Community Corner
Fairfax County Girl Scouts Honored
Dozens of Girl Scouts from the Fairfax County area earned prestigious awards Friday night for long-term service projects
More than 90 Girl Scouts from the Fairfax County area were honored with high ranking awards for major service projects. The Precious Medals Ceremony was held Friday night at the Fairfax Government Center.
The Silver Award, Silver Trefoil Award, and Gold Award are earned depending on age and the number of service hours that went into a project. Silver Awards demand at least 40 hours of service work, whereas the Gold Award requires 80.
The scouts were from Vienna, Dunn Loring, Falls Church, McLean, Fairfax, Reston Herndon and Centreville, among other areas.
Lidia Soto-Harmon, Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital, was Friday night’s keynote speaker and spoke about how much pride the Girl Scouts have in hard work that benefits the world around them.
“It is pretty amazing, they’ve made an incredible commitment to their communities,” Soto-Harmon said. “All these projects are girl led.”
And each honored project was distinct. Troop 5641, comprised of girls from Clifton, Centreville, Herndon and Fairfax, received a Silver Award for designing and creating books about the alphabet and numbers, laminating them and donating them to the Headstart Program in Herndon.
“It was fun to do with friends and a great thing to do for the community,” said Catey Susco from Clifton. “[The best part was] seeing the kids faces when we gave them the books.”
Soto-Harmon said these projects really tie into the Girl Scout mission.
“One of the amazing things about Girl Scouts is the concept of discovery, connect, take action," she said. "With all of these projects, girls are using that philosophy."
Some of the award projects took two to three years to complete. One Gold Award recipient raised service dogs for Companions for Independence and wrote a novel about the experience, which is now available within the Fairfax County Public Library System.
Tess Irelan, of Fairfax City, earned her Silver Award working at a Girl Scout Camp. She says she’s thrilled to be recognized for her work, but also happy to be part of Girl Scouts for another reason.
“It’s good to have something for just girls,” she said.
