girl scouts of the colonial coast
Congratulations to Gold Award Girl Scout Olivia from Moyock,
North Carolina! She has earned the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in
Girl Scouts – the Gold Award. Olivia is a rising junior at JP Knapp Early College
and the daughter of Katherine and John McDonald.
After noticing a need for an all-girl safe space in her
community, much like the one Girl Scouts has provided her with, Olivia decided
to create a “Women’s Empowerment Club” for her Gold Award project. The club
members, made up of girls at her school, became pen pals with girls at a local
elementary school which allowed them to send empowering communication messages
on topics such as bullying prevention. By being pen pals with the younger
girls, Olivia and her friends became positive role models.
Along with implementing the pen pal activity, Olivia also
organized a women’s empowerment event that included meditation, self-defense
and other improvement activities.
“The most successful aspect of my project was creating a
safe place for students,” she explained. “I noticed that during our meetings,
students felt much more comfortable talking about their struggles with certain
issues.”
Olivia’s project will be sustained through the school with
organized positions available for club members.
