Superior teen earns Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts

Story by Girl Scouts of Colorado

This spring, a teen from Superior is receiving the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts. Grace Lounsbury has demonstrated exceptional dedication to the Girl Scout Law’s commitment to “making the world a better place” through her community service.

“Girl Scouts of Colorado serves 29,500 girls, and it’s quite an accomplishment to be one of only 64 in the state this year to earn this distinguished award,” said Megan Ferland, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Colorado. “These girls have pursued a personal passion and are leaving a Girl Scout legacy that meets a need within their community. They have also gained valuable leadership skills that will last them a lifetime.”

Grace Lounsbury

Monarch High School

“An Introduction to Music”

For her Gold Award project Grace Lounsbury organized an “Introduction to Music” day for the six elementary schools that feed into Monarch High School.

The event at Monarch High School allowed third and fourth graders and their siblings to try out as many band instruments as they wanted. As the children played instruments, their parents browsed handouts which provided information on how to get started in music, private lessons and where to acquire instruments. Grace recruited volunteers for the event from the bands at Monarch. She collaborated with Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts and Lafayette Music to print all the fliers. Flesher-Hinton Music Company provided all the instruments for the event and Chipotle donated lunch for the volunteers. This project will be continued annually by the Monarch High School band.

“I pursued this project because I have a passion for music. I wanted to give students the opportunity at an earlier age to discover their own passion for music, in hopes that they might stick with it longer and make music a stronger connection in their life.”

Grace plans to minor in music in college and play in as many music ensembles as possible.

As the highest award a teen Girl Scout can earn, the prestigious Gold Award is the single most demanding award that a Girl Scout strives toward, and it’s not unusual for a girl to put in more than 200 hours to fulfill the requirements. Leadership, determination, perseverance and creativity – skills developed through the progressing levels of the Girl Scout program – are necessary to successfully complete the project. The essence of the Gold Award is a personal challenge for a girl to stretch her skills and abilities and step forward as a leader to meet a community need for which she has a passion and a will to create a sustainable change.

Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts of Colorado makes it easy, meaningful and fun for girls and volunteers to grow as leaders. We provide a safe place for girls to explore their world – from science, technology and the environment to healthy living, anti-bullying and financial literacy. For nearly 100 years, Girl Scouting has been helping each girl develop her personal leadership skills and make friends that last a lifetime. Girl Scouts is also a great place to enhance job skills and give back to your community as an adult volunteer. In fact, we serve 29,500 girl members and 9,500 adult volunteers across Colorado! For more information on how you can get involved in Girl Scouts of Colorado, visit girlscoutsofcolorado.org, call 1-877-404-5708 or email inquiry@gscolorado.org.

Story by Girl Scouts of Colorado