination ImagiNation (DI) teams. DI is a nonprofit organization that promotes creative problem-solving skills. Each year, DI publishes international challenges that are solved by students who then present their solutions at regional, state and international tournaments. Holland has participated in DI since the fourth grade. In fifth grade, her team was the first elementary team in Katy to qualify for Global Finals. Since then, her team has returned to Global Finals five additional times. It was only natural that Holland chose to help younger, rising teams develop skills needed to succeed at DI as her Gold Award project.
“My project gave me the opportunity to gain leadership skills while leaving Katy ISD with something that will have a positive impact on the students who live here,” said Holland. “This really allowed me to use the eight years of experience I had on a successful DI team to benefit the hundreds of future Destination ImagiNationers in Katy ISD.”
Garza aspires to study kinesiology at a four-year college and work as a pediatric physical therapist. Holland will attend college and major in biology.
To learn more about the Girl Scout Gold Award, visit www.gssjc.org/goldaward.
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We’re 2.6 million strong—1.8 million girls and 800,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ to change the world. Chartered by GSUSA to provide Girl Scouting locally, Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council, a United Way agency, is one of the largest Girl Scout councils in the country serving more than 56,000 girl members and 17,000 adults in 26 southeast Texas counties. For more information, call 1-800-392-4340 or visit www.gssjc.org.