Friday, May 8, 2015

Gold Award Spotlight: Heart Healthy Habitat

Girl Scout Ambassador Brooke from Poquoson has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

Being healthy and fit is a big part of Brooke’s life, so for her Gold Award project, she decided to address the importance of daily exercise by developing a fitness trail at the new and developing Paradise Creek Nature Park in Portsmouth. She installed signs around the park that give instructions about a different exercise that people can do while walking and running on the trails. She also created a fitness map that is available at the park entrance for people to use on the trail and also provides information about fitness.

Brooke installing fitness information at
Paradise Creek Nature Park.
After she added the fitness information to the park, Brooke started a fitness group that meets regularly at the park to exercise. Members of the group set fitness goals and work together to achieve them.

“Through my project, I did my best to influence the younger generation to start a healthy life early on,” Brooke said. “In the process of my project, I saw changes in kids’ outlooks on the meaning of health and how fun it can be to exercise outside in such a beautiful place.”

Brooke also used her project to help bring attention and attract visitors to the new Paradise Creek Nature Park. She advertised her improvements to the park and invited community members to join the fitness group so that more people could learn about and enjoy the park.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in the 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 Brooke to an elite group of females across the country with the honor.