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March 6, 2018
Sophomore earns Girl Scout’s highest award
Girl Scouting’s highest awards – the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards – represent an opportunity to make a lasting difference in the world. For Upper St. Clair sophomore Gabriella Spina going gold means earning the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award.
This award, presented to Gabi by Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania, recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects that address important community needs.
Gabi’s project, Taking Care of Your SELFie, offered a free one-day workshop for girls in grades 6, 7 and 8 to address and combat negative self-esteem. The workshop encouraged girls to focus on the positive aspects found within themselves and to utilize these in daily life.
As the girls rotated through various stations, skills such as combatting stress by appealing to the senses while creating bath soaps were discussed. Learning and practicing yoga taught the girls to be in tune with their bodies, as well as the mental and physical importance of posture. Other skills included identifying positive role models to emulate the traits they exhibit. Each participant developed an individual pledge outlining positive traits that she would strive to emulate. The workshop concluded with a discussion on how to create positive and safe spaces on social media.
Gabi’s Gold Award project began in October 2017 and was completed in January 2018. The following individuals and organizations supported her Gold Award effort: Karlie Daschbach, Evelyn Glassbrenner, Grace Eberle, Jackie Kobeski, Olivia John, Harper Keith, Holly Spina, Lauren Madia, Cultures of Dignity, Trader Joe’s, Market District Express and Ardolino’s Pizza.
Gabi serves as secretary/treasurer of Upper St. Clair’s sophomore Student Council. As a Girl Scout member for 14 years, she is a Girl Scout Senior of Troop 52124. Her future plans include attending a four-year university, possibly majoring in political science.
The Gold Award is a national award that represents a Girl Scout’s time, leadership, creativity and effort contributed to making her community better. For more information, visit: www.gswpa.org.
