Seven Lakes High School Girl Scout Receives National Honor
KATY, TX News (January 11, 2017) – According to the Girl Scout Research Institute’s (GSRI) report, The Power of the Girl Scout Gold Award: Excellence in Leadership and Life, Girl Scout Gold Award recipients receive greater lifetime benefits than their peers with regard to positive sense of self, life satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service, and civic engagement thanks to their experience in Girl Scouting, including earning their Gold Award.
Chloe Bartine, a senior at Seven Lakes High School, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting. The award recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable community service projects that require a minimum of 80 hours to complete. Less than five percent of Girl Scouts earn the award.
To earn the award, Bartine designed and built two Little Free Libraries for Neighborhood Kidz Club in the communities of Western Pines and Trinity Hunters Place located in Katy, Texas. Bartine’s goal was to address the learning gaps that occur over the summer or holiday breaks when children do not have access to books.
“The Little Free Library is open all the time and the books are free,” said Bartine. “It is a way to promote literacy and nurture the love of reading through sharing.”
To stock the libraries with books, Bartine also hosted a book drive and led more than 15 volunteers to complete this project.
Bartine has served as a volunteer for Neighborhood Kidz Club’s summer reading program the past few summers and said that the kids love having access to books to read during that time.
“I have always loved to read and feel that books can take you places you have never been, help you find the answers to questions you may have and give you opportunities to dream and explore,” said Bartine. “I wanted to give the kids an opportunity to be able to read any time.”
Through earning the Gold Award, Bartine learned the importance of leadership and how it directly affects the success of the project, patience and how to be more organized and attentive to the needs of the project.
After graduation, Bartine will attend the University of Alabama to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in dance.
To learn more about the Girl Scout Gold Award, visit www.girlscouts.org.
