Rebecca Beilinson of Southbury Earns Gold Award

Rebecca Beilinson of Southbury has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting. In order to earn the Gold Award, Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts between the grades of 9-12 spend at least 80 hours researching issues, assessing community needs and resources, building a team, and making a sustainable impact in the community. A Gold Award recipient’s accomplishments reflect leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart as a community leader. Rebecca organized an awareness campaign at her synagogue that focused on educating girls in developing countries. She also collected over 300 books for a school that empowers girls in Afghanistan as well as for Girls, Inc. in Waterbury. She created a lesson plan for teachers at her high school and her school’s French Honor Society will make the book drive an annual event. She is studying biology at Yale University. The Gold Award is the highest achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting, meeting national standards set by Girl Scouts of the USA. 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. This year, 70 young women from around the state earned their Girl Scout Gold Award, an unprecedented number and the most recipients in Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s history. Many of the Gold Award recipients attended a special ceremony on June 2 at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford and received certificates from Girl Scouts of Connecticut and Girl Scouts of the USA, as well as a congratulatory letter from Girl Scouts of Connecticut CEO, Mary Barneby. The Gold Award recipients will also receive certificates or letters from Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, United States Senator Chris Murphy, the Connecticut General Assembly, and Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed fraternity. For more information about the Gold Award or how to become a Gold Award volunteer or mentor, visit http://www.gsofct.org/pages/GoldAward.php.