Gold Award Spotlight: Sports Safety

Girl Scout Ambassador Margaret from Chesapeake has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Margaret focused on the increased number of sports-related injuries among young athletes. In order to educate the public about this issue, as well as help prevent future injuries, Margaret hosted three workshops at two Chesapeake Montessori schools and held clinics at local sports tournaments at Virginia Wesleyan College. She also created an interactive presentation about the issue that she presented at the Greenbrier YMCA’s Healthy Kids Expo. Through these events, she was able to reach a wide variety of people and spread the word about preventing and recognizing sports injuries.

“I chose this project because I have aspirations to become a physical or occupational therapist where I would encounter many sports-related injuries that are similar to the ones I researched during my project,” Margaret said.

Margaret also created brochures that include statistics, facts and tips on sports injury prevention and recognition, which she placed at the Chesapeake Central Library and the Great Bridge Recreation Center to reach even more members of the community.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Margaret to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.