DeLauro and Brooks Honor the Girl Scout Gold Award

WASHINGTON, DC (March 17, 2016) — Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Susan W. Brooks (R-IN) introduced H. Res. 647, a resolution in honor and recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scout Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest award in Girl Scouts and has stood for excellence and leadership for girls everywhere since 1916. This week, the Girl Scouts are also celebrating their 104th birthday.

“As Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts said, ‘scouting rises within you and inspires you to put forth your best.’ The Gold Award truly deserves celebration and the combination of leadership development, career exploration, self-improvement, and community service that a Girl Scout undertakes for this project is a remarkable achievement,” said DeLauro. “We should all ‘Go Gold’ this year in celebration of the excellence of this award and of the Girl Scouts of the USA.”

“As a former Girl Scout, I’m proud to celebrate this important milestone for Girl Scouts and for a century of Gold Award recipients who have made a lasting difference in their communities,” Brooks said. “This week, as we celebrate the positive impact of Girl Scouts on the lives of so many girls and women, I applaud and thank the Hoosier Girl Scout Councils for instilling courage, confidence and character in girls who want to make a difference in our communities and in our country. I’m confident that the next 100 years will bring amazing achievements and contributions by future Gold Award recipients.”

The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, recognizing girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through remarkable Take Action projects that have sustainable impact in their communities and beyond. Applicants must be in high school and usually spend between one and two years on their project. Since 1916, more than one million women have earned a Girl Scout Gold Award.

“We are thrilled that Congress is recognizing the centennial of the Girl Scout Gold Award, and so honored to have the support of our wonderful leaders and members from Troop Capitol Hill,” said Anna Maria Chavez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. “The Gold Award is the ultimate symbol of the fact that today’s girls are tomorrow’s female leaders. For 100 years, from Washington to Wall Street and beyond, the young women who have earned their Gold Award have helped move our communities forward, and by extension, changed our world forever and for better. They have become the female leaders that inspire the next generation of girls to go for gold as Girl Scouts, and we extend our warmest thanks to Troop Capitol Hill, and female and male leaders from both sides of the aisle for their continued support of our Movement, and their recognition of the courage, confidence and character it takes to earn the highest honor in Girl Scouts – the Girl Scout Gold Award.”

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) introduced a similar resolution in the Senate.

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