Girl Scouts' Community Service Garners Gold Awards

Two local seniors have earned a Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting, for their efforts to help the community.

Kylie Nicole Tettemer, soon to graduate from , and Cheyanne Nicole Hall, who attends Trabuco Hills High School, both received the Girl Scout Gold Award at a May 12 ceremony at . 

The Gold Award is the most prestigious award Girl Scouts can earn. To earn a Gold Award, Girl Scouts must identify an unmet need or core issue in the community, research and investigate it, recruit volunteers to build a team to create a plan to address the issue or need.

Kylie chose to help , an organization that serves victims of domestic violence and educates others about the impact of domestic violence.

She made quilts and donated them to  for use in the organization's Counseling Center to comfort those who have suffered domestic abuse. In addition, Kylie created a PowerPoint presentation and led classes about domestic abuse for teens and adults in the community.  

The classes taught teens and adults about domestic abuse, ways to recognize and get help for it, and how to volunteer to help those that are being abused. In her PowerPoint, she discussed how to spot "red flags" in relationships, the Dating Bill of Rights, safety planning, and how to contact  should you need help or want to volunteer.

Laura's House plans to continue to use the presentation Kylie put together to counsel other teens about this topic and to show others how much a teen can do to help communicate and share with the community.

Cheyanne's love of reading inspired her to research illiteracy rates and to choose a Gold Award project that would encourage reading. She created a reading and craft program for her community library, and led a team of friends and volunteers to run the reading/craft programs at the library. In addition, she encouraged the kids who attended the reading/craft activities to donate books and pajamas to the "Pajama Program." This separate collection drive helped many local agencies such as Ronald McDonald House and Laura's House.

The Pajama Program collects books and pajamas for kids waiting to be adopted.

The Gold Award project proposal is submitted to Girl Scout Council and the girls present their projects to a member of the Gold Award Advisory Committee for approval.

--Thanks to Renee Ippoliti, mistress of ceremonies at the Girl Scout award ceremony, for this information.