Eight students from Mira Costa High School have been honored with the prestigious Gold Award, the highest accolade bestowed by the Girl Scouts. This recognition highlights their outstanding commitment to making a positive impact on their community.
John Bowes, the superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified School District, commended the MCHS girls for their remarkable achievement. The Gold Award is an esteemed honor given to less than 6 percent of Girl Scouts and represents months of dedicated work addressing critical community needs. These exceptional students spent a minimum of 80 hours planning and executing innovative projects that fostered lasting change.
Each of the Girl Scouts undertook a unique project as part of their Gold Award endeavor. Lia DeFonce-Martini established Lia Cares: Helping The LA Homeless, which involved creating a sustainable toiletry donation system in collaboration with the Los Angeles Mission and American Airlines. Through this initiative, over 2,000 miniature hygiene products were donated to homeless individuals in need. Furthermore, Lia spearheaded the production of a documentary on the homeless community in downtown LA to raise awareness and educate her community.
Molly Gin’s project, Carport Transformation, focused on improving the lives of mothers at a domestic violence women’s shelter. She converted the carport storage space into a boutique, allowing these women to personally select clothing and housewares for their families. By promoting self-confidence and self-esteem, Molly’s project empowered these mothers in their journey to rebuild their lives.
Samantha Gin made a significant impact with her project, A Better Way to Feed the Community. She remodeled a local food bank’s storage space, optimizing its efficiency and creating an organized system for donated food and clothing. Samantha’s contributions included writing Standard Operating Procedures to enhance volunteer safety and maximize operational effectiveness.
Jordan Karambelas spearheaded the Permaculture is Our Future project by designing and constructing an aquaponic system on the Mira Costa High School campus. This sustainable system utilizes recycled water, saves water and land space, and educates the community on implementing sustainable agriculture.
Other notable Gold Award projects include Mollie O’Grady’s work with Hygiene Education and Mychal’s Learning Place, Katherine Mueller’s initiative to teach young women about safety preparedness through online seminars and self-defense training, Aleena Parikh’s program, Bridging Generations, aimed at bridging the digital divide among the elderly, and Drew Vranesh’s project, Unhooked, which addressed social media and cell phone addiction among teenagers through a crochet club.
The Girl Scouts’ Gold Award represents an extraordinary achievement by these exemplary students. Their dedication, innovation, and commitment to improving their communities exemplify the core values of the Girl Scouts. These projects will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on their targeted communities and serve as a testament to the power of young individuals to initiate positive change.
