Pacific Beach Girl Scout earns the Gold Award
Ambassador Girl Scout Ashlyn Brunette has earned the Gold Award, the highest honor available to Girl Scouts.
Girl Scouts San Diego held its annual council-wide Gold Award ceremony at Liberty Station on June 24, with 56 Senior and Ambassador-level members receiving the honor.
Brunette, a Pacific Beach resident, was recognized for her outstanding work within the community and across the county, an aspect necessary to be considered for the Gold Award.
Her project was titled “Lacrosse v. Depression.” It addressed mental health issues among young women and worked to eliminate the stigmas surrounding those challenges.
“(I) found that many young women in my community faced mental health issues throughout the pandemic due to isolation, so (I) created a lacrosse clinic for girls ages 8-14,” Brunette wrote. “On each day of the camp, (I) led lacrosse drills and games and held discussions about stress, depression and other mental health challenges.”
She added, “Through organizing these events and teaching the fundamentals of both lacrosse and mental health, (I) acquired new skills such as the power of positivity when in a leadership position, and communication. (I) learned valuable lessons about managing resources in a project setting and was able to persevere through many obstacles.”
The Gold Award project is the last of many requirements a Girl Scout must complete to earn the honor. The project must identify a local, national or global issue that is important to the girl, who then must develop an innovative plan to address the issue and lead a team when implementing the project plan. At least 80 hours must be dedicated to their Gold Award project.
Brunette joined Girl Scouts 12 years ago as a Daisy. She previously earned the Bronze and Silver Awards and said her favorite Girl Scout memory was her Daisies to Brownies bridging ceremony in Julian.
She recently graduated from La Jolla High School and plans to study biology at the University of California, Los Angeles in order to become a physician’s assistant. In addition to Girl Scouts, she was in the Cum Laude Society, a two-sport varsity athlete and the varsity lacrosse captain at La Jolla High.