Several local Girl Scouts earned their Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, which is the result of many months of work addressing areas of critical need throughout Greater Los Angeles and beyond. In total, 239 young women in the greater Los Angeles area earned their 239 Girl Scout Gold Award.

Among those who earned their Gold Award was Kyra Aitelli. Her Gold Award Project addressed the issue of an outdated and obsolete Children’s Library at La Cañada Presbyterian Church. She organized the books, purchased more current Christian early reader and chapter books, and created a computer checkout system that will enable the library to track the books and videos easier. She also created a Parent Education section in the library to attract parents as well as children.

Shahzareh Ali’s project, “Building and Sewing Skills for Mental Health & Entrepreneurship” was a Gold Award Project that helped her community by addressing the lack of creative outlets for low income and homeless populations, the lack of opportunities to learn productive skills such as sewing, and how to monetize these skills. She led a series of workshops at Ascencia, a homeless shelter in Glendale, and taught clients and staff how to sew and profit from their creations through online platforms. Considering COVID restrictions, she utilized both in-person and online teaching methods to reach as many people as she could.

Xiomara Chen-Marquez preserved the historical achievements and landmarks of the La Cañada Thursday Club for her Gold Award Project. By sorting, scanning, digitizing and archiving photos and newspaper articles from the 1950s until now, she helped keep memories from the past alive.

The project by Eleni Menemenlis, “Masks for COVID-19 and Beyond,” addressed the issue of PPE shortages at the beginning of the pandemic by repairing one-thousand N-95 masks for doctors at the Verdugo Hills Hospital and teaching her troop mates how to sew masks. She made videos on how to use a sewing machine and she sewed 100 daily-use masks for doctors at the hospital that included instructions so that they could make more.

According to GSGLA leadership the 239 girls provided more than 19,120 hours of service through the development and execution of projects of sustainable impact. The projects addressed a need, provided support, found solutions and inspired communities.

Girl Scouts who want to get involved and earn their Gold Award get a team of trusted adults and leaders in their community to guide them through challenges and lead them to success, step-by-step. Earning the Gold Award requires spending at least 80 hours planning and implementing a challenging, large-scale project that is innovative, engages others and has a lasting impact on its targeted community.

The award recognizes senior and ambassador Girl Scouts, girls in grades nine-12, for outstanding accomplishments in leadership, community service, career planning and personal development. Nationwide, only 6% of all eligible Girl Scouts achieve the Gold Award. Girls who earn their Girl Scout Gold Award automatically enter the military one rank higher, qualify for college scholarships and are eligible for additional national service awards.

To see a complete list of Girl Scout Gold Award recipients, visit www.girlscoutsla.org/goldaward.