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Gold Award: Blowing Rock’s Rachel Norwood Earns the Highest Honor in Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont is pleased to announce that Rachel Norwood, Blowing Rock, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting.

Norwood, daughter of Chip and Lynn Norwood and a member of Troop 10366, worked in partnership with Rutherwood Baptist Church to create backpacks that included food, water, toiletries, a blanket and clothing that could be distributed to the homeless. Norwood organized donation drives and fundraisers to fill more than 60 backpacks.

By earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, Norwood has become a community leader. Her accomplishments reflect leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart. 

“Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award designation is truly a remarkable achievement, and this young woman exemplifies leadership in all its forms,” said Lane Cook, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont. “She saw a need in her community and took action. Her extraordinary dedication, perseverance and leadership, is making the world a better place.”

The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting; it recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects. After the minimum requirements are completed, the Gold Award project is the culmination of a girl’s demonstration of self-discipline, leadership ability, time management, creativity, initiative and a significant mastery of skills. Each girl must dedicate a minimum of 80 hours to planning and implementing her project, which must benefit the community and have long lasting impact. Since 1916, girls have successfully answered the call to go gold, an act that indelibly marks them as accomplished members of their communities and the world.

Some universities and colleges offer scholarships unique to Gold Award recipients, and girls who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive advanced rank in recognition of their achievements.

About Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont

Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont, a United Way agency, is one of 112 councils nationwide chartered by Girl Scouts of the USA to deliver Girl Scout program within specific geographic boundaries. The local council serves nearly 14,500 girls and 6,400 adult volunteers in 40 counties and maintains three camp properties and four service centers offering unique experiences for girls and adults. For more information on how to join, volunteer, reconnect or donate to GSCP2P, call 800-672-2148 or visit www.girlscoutsp2p.org.

About Girl Scouts of the USA

We’re 2.8 million strong—2 million girls and 800,000 adults who believe girls can change the world. It began over 100 years ago with one woman, Girl Scouts’ founder Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low, who believed in the power of every girl. She organized the first Girl Scout troop on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, and every year since, we’ve made her vision a reality, helping girls discover their strengths, passions, and talents. Today we continue the Girl Scout mission of building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. We’re the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. And with programs for girls from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to do something amazing. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit www.girlscouts.org.