Girl Scout Gold Awards bestowed

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River Falls Girl Scouts, from left, Emma Smith, Elizabeth Chatt, Elizabeth Camber and Ella Dzubay, received their Gold Award Sunday at a ceremony held at Zumbrota, Minn. Submitted photo

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ZUMBROTA, Minn. — Four River Falls Girl Scouts completed a self-seeking goal earlier this year, the final step in earning their Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn.

The four received their awards Sunday, May 31, at Divine Redeemer Lutheran Church along with 10 other young women from the Twin Cities area.

Elizabeth Camber, Elizabeth Chatt, Ella Dzubay, and Emma Smith organized a teen driving safety curriculum called “We Love Our Lives (We LOL).” The program focused on seatbelt usage and road safety during Safe Driving Week at River Falls High School last January.

The group hosted an all-school assembly and gave students the option to participate in events throughout the week. Events included an “I Promise” campaign, a safe driving fair, and driving trivia. “New Driver” window clings were offered and students were encouraged to enter In Case of Emergency (ICE) numbers into their cell phones. The group also organized two surprise seatbelt checks, rewarding those students who wore their seatbelts and warning those who did not.

The Girl Scout Gold Award has been described as being “what you really want to be remembered for” in Girl Scouting. The award project is developed by each girl to match her area of interest and address a specific need in her local or global community. To earn the award, eligible Girl Scouts in grades 10-12 must fulfill requirements related to leadership, career exploration, and community service. Each girl must spend at least 65 hours planning and implementing her project, which assess a need in the community and develops innovative ways to address it, and she must work with to put her plan into action.

The River Falls girls each averaged 72 hours on their final project. Three of the four have been involved in Scouting since kindergarten.

Parents of the new Gold Award recipients are: Jim and Mary Camber, Rick and Liza Chatt, Steve and Sue Dzubay, and Ken and Margaret Smith, all of River Falls.

For more information on Girl Scouts or to join one of the 23 troops in the River Falls-Ellsworth service unit, contact Pauline Wangen at 877-791-3387 or go to: www.girlscoutsrv.org.

Tags: girl scouts, local area news, local news, lifestyle