Every year, ten exceptionally inspiring Girl Scout Gold Award recipients are selected as Girl Scouts' National Young Women of Distinction (NYWOD). This honor is given to Girl Scouts whose Gold Award projects demonstrated extraordinary leadership, had a measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed a local challenge that ties into to a national and/or global issue. These young women are making a positive difference on the world!
Girl Scouts named as National Young Women of Distinction are models of the movement's mission of building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. The program provides these young stars with the opportunity to be an inspiration to girls around the world.
Each council can nominate three Girl Scouts for the opportunity to be selected to be a National Young Woman of Distinction. This year, one of GSSI's nominations was Sarah Pavlisin from O'Fallon.
Watch Sarah's Nomination Video:
Sarah’s Girl Scout Gold Award project, called The Joy of Reading, was to create a library for special needs students in an area school. Not only did she want to create the library where these students could read, but she also wanted to make it a safe haven from the stresses of school work and life. She created sensory bags filled with trinkets and balloons filled with flour. She also, with the help of a handyman, built two bookshelves to hold all of the books, toys and games for the library. In addition, Sarah supplied the library with beanbag chairs, a fish tank and fun mood lighting to make the space more appealing and kid friendly.
