The Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting, has been awarded to 35 local girls this year from the Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Council. Three of them are Peoria residents.

The prestigious Gold Award is presented to girls in grades nine to 12 who have used the skills acquired in Girl Scouts to showcase sustainable and measurable impact through problem-solving of relevant issues on a local or national level by completing a Gold Award-worthy project.

“Making an impact on our world is what being a Girl Scout is all about. Each Gold Award project is a journey that tells a story of a girl and the cause that is important to her,” said GSACP co-CEO Mary Mitchell. “Gold Award Girl Scouts set the gold standard in our community, and GSACPC is proud to honor an astounding 35 awardees this year who are making lasting change.”

The Peoria residents are Emily Coronado, Rachel Leppla and Claire Xu.

The 2024 Gold Award class represents a variety of service projects that target an array of relevant issues. Projects included establishing programs to improve mental and physical health, sustainability, and animal welfare, as well as addressing gender bias, lack of medical access, gaps in educational curriculum and more.

"Gold Awardees have long laid the groundwork for impactful projects through their involvement in Girl Scouts and this is just the beginning for this group of young innovators," said GSACP co-CEO Christina Spicer. "Recipients are not only carrying this honor and meaningful change with them for life, but also setting themselves apart in scholarship applications, college admission essays, and job interviews.”

Learn more about the Peoria recipients here.

Emily Coronado

Visual and Performing Arts Mural
Emily created a mural at Centennial High School dedicated to performing and visual arts to engage students to get involved in these programs. Emily spoke with students of all grades to communicate the message of her mural, encouraging them to participate in the arts while emphasizing the benefits. After the completion of her project, Emily was contacted by multiple students who started to engage in the arts as well as the drama club officers who noticed an increase in involvement. A Girl Scout of seven years, Emily took her lifelong passion for various art forms and brought it to life in hopes of benefiting her school and the social lives of her fellow students, all of which earned her the prestigious Gold Award honor. Emily is a graduate of Centennial High School and currently attends Glendale Community College where she studies fine arts illustration.

Rachel Leppla
A Change to Energy
Rachel created her Gold Award project to spread awareness about sustainable energy and how the use of energy affects the world. Rachel researched and created an online platform to share her findings with the local community. She ensured her research was accessible to young audiences to help them understand what sustainable and clean energy is. As her 12 years of Girl Scouting come to an end, Rachel is now using her leadership and communication skills to pursue degrees in English and Journalism/Mass Communications at Arizona State University.

Claire Xu
Music for Community
Drawing inspiration from her long-time experience in music as a piano and flute player as well as well as her cherished memories performing for her grandparents, Claire set out on her Gold Award mission to create positive, entertaining experiences for the elderly through “Music for Community,” a bi-weekly club that performs monthly recitals at senior living facilities. To effectively develop and maintain “Music for Community,” Claire applied the communication and organizational skills she learned over 11 years of Girl Scouting to lead outreach and engage club members. During the project, the impactful club gained 26 members across 13 different instruments and held 15 club performances at eight retirement homes across the valley. Claire is a current student at Mountain Ridge High School and plans to study economics or business administration while carrying her life-long love for music and performance.