The Girl Scouts program has been around for more than 100 years to teach girls the importance of leadership, success and adventure through various certification activities. Though many girls join the program and eventually opt to leave, Emma Sherwin, junior, plans to stay in it through the end. She started the program at six-years-old and has been completely dedicated every step of the way. For a time, she had to decide if she wanted to put Girl Scouts as a priority in her life– especially with her soccer career taking a large role. Though the decision was tough, she learned to balance both activities. Her mom took over leading the troop, and now they hold meetings in their very own home. Sherwin describes how Girl Scouts has “opened [her] up to new people and helped [her] make a lot of other friends she might not have otherwise talked to.” Overall, it has been a very positive experience for her.

As an older girl in the program, Sherwin has had the opportunity to earn the Gold Award. Similarly to becoming an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts program, there are many steps that need to be taken to receive this prestigious honor. Sherwin mentions that “all funding has to be done by the individual girl scout through cookie sales, unlike the Eagle Scout who can use his own money.” For reasons like this, she believes the Gold Award is much harder to obtain. According to the official Girl Scout website, only six-percent of girls are able to successfully finish their projects. In order to have a project approved, Sherwin explains it has to be “something sustainable,” which for her was packing 100 cancer care packages for patients at Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora. Each package contained fleece-lined lumbar pillows, composition notebooks, hand sanitizers, puzzles, pens, water bottles, and tote bags. Most of the packaging was done by Sherwin herself with the help of clubs two clubs NV Interact and Student Council. The task was no small feat and took two full years to completely finish.

By achieving this honor, multiple doors have opened for Sherwin in the future. Not only does the Gold Award make her stand out as a leader on college applications, it also provides her with many scholarship opportunities to travel abroad for school and other activities. The biggest perk Emma of winning the award has mentioned is “the attention.” She was careful to explain what she means by this. While many people stress over finding ways to make themselves different from others, Sherwin has achieved a unique and difficult accolade. Being in Girl Scouts has taught Sherwin “to become more mature and responsible,” traits that she finds very important in today’s society. Looking past the Gold Award, Sherwin is excited to start doing the activities oriented towards older girls which include helping out in various summer camps, assisting other girls with their projects and being a role-model for younger Girl Scouts.