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Change the world, Girl Scout
Gold Award Girl Scouts are rock stars, role models, and real-life heroes. How do they do it? By using everything they’ve learned as a Girl Scout to solve a problem in their community or make a lasting change in their world.
Seniors and Ambassadors who want to go for the Gold Award build a team of trusted adults, peers, and leaders in their community to guide them through challenges and support their success.
Plus? Nothing beats that feeling of seeing real, lasting, and sustainable change and knowing it was you who made it happen. It changes the way you see your place in the world—and how the world sees you.
You can become a Gold Award Girl Scout if you:
- Are in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade
- Are a registered Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador
- Have completed the Silver Award OR a Senior/Ambassador Leadership Award
How to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award:
- Let our council know you want to earn it.
- Find an issue in your community or the world that you care about.
- Learn everything you can about that issue through research and trusted sources.
- Form a team by identifying experts and people in your community who could help you.
- Think about the root cause of an issue, then make a plan of how you could tackle it.
- Submit your project proposal to GSMW for approval.
- Lead your team and carry out your plan.
- Reflect on the change you?ve created in your community and the world, share your story, and inspire others to make a difference, too.
* National Gold Award Training for Youth isn't just for youth,
it can also be done by troop volunteers and caregivers.
Steps to Gold Award Training & Project Submission
STEP 1: Review Resources 
STEP 2: Submit Your Proposal
Other Helpful Resources
GOLD AWARD RESOURCES, GUIDES AND FAQ'S
PROJECT FUNDING
COLLEGE RESOURCES
GSUSA GOLD AWARD SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship Recipients
The GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship is earned by a Girl Scout who completed a Gold Award project that demonstrated extraordinary leadership, measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed an issue of national and/or global significance. Annually, there is one scholarship available for each council (112 total).
2026 Recipient
Hazel Hammerstein (Missoula, MT | Bloomington, IN)
After moving to Bloomington, IN, Hazel continued to participate with her troop in Missoula, MT and Hazel drew from an experience she had with her troop for her Gold Award. Her troop participated in the “Paint the State” mural competition to educate youth about the dangers of first-time drug use. Using her experience and knowledge of the impact that “Paint the State” has in Montana, Hazel implemented the “Indiana Prevention Project.” Hazel engaged youth through a website and social media in Monroe and Greene counties to create public art to raise awareness of substance abuse risks. She networked with local organizations, city officials and schools to gain support and established a nonprofit to secure funding to cover project costs and an award for the winning design. A school-based Mural Action Club was created by Hazel to engage students in community art projects and plans were laid with a local business for a second mural contest featuring a graffiti artist.
2025 Recipient
Victoria Newmiller (Chouteau, MT)
Victoria addressed carbon emissions and promoted environmental sustainability in her community by creating educational resources to empower community members to make a difference by planting “carbon eaters” (trees and plants) to absorb CO2. She partnered with local nurseries for donations of 50 tree starts, 200 seed packets and numerous perennials and then held planting sessions with community members. Victoria also engaged local organizations to assist in distributing planting instructions and donated seeds. The long-term care of the trees and plants will be taken on by the participants as they rise to the challenge of combating climate change in their community.
2024 Recipient
Mairin Sims (Laramie, WY)
Mairin worked with the Laramie Downtown Clinic; the clinic focuses on providing the uninsured experiencing poverty with integrated healthcare services. Working with clinic staff, volunteers and the board, she created an organizational system to record services provided and improve their reporting system to the Board of Directors. Her efforts will enable the clinic to receive more funding from donors and grants, increase awareness of the clinic services in the community and enhance volunteer and patient engagement with the clinic. Her work was shared with the Albany County United Way’s Community Impact Cooperative so other medical clinics can benefit from her work.
2023 Recipient
Grace Regan (Jackson, WY)
Grace recognized the lack of resources for teens struggling with anxiety and using her love of art, she collaborated with Dr. Kelly Gutierrez, Ph.D., to develop and author a coloring book with tools and techniques to deal with anxiety. Grace shared her book in print and digital formats to local professionals and organizations as well as a large group of doctors and psychologists and a school director in Round Rock, TX. Grace’s coloring book pages were showcased at the 2023 Girl Scout National Convention in the Calm Corner where convention participants could go to decompress and relax. If you or someone you know could benefit from Grace’s mental health coloring book, you can find a copy here.
2022 Recipient
RJ Schoen (Casper, WY)
RJ addressed the issue of period poverty and stigma at their school and in their community. To do this, RJ partnered with the national organization PERIOD to establish a PERIOD chapter in their high school. The PERIOD chapter created a safe space for students to collaborate and advocate for change for themselves and others as well as continue the work RJ has started. They hosted workshops with educators on how to address period poverty in the classroom which has opened up many conversations about period poverty. RJ also led their PERIOD chapter team by organizing period product drives, workshops and social media content.
2021 Recipient
Kieran Burns (Laramie, Wyoming)
Kieran collaborated with the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Natural Diversity Database to discover more about the declining native bee populations. She collected bee samples for identification and data analysis as well as assisted in species identification. She also tested a new bee trap that had not been previously used in the area. Incredibly, one of the samples Kieran collected included a species of bee that had not been observed in that area before; this finding will continue to be a topic of study for the University of Wyoming. Kieran also launched a community educational campaign to teach people the importance of pollinators and how to protect them, specifically Mason bees and other solitary pollinators. She also led a hands-on workshop where participants learned about bees and built bee hotel for their backyard to serve as ideal habitats for pollinators.
PAST GSMW GOLD AWARD GIRL SCOUTS
GSMW Gold Award Stories
