Gold Award Spotlight: Destination Pollination

Girl Scout Senior Emma has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouts.

Emma wanted to start a buzz in her community about the decline in the bee population. With the help of the Tidewater Beekeeper Association (TBA), she was able to raise awareness for bee sustainability in Chesapeake through her project, “Destination: Pollination.”

“My project addressed the decline of the bee population at a local level. The impact was in direct support of the bees in Chesapeake, Virginia. When bees are supported locally, it contributes to the overall bee population in the greater bee ecosystem,” she said.

With the help of over 100 hours of hard work and generous donations from the community, Emma was able to complete her mission. While working with TBA, Emma created a pollinator garden for the more than 10 beehives on TBA’s property. The garden serves as a way to teach people about the importance of bees in the environment and provide easy access for the bees to pollinate their ecosystem.

In addition to the garden, Emma created a brochure with TBA to raise awareness, presented to members of her community, made organizational and community connections, and created an online petition which connected more than 15,000 social media accounts worldwide to more information about her project.

“In an effort to address a declining bee population in my community, the impact reverberated throughout the nation and the world. By providing pollination opportunities in Chesapeake, it strengthens the system. This strengthening is two-fold. First, stronger and healthier bees locally support regional systems, which support the national systems, which then supports the bee population worldwide. I also connected through the National Wildlife Federation and was able to get this project certified by them,” she said.