Community Corner
Katie Skeeles of Hamden Earns Girl Scout Gold Award
Katie Skeeles of Hamden has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting. In order to earn the Gold Award, Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts between the grades of 9-12 spend at least 80 hours researching issues, assessing community needs and resources, building a team, and making a sustainable impact in the community. A Gold Award recipient’s accomplishments reflect leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart as a community leader. Katie created an anti-bullying club at her high school. The club met once a month to participate in anti-bullying skits and create a personal collage on what anti-bullying meant to each individual. In addition, Katie designed and presented an anti-bullying curriculum geared towards grades 3 through 5, sharing with 35 campers at a local camp over a three-day period. The club still meets at her school once per month. She is studying interior design at the Wentworth Institute of Technology. The Gold Award is the highest achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting, meeting national standards set by Girl Scouts of the USA. Since 1916, girls have successfully answered the call to Go Gold, an act that indelibly marks them as accomplished members of their communities and the world. This year, 70 young women from around the state earned their Girl Scout Gold Award, an unprecedented number and the most recipients in Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s history. Many of the Gold Award recipients attended a special ceremony on June 2 at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford and received certificates from Girl Scouts of Connecticut and Girl Scouts of the USA, as well as a congratulatory letter from Girl Scouts of Connecticut CEO, Mary Barneby. The Gold Award recipients will also receive certificates or letters from Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, United States Senator Chris Murphy, the Connecticut General Assembly, and Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed fraternity. For more information about the Gold Award or how to become a Gold Award volunteer or mentor, visit http://www.gsofct.org/pages/GoldAward.php.