Holton Upper Schoolers Amber Carrico '19 and Sarah Greisdorf '17 recently earned top honors from the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scout Awards acknowledge the power behind each recipient's dedication to not only empowering and bettering herself, but also to making the world a better place for others.
Amber Carrico '19 has been a member of the Girl Scouts for 10 years. She started as a Daisy in Kindergarten and is just wrapping up her first year as a Senior Scout. This month, she was awarded both a Silver Award and Silver Trefoil Award which is only offered by the Girls Scouts of the Nation's Capital Council.
For Carrico's Silver Award project, which is project based, she created a registered Monarch Waystation. After learning that the population of Monarch butterflies has been on the decline for years, she decided to focus her efforts on this worthy cause. To complete her project, she fundraised as well as partnered with experts in butterfly conservation and Virginia native plants to plan and design the Waystation. As a result of her project, Carrico is now helping to ensure that the Waystation provides access to nourishment, especially milkweed and water, and offers a safe harbor for Monarchs to reproduce, lay eggs, and flourish. She was even able to register it with Monarch Watch, a national Monarch Waystation registry.
To earn her Silver Trefoil Award, the community service based project, Carrico was required to complete 100 hours of community service which must include service within the Girl Scout Community, National Service hours, and Global Service hours. Carrico earned an astonishing 253 community service hours.
"Looking back over the last 10 years, my Girl Scout experience has matured from one where I simply wanted to hang out with and make new friends to one that has significantly influenced my growth and who I am today. Because of Girl Scouts, I have been given many opportunities to learn new things, stretch my comfort zone and, most importantly, help make a difference in other people's lives," said Carrico.
Sarah Greisdorf '17 has earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, symbolizing outstanding accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service, and advocacy. The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn and is awarded to only about five percent of eligible Girl Scouts nationwide.
Like Carrico, Greisdorf has been a Girl Scout for the past 10 years. For her Gold Award project, Sarah educated the girls of Unique Learning Center, an after-school and summer program for underserved youth in D.C., by exposing them to computer science and the programming language HTML. Sarah's "Camp Code" was designed to encourage young women to pursue STEM careers.
Regarding her project, Greisdorf stated, "I chose to work specifically with girls because of the severe lack of women in STEM. I enjoyed this project because I got to focus on a topic I am really passionate about. In the future, I would like to have more opportunities to work with younger Girl Scouts because I think teaching them about what Girl Scouting means as you grow up is very important."
A Girl Scout working toward the Gold Award is required to design, plan, lead, and execute a community service project, investing over 80 hours of her time and engaging other community members in the project. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Gold Award.
Congratulations Amber and Sarah!
L to R: Amber Carrico '19 and Sarah Greisdorf '17
Carrico with a sister scout from her troop after receiving the Silver Trefoil Award and graduation cord.
Greisdorf (top center) with the girls from the Unique Learning Center who participated in her "Camp Code."