Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois (GSSI) is pleased to announce that Alexa Keiser from Edwardsville has received the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can receive.
For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called Mission Paws-able, Alexa worked with Partners for Pets in Troy. Alexa had already been working with the animal shelter by fostering dogs. When she visited the shelter with her mother, she saw how small the facility was and noticed the need of a shelving system to house the animal crates. Fortunately for the shelter, they were soon able to move into a larger facility. The new facility didn’t have a need for the shelving system, so Alexa came up with a new plan. She, with the guidance from her grandfather, designed and built carts for the shelter to use to transport kennels. Alexa provided Partners for Pets with the blueprints so they can build additional carts in the future, and she also volunteered at several of the organization’s adoption events.
Through her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Alexa gained valuable leadership skills that she’ll be able to use throughout her life. “I learned how to take part in leadership, make compromises when plans change and to not give up on a project you want to do,” states Alexa.
Alexa is the daughter of Laura and Mike Keiser. She is currently a freshman at Lewis and Clark Community College. Alexa plans to carry her love of animals through her education as she majors in veterinary medicine and animal biology.
The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, recognizes a Girl Scout's commitment to excellence as she develops skills and values to meet present and future challenges in her life. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, a Girl Scout Senior or Girl Scout Ambassador must design and carry out a project that fulfills a need within a girl’s community, creates change, and is sustainable. The project must be completed with a suggested minimum of 80 hours of work. Only about 5 percent of eligible girls earn the prestigious Gold Award.
