There have been a total of 1,498 girls who have received the Girl Scout Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland. This year, there are 78 new recipients that will join that honored rank, and 4 of those Girl Scouts are from Carroll County!

MADISON BABER

Winters Mill High School, Troop 5008, Yrs. in GS: 10

“Butterfly Education Garden”

Madison was concerned about the environment surrounding her Carroll County community, so she led a team of volunteers to construct a Butterfly Education Garden at Carroll Lutheran School. The garden was planted beside the school’s wetlands area and will help the environment by providing a habitat of native plant species for butterflies and other insects. The school’s staff, students, and visitors will utilize Madison’s garden for both education and mediation. In fact, the teachers at the school have already worked the garden into their curriculum.

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TYLER BURTON

Marriotts Ridge High School, Troop 548,Yrs. in GS: 7

“Introducing Seniors to Technology”

Tyler taught senior citizens at Fairhaven Living Community, in Anne Arundel County, to be computer and social media literate. Fairhaven Living Community has a computer room, but it was underutilized until Tyler’s project. Tyler developed a curriculum and taught lessons to the senior citizens so that they would be able to communicate with friends and family via social media, as well as connect to others with similar interests on the Internet. Fairhaven Living Community staff will continue to teach Tyler’s lessons to residents in the future.

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BRIDGET DOYLE

Liberty High School, Juliette, Yrs. in GS: 11

“Girls in Engineering”

Bridget wanted to take on the issue of women being underrepresented in the field of engineering by promoting a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiative for elementary schoolgirls in Carroll County. Bridget used lesson plans from NASA and focused her program on giving girls an “all-girl safe place” to more confidently explore STEM related activities. She also passed along the model of her program to her Robotics team to utilize in the future, and also created two STEM kits for younger Girl Scout troops to check out from GSCM.

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ALISON LARSEN

Winters Mill High School, Troop 88, Yrs. in GS: 13

“Accessibility for All”

Alison was volunteering with an organization that offers equine therapy at Best Intentions Farm, located in Carroll County, when she noticed a need. The farm needed a new parking pad in order to expand its therapy to individuals, whose main means of transportation was a bus. Alison reached out to contractors and business in her community to install the parking pad and held a ribbon cutting ceremony when the project was completed. Alison invited organizations for veterans to the ceremony, as many of their members ride buses to therapy at the farm.