The Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently distributed 101 Gold Awards, including one to Caroline Pierno of Oyster Bay, at an event hosted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
Now in its 100th year, the Gold Award program recognizes the power and dedication shared by an elite group of young women who earn the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Pierno spent more than 80 hours over the past year planning, executing and presenting the results of her project, which aimed to make the world a better place for others as well as herself.
“We are extremely proud to celebrate the achievement of over 100 local young women earning their Girl Scout Gold Award during its 100th year,” said Donna Ceravolo, executive director and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “On average, only 5 percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award, making Pierno part of an exclusive group of women with the tools to become leaders in the twenty first century.”
Pierno’s Gold Award project, “Eat, Live, Love,” educated her peers and elementary students on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. She organized and ran a sports night for her peers at her high school and facilitated a weekly discussion group about healthy eating. Pierno also wanted to impart this information to a younger audience. To do this, she held workshops for fifth-grade students, giving them lessons on the importance of creating good, healthy habits while breaking bad ones. In order to inspire others outside of those who attended her programs, she created posters and pamphlets to hand out to her community.
Since 1916, Girl Scouts have been honored for undertaking projects that improved their communities. While the name of the award has changed several times over the years, from the Golden Eaglet Insignia, to the Curved Bar Award, to the First Class Award, and now the Gold Award, Girl Scout officials say the goal behind it has never waivered: to encourage girls to “find the greatness inside themselves and share their ideas and passions with their communities.”
Approximately 1 million Girl Scout alumnae have developed Gold Award projects that addressed local or global issues. After identifying an area of interest, a successful Gold Award recipient performs hours of research and prepares a project proposal to be submitted for feedback and approval to the Girl Scouts Council before embarking on her project. The Girl Scout presents her final conclusions as the last step of the journey.
According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, Gold Award recipients display more positive life outcomes pertaining to sense of self, life, satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service and civic engagement. Recipients of the award who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive advanced rank for their achievements and can receive scholarships or other recognition from most colleges or universities.
Notable Gold Award recipients include Jan Hopkins, CNN financial news anchor, and Betsy Boze, senior fellow at American Association of State Colleges and Universities and president at Kent State University Stark.
To volunteer, reconnect, donate or join, visit www.gsnc.org or contact Donna Rivera-Downey at 516-741-2550.
—With Reporting by Charlotte Murphy
