Girl Scouts--Cotton Boll Area Council presents the Girl Scout Gold Award to 13 recipients on May 4. The Gold Award is the highest girl recognition in Girl Scouting. Recipients of the award were, from left, front, Ashley Street and Melodie Scallorns of Kennett Troop 169, Caroline Bain, Kortney Cook, and Rebecca Patterson of Sikeston Troop 196, back, Cora Gordon of Poplar Bluff/Twin Rivers Troop 202, Brittany Stack of Charleston, Addie Vaughn and Megan Underhill of Sikeston Troop 364. Photo provided [Click to enlarge]

Girl Scouts-Cotton Boll Area Council held its annual Cadette/Senior Celebration in May at the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston. At this event, Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts are honored with some of the highest awards in Girl Scouting.

Thirteen girls from Southeast Missouri received the Gold Award, which is the highest award that a Senior Girl Scout may receive. Recipients included Brittany Stack, Charleston; Cora Gordon, Poplar Bluff/Twin Rivers Troop 202; Caroline Bain, Kortney Cook, and Rebecca Patterson, Six Star (Sikeston) Troop 196; Addie Vaughn and Megan Underhill, Six Star Troop 364, and Ashley Street and Melodie Scallorns, Kennett Troop 169.

Also receiving the award, but not attending the ceremony, were Kennett Troop 387 members Bridget Moore, Chelsea Garrett, Jordan Shelton and Whitney Burdin.

To earn the Gold Award, girls must complete many steps, including earning the Senior Girl Scout Leadership Award (which requires a minimum of 30 hours of work involving the use of leadership skills), earning the Career Award (which requires at least 40 hours devoted to career exploration), and earning the 4Bs Challenge Award. In addition, she must also spend a minimum of 65 hours planning and implementing a Girl Scout Gold Award project that has a positive and lasting impact on the community. Approximately 3,000 Girl Scouts in the U.S. earn the Girl Scout Gold Award annually.

Brittany Stack put her love of the outdoors to the test as she manually created almost 30 wooden signs for two camping areas that she is affiliated with. Using power drills, saws, wood-working tools and a lot of paint, Brittany made signs for 15 activity stations for her local Solar Day as well as fourteen larger signs that designate the buildings and areas at Girl Scout Camp Latonka.

Melodie Scallorns and Ashley Street created an awareness campaign for Habitat for Humanity and worked to begin a chapter in their hometown of Kennett. After contacting the state agency for guidelines, the girls visited nearby chapters to learn about the organization. The girls put together a program to present to local civic and social organizations in their community that demonstrated the need for new housing in the area. Their work resulted in an active steering committee that completed paperwork and plans to begin a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Chelsea Garrett, Bridget Moore, Jordan Shelton and Whitney Burdin put their family health issues in the center of their project. Cancer awareness and prevention was a cause each of the girls were personally affected by; one of the girls having lost three grandparents to cancer. Working with the American Red Cross, these girls have directed the Relay for Life campaign for the past three years. The girls created flyers advertising the events, mailed letters to community businesses and organizations, and attended numerous meetings to promote their event. Their responsibilities ranged from recruiting adult workers and setting up locations for activities to delivering t-shirts, making gift baskets, and lots of clean-up work.

Cora Gordon directed the "Spotlight on Latonka-Big Sister to Little Sister Camp" event for Junior Girl Scouts. Cora's goal was to teach outdoor skills to younger scouts, using older Girl Scouts as role models. To prepare for the event, Cora had to develop an outdoor curriculum and then train a group of her peers to work with the younger girls during a fun day at our local Girl Scout Camp.

Rebecca Patterson, Caroline Bain and Kortney Cook decided to take their 10 years of Girl Scout experiences and use them to recruit more girls to the program in their community. Beginning in the fall of 2006, these girls scheduled a series of recruitment events to promote Girl Scout values to girls in K-3rd grades. Enlisting the help of other members of their troop to serve as role models, these teens demonstrated the fun and excitement that Girl Scouting adds for girls of all ages. During the two year run of the project, membership in their service area increase by 11 percent.

Addie Vaughn and Megan Underhill co-directed a Seat Belt Awareness Campaign on school campuses in Sikeston. Working with the Mo, Department of Transportation, the girls conducted surveys of students & parents who were "Buckled Up" during school pick-up and drop-off times. The girls then made signs and painted stencils in roadways to remind people to wear their seat belts. Their post-project surveys showed a marked increase in seal belt usage that will help save lives.

Each year, Cotton Boll also honors those Girl Scouts who are graduating from High School and leaving behind their girl membership years as they "bridge to adult Girl Scouts." Graduating Seniors who attended the ceremony are Brittany Stack, Cora Gordon, Addie Vaughn, Megan Underhill, Ashley Street and Melodie Scallorns.

The highest award that a Cadette Girl Scout may earn is the Silver Award. To earn the Girl Scout Silver Award; girls must organize and evaluate, earn the Silver Leadership Award, earn the Silver Career Award, earn the Silver 4B=s Challenge, and design and implement a 40 hour Silver Award project. Cotton Boll Girl Scouts are proud to announce that this year 6 girls have earned this award. To earn their Silver Award, Jennifer Jones and Amanda Palmer of Senath/Hornersville Troop 396, conducted a "Daisy Day" for Daisy Girl Scouts from throughout the council. Also earning this award, but not attending the ceremony, were Alexandra Brown, Brianna Burcham, Caroline Shetley, and Chelsea Hersey of Kennett Troop 205.

Bridging from Cadette to Senior Girl Scouts were Jennifer Jones, and Amanda Palmer, of Senath/Hornersville Troop 396.

For several years, the Ed Felker Memorial Scholarship has been helping a Cotton Boll Girl Scout reach their higher education goals, and it was joined by two new scholarships this year, the Harryette Campbell Gold Award Scholarship and the Thanks Badge Recipients Scholarship. Each of these three $1,000 scholarships are for a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient who is a graduate of high school or home schooled equivalent, under 25 years of age, in need of financial aid, of good character, and has demonstrated high scholastic achievement. An essay must accompany each application on "What Girl Scouting Means to Me."

Carrie Yanson of Sikeston presented the Ed Felker Memorial Scholarship to Addie Vaughn of Sikeston, Renee Trout of Dexter presented the Harryette Campbell Gold Award Scholarship to Brittany Stack of Charleston, and Libby Mobley of Kennett awarded the Thanks Badge Recipients Scholarship to Alayna Palmer of Kennett. Palmer was unable to attend the ceremony as she was out of the county. Cora Gordon of Broseley is the alternate for these scholarships.

Other awards presented during the afternoon included Ten Year Pins, Program Aide Patches and Community Service Bars. Recipients of the Ten Year Pin are Caroline Bain, Kortney Cook, Rebecca Patterson, Abbi Keefer, Ashley Angle, Addie Vaughn, Megan Underhill, Caroline Nace, and Hannah Eilders, all from the Six Star Service Unit (Sikeston). Also receiving the Ten Year Pin are Jennifer Jones of Senath/Hornersville, and Chelsea Garrett, Bridget Moore, Jordon Shelton, and Whitney Burdin of Kennett. Program Aide Patches and Community Service Bars were presented to Jennifer Jones, Jessica Jones, Amanda Palmer, Crystal Whitlock, and Karen Bracamontes of Senath/Hornersville; and Ashley Street, Melodie Scallorns, Andrea Taylor, Natasha Autry of Kennett.

The Girl Scouts -- Cotton Boll Area Council serves girls in the nine-county area of Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Stoddard, Butler, Ripley and Carter counties. Board Chair is Libby Mobley of Kennett and the CEO is Cindy Weber. The council maintains their headquarters in their Service Center in Dexter and is part of the world's pre-eminent organization for girls, with a membership of over 2800 girls and adults. Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. For more information on Girl Scouting, call (573)624-8339 or toll-free 1-888-780-8373.