Four young ladies’ acts of community service were so grand that they were deemed golden. Jade Bryant, Codi Fillmore, Milan Parris, and Regan Williams have just earned the highest award a Girl Scout can receive, The Gold Award, putting them in an elite group since less than 6% of Girl Scouts worldwide have received this distinction.

Earning the Gold Award is no small fete, as girls pursuing the award must commit to completing a challenging service project that will have a lasting impact on their greater community. Called a “Take Action” project, it must reach beyond the scope of the organization and provide a sustainability benefit to the world. On average, most girls take one to two years to complete their projects. Those who are successful at earning the award have found great rewards for themselves personally and professionally.

Gold Award recipient Bryant’s inquisitive mind helped guide her to the topic of her project. “I was born prematurely myself so I really wanted to understand more about how I was born prematurely and in that, I discovered why not help others in the process of learning,” said Bryant. With a project entitled “Premature Birth Awareness,” Bryant looked at the high risks of premature births in the Houston and Galveston areas. Through community partnerships with the March of Dimes Houston Chapter and other donations, Bryant held four seminars with guest speakers to provide audiences with information on the precautions every female of childbearing age should take to carry a baby full term.

Allowing her passion for fitness to be her guide Gold Award recipient Fillmore decided to target the health of teen girls for her project. I am always running around trying to pursue a healthy lifestyle and I wanted others to do the same,” said Fillmore. Under her project called “Healthy Girls Rock,” she held several workshops where she promoted the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Holding personal training sessions, utilizing exercises she uses to keep her own body in check, Fillmore taught teen girls the importance of exercising and eating healthy to ensure that they become healthy adults.

With two siblings before her already having earned the highest awards in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Parris knew earning the Gold Award was a must for her. However picking a project was a bit more challenging since she had volunteered so regularly with different organizations that her interests were all over the place. But she knew she loved kids and wanted to know more about gardening. Merging the two thoughts, Parris started an Organic & Sustainable Teaching Garden for at-risk students in an after-school program. Collecting gardening supplies from feed stores Parris was able to teach the students how to nurture and care for a garden. Not only did students get their hands dirty in caring for their garden but they also expanded their minds with knowledge on gardening with the library that Parris was able to form at the school where they worked. Parris was also able to get a custom potting bench to be donated to complete the entire look of the garden.

Anyone who knows Gold Award recipient Williams knows that she enjoys sketch drawing and sewing fashion designs. Having this eye for design and fashion, Williams’ keen on how young girls are not always appropriately dress for various events and places. She merged these two ideas for her project called “Let’s Redefine Fleek.” Williams said, “I want young girls around everywhere to learn how to dress correctly for certain events and places that they will go in life.” She executed this mission by holding several workshops with community partners to host fashion shows so girls could see and learn the dos and don’ts of what not to wear.

Earning the Gold Award is already special enough but adding to the grandeur of ceremony for these Girl Scouts was that of the first African American national president of the Girl Scouts of USA, Dr. Gloria Scott, as their keynote speaker. With a message that “girls can do anything,” Dr. Scott gave a history of Girl Scouting and let the girls know that the meaningful projects that they do in scouting help them to live up to the Girl Scout Promise of protecting the environment because “that’s what saves us.”

Other highlights of the Court of Awards Ceremony for Troop #2101 were the recognition of four of the troop’s graduating seniors – Zoe Marshall, Ashley Cosby, Michaela Homer and Nia Palmer.

The girls of Troop #2101 are lead by Ernie Carter Howard, Valerie Barnett, Jennifer Brown, Gabrielle Carter, Loren McCray, Jeannae Mccray Sims, Dr. Carla Ortique, and Andrea Simon. They meet regularly at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby is the pastor.