Gold Award Spotlight: Butterflies and Books

Girl Scout Senior Emilia from Seaford has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement. Emilia learned that children who are independent readers perform better academically and are more successful in life than their peers who do not read independently. For her project, Emilia focused on encouraging students at Seaford Elementary School to become lifelong readers with the hope that it would also lead them to success in the future.

To begin her project, Emilia surveyed the students at Seaford Elementary School to learn about what books they enjoy reading. Using this information, she developed a mural design, and since the school has a butterfly garden, also included butterflies in the design. During the summer, Emilia painted the mural inside the school and finished it in time for school to start this fall.

“I chose this project because I have always loved art and saw it as a way for me to spread word about the importance of literacy,” Emilia said. “Through my project I showed the students at Seaford Elementary School the possibilities that reading can offer them.”

Once the school year started, Emilia made presentations about the mural and its message of universal literacy to students, teachers and administrators at the school. She also talked about the process of transforming a sketch and mural design into a large mural.

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 Emilia to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.