From left, Lynne Fugate, CEO of the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians, McKinley Self (Gold Award Girl Scout), Hannah Archer (Gold Award Girl Scout) Christina Amos (Gold Award Girl Scout), and Jennifer Knight, board chair of the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians
From left, Jennifer Knight, Eve Scott (Silver Award Girl Scout), Lauren Cain (Silver Award Girl Scout), Elizabeth Edwards (Silver Award Girl Scout), Jiana Weathersby (Silver Award Girl Scout), Cydney Kapperman (Silver Award Girl Scout), and Lynne Fugate, CEO of the Girl Scout Council
Chattanooga Bronze Award Girl Scouts showing off their award certificates
Three Chattanooga teens have earned Girl Scouts’ highest national honor: the Gold Award. Only five percent of eligible Girl Scouts attain the honor by demonstrating extraordinary leadership.
The Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians presented the awards at the celebration at Everlee Farm in Chattanooga. The honorees are:
Christina Amos: Christina is a junior at Boyd Buchanan High School. She created a series of free, sustainable tennis clinics for the children in Dalton, and raised money for an awning to shade tennis spectators at Lakeshore Park.
Hannah Archer: Hannah is a senior at Collegiate High and will be attending the Croft Institute for International Studies at the University of Mississippi this fall. She created and implemented a successful marketing plan for Signal Mountain Farmers’ Market.
McKinley Self: McKinley is a senior at Girls Preparatory School and will attend Auburn University this fall. Her project reached around the globe to gather school supplies and raise money for uniforms at an impoverished school in Uganda.
“Earning the Gold Award is an incredible achievement,” says Lynne Fugate, CEO of the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians. “Most girls who earn the Gold Award have been in Girl Scouts for at least 10 years and have dedicated two years or more to their Gold Award project – projects that will continue bettering our community through the years.”
Girl Scouts’ Gold Award is celebrating 100 years of changing the world. The first national award comparable to the Gold Award, the Golden Eaglet of Merit, was awarded 100 years ago. The Chattanooga teens join just 26 other Girl Scouts within the council to earn Gold this year.
The Everlee Farm celebration also honored girls who earned the Silver Award, the highest national honor for Girl Scout Cadettes (girls in middle school). Twelve Chattanooga area girls earned Silver, and five attended the event. Eighty-two girls earned the Bronze Award, the highest national honor for Girl Scout Juniors (girls in grades 4 and 5).