SANTA MONICA—The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, have four Santa Monica residents, Phoebe Abramowitz, Emma Kohut, Mirai Miura and Kaitlyn Pastoriza-Plukas who joined 270 other greater Los Angeles Girl Scouts to receive the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award on Saturday, June 6 at the Gold Award Ceremony inside Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
“In Girl Scouts, girls don’t just talk about change — they step up and take action to make the world a better place on a personal, community, state, national, or international level,” said Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles Chief Executive Officer Lise L. Luttgens. “We are so very proud of these 274 remarkable young women and are amazed by their ambition, commitment, and good will. They have made the world a better place.”
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts may earn. Earning the Gold Award requires a suggested 80 hours of planning and implementing a challenging, large-scale project that is innovative, engages others, and has a lasting impact on its targeted community with an emphasis on sustainability.
Since 1916, Girl Scout’s highest award has stood for excellence and leadership among those who earn it. Gold Award recipients join the ranks of generations of young women who have made a difference in their communities and beyond.
Nationally, only six percent of all eligible Girl Scouts achieve the Gold Award. Out of 112 Girl Scout councils, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) has the highest number of girls reaching Gold.
Girls who earn the Gold Award automatically enter the military one rank higher, and qualify for college scholarships, additional national service awards, and more. As a Gold Awardee, the participants are part of an elite group of women; the Gold Award — formerly called the Golden Eaglet, Curved Bar, and First Class — was established in 1916, four years after Girl Scouts was established in the U.S.
In greater Los Angeles today, Gold Award projects are as diverse as the membership GSGLA serves.
This year, one girl restored the LAX Coastal Dunes by removing non-native plants; another traveled to Peru to deliver dental care packages and teach good oral hygiene to children; and another girl created STEM curriculum for elementary school girls, which will be duplicated by Girl Scout staff at summer camps.
GSGLA serves over 40,000 girls in grades K-12. Its organization is inclusive of girls regardless of their economic background.
