Happy Girl Scout week! Today we honored 25 girls from across Western Ohio who achieved the highest honor in Girl Scouting-the Gold Award! This prestigious award challenged each girl to change the world—or at least her corner of it, by identifying a community problem and taking action to help solve or lessen the problem not only in the short term, but for years into the future.

In a ceremony featuring Hope Taft, former first lady of Ohio, as the keynote speaker and attended by the award recipients, their families, friends, and dignitaries from across our regions these exceptional girls were recognized for their achievements at the Schuster Performing Arts Center Wintergarden in Dayton, OH on March 8th, 2015.

The girls’ projects and the need they addressed were as diverse as the interests and communities that each girl represents, but each project challenged the girls to become leaders by collaborating with organizations and individuals in their communities, recruiting and training volunteers, creating a lasting change in their community through a sustainable project, and educating others on this community need. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating their immense achievement and wishing them well in all of their future endeavors.

Gold Award Recipients of 2015, we salute you! Next year will be the 100th anniversary of this prestigious award. We can’t wait to see what amazing projects the 2016 Gold girls have in store for us.