Gold Award Spotlight: Bookshelves and Books

Norfolk Girl Scout Coriana has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Coriana built and stocked a library at the REACH (Reading Enriches All Children) office to aid in the distribution of books to homeless and at-risk youth. She began her project by hosting book drives in her community, including at her school and church. Once she collected the books, she created a digital catalog to keep track of the books in the library. She then built and painted three bookshelves that she installed at REACH to hold the new books. Coriana also decorated bags for children to use to check out the books.

“I love to read and wanted to inspire others to read as well,” Coriana said. “Through my project, I hoped to raise awareness about how many children are deprived of reading because they do not have access to books.”

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