Katy Girl Scout Creates Videos for Autistic Children to Earn Gold Award
Katy Texas News
Posted April 4, 2011
Girl Scout Ambassador Rebecca Bordelon created videos teaching life skills and social skills to children with autism to earn the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. Less than five percent of girls who join Girl Scouts earn this recognition.
“I learned that hard work and perseverance really pay off in the end, and that when things seem tough or monotonous, you can’t give up,” says Rebecca, a senior in home school.
Earning the Gold Award is a significant honor that requires recipients to demonstrate outstanding leadership skills, career planning, community involvement and personal development. It takes more than 100 service hours and two to three years of intensive work to complete the award requirements, which include planning and completing a project that is a service to the community.
“I chose this project, because I have a brother with autism, and I knew that I would be able to help a lot of children in KISD with autistic disorder,” explains Rebecca.
For her year-long project, Rebecca researched life skills topics, wrote up scenarios, recruited actors and produced videos for the children in the social skills and special education classes at Katy ISD. The videos taught basic hygiene, getting ready for school in the morning tasks, conversational skills and more.
“Rebecca has become better organized, keeping schedules and to-do lists, and is less likely to procrastinate, a big improvement,” says June Bordelon, Rebecca’s mother. “She is also more confident in her abilities, more self-assured and less shy about talking to and approaching adults.”
As a member of Girl Scouts for 11 years, Rebecca was involved in the SPURS and STARS horseback riding programs. Her extracurricular activities include participating in theater and her church’s youth band. Following graduation, she plans to attend the Culinary Institute of America to get a bachelor’s degree in baking and pastry arts.
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