More than a dozen Southern Arizona Girl Scouts received the youth organization's top honor at a ceremony Saturday.
The Girl Scouts each earned their Gold Award by identifying an issue in the community and working on a project that would help address it, said Debbie Rich, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona.
The recipients of the award were:
• Valerie Andree, who helped organize a book drive and built a reading nook at New Beginnings for Women and Children.
• Lea Theodorou, Kendall Welliver and Bridget McKay, who put on a fashion show that raised more than $20,000 for the recreation room at University Medical Center's Diamond's Children Center.
• Katie Husson, who created a teen-drinking-awareness program in Cochise County.
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• Rachel Taylor, who built a pedestrian bridge for the Upper Garden Canyon trail in Cochise County.
• Karen Winters, who worked with at-risk youth to create tile benches for Brandi Fenton Memorial Park.
• Rianne Gibson, who created a searchable database for the drama department at Sahuaro High School.
• Rachel Francher, who created a peer-to-peer mentor program for Arizona Virtual Academy.
• Katie Taylor, who built an interactive nature walk with corresponding educational materials for the Brown Canyon nature trails.
• Kelsey Wyman, who designed a mural for a high school.
• Claudia Mavis, who built a mobile recycling awareness campaign that taught children to make usable objects from recyclable materials.
• Amanda Wheat, who relocated headstones of veteran soldiers.
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