West Central Girl Scouts earn Gold Awards

From left, Girl Scouts of West Central Florida Board President Cami Gibertini, Emilie Youmans and GSWCF Chief Executive Officer Mary Pat King, are shown during the recent Gold Award Ceremony. [Photo courtesy Girl Scouts of West Central Florida]

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Posted June 11, 2024 | By Susan Smiley-Height, [email protected]

Two Marion County girls were honored, along with 26 other young women, during the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida’s annual Gold Award Ceremony on June 8.

Emilie Youmans and Kameryn Knowles, both 2024 graduates of West Port High School, were recognized for projects that will help create a significant and sustainable positive change in their community.

The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn. Gold Award Girl Scouts address the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions to drive change and lead a team of people to success, noted the news release.

Provided materials noted that Kameryn’s “Beat the Heat” project aimed to combat sudden heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke, which is the third most common cause of death in student athletes. After witnessing the severity of heat-related illnesses firsthand, she developed Keep Cool Kits that contained items such as instant ice packs, hydration drink mixes, water and sunscreen to provide tools to manage heat-related emergencies. She created a website that housed all project materials, including a video presentation, a Keep Cool Kit item checklist, a downloadable PDF brochure and information about heat-related illnesses and ways to prevent them.

Emilie’s “Using Your Senses: A Therapeutic Trail” project advocated for autistic children and young adults as she partnered with the Marion Therapeutic Riding Association to create a sensory trail for students, the materials stated. Engaging children with autism in sensory activities had benefits including helping stimulate the brain, creating neutral pathways and improving sensory processing systems, improving social skills and improving coordination and fine motor skills. The sensory trail allowed students to immerse themselves in a sensory experience with different ways to use their five senses. Emilie created Instagram and Facebook pages to spread her project’s message, share information about the trail, post updates on the building process and educate people about sensory immersion among autistic individuals. The trail is now a permanent fixture at the MTRA facility and will benefit students for years to come.

The 2024 Gold Award Girl Scouts in West Central Florida invested more than 2,500 combined hours in planning and implementing projects throughout the council’s eight-county footprint and beyond.

“It is so energizing to see the array of societal issues and causes that our Gold Award Girl Scouts focused on this year,” said GSWCF Chief Executive Officer Mary Pat King in the news release. “Through their projects, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible leadership skills such as critical thinking, creative problem-solving, teambuilding and effective communication. These are critical skills for success in higher education, military and careers spanning all industries.”

To learn more, go to gswcf.org