Girl Scouts of the USA Honors and Celebrates Nearly 3,000 Girls Who Earned the Highest Award in Girl Scouting, The Gold Award

NEW YORK (August 20, 2024)-Today, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) proudly recognizes the 2024 Girl Scout Gold Award Class, the organization's most esteemed group of world changers. These changemakers have demonstrated impactful leadership within their communities and have earned the highest award in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award. Gold Award Girl Scouts create local and global positive impact by transforming an idea into an actionable plan with measurable, long-lasting and far-reaching results.

The 2024 Gold Award Girl Scout Class identified issues in their communities, took action and found or created solutions to earn their Gold Awards, addressing real-life problems such as mental and physical well-being, racial justice, environmental sustainability, and gender inequality in STEM, among others. In the process, the 2024 Gold Award Girl Scout Class devoted 287,000 service hours and invested more than $1.6 million back into their communities, proving they are the empathetic leaders our world needs.

By developing sustainable action plans for real-world issues, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills like decision-making, resourcefulness, and tenacity. They become innovative problem solvers, confident public speakers and focused project managers, giving them an edge personally and professionally.

"I am incredibly proud of the 2024 Girl Scout Gold Award class," said GSUSA CEO Bonnie Barczykowski. "These Girl Scouts are true trailblazers and have dedicated a tremendous amount of time, care and creativity toward addressing a wide range of issues they are passionate about. In the process, they've created lasting change in their communities and beyond. This is a huge part of their leadership journeys, and we are so excited to see what they will accomplish next!"

The 2024 Girl Scout Gold Award Class tackled a wide range of topics that teens feel are most prevalent in society today. The most popular project themes include:

• Education: elevating the importance of literacy and STEM, embracing cultural differences in STEM; promoting financial literacy, technology, and creating voting resources for youth and teens
• Children's Issues: improving young people's communication and public speaking skills; promoting identity theft awareness; teaching traffic safety and strengthening youth study skills
• Health: advocating for mental health/well-being; exploring global health initiatives; teaching drug abuse prevention and promoting fitness/nutrition, food allergy awareness, and body positivity, among others
• Environment and Sustainability: advocating for climate change solutions, recycling, alternative energy, clean water and preserving outdoor spaces
• Life Skills: strengthening time management; teaching self-defense, and promoting online safety
• Outdoors: leading guided hiking tours; elevating the importance of water safety; teaching camping skills and promoting topics like wildlife awareness, pollution prevention, and farming.

By tackling these projects, among so many others, the 2024 Gold Award Class achieved incredible outcomes including strong senses of self, community problem-solving and healthy relationship-building skills.

According to GSUSA's research, Gold Award Girl Scouts are more likely to fill leadership roles at work and in their personal lives and are more civically engaged than their non-Girl Scout peers. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Gold Award Girl Scouts agree that earning their Gold Award gave them skills that help them succeed professionally. Seventy-two percent (72%) said earning their Gold Award helped them get a scholarship. Changing the world doesn't end when a Girl Scout earns her Gold Award: ninety-nine percent (99%) of Gold Award Girl Scout alums take on leadership roles in their everyday lives.

This year, GSUSA's 111 councils and USA Girl Scouts Overseas were each provided the opportunity to select one of their outstanding Gold Award Girl Scouts to receive a national $5,000 scholarship, made possible by the Kappa Delta Foundation and many generous individual donors. This school year, Girl Scouts who are high school seniors and have earned their Gold Award can apply for the scholarship in March.

To view the list of the 2,961 2024 Gold Award projects, visit girlscouts.org/goldawardclass.

Girls in grades K-12 can join Girl Scouts any time during the year to begin their Girl Scout journey. As girls grow with Girl Scouts, they learn hands-on leadership skills they'll use to make their mark through the Gold Award and beyond.

To join or volunteer, visit www.girlscouts.org/join.

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