A Ketchikan Girl Scout has earned the highest honor awarded by that organization, and will head to Anchorage next week for the formal ceremony honoring her achievement.

For her Gold Award, Mary Baker taught other girls a skill that’s not nearly as common as it used to be.

“Sewing isn’t really being taught anymore in schools or in homes by parents and all,” she said. “So, I taught girls how to sew and I had a sew-in, and I had two Rainy Day Quilt Guild members come and volunteer to help the girls sew.”

Baker said the girls learned how to use sewing machines, and completed nine squares for what will eventually become a quilt. She said the girls in the sewing class have said they want to continue learning how to sew.

The Gold Award is similar to the Boy Scout’s Eagle Scout Award. To earn the Gold Award, a Girl Scout must have reached a certain level in scouting, and then come up with a special project.

“We have to do all this paperwork to get the project approved, and we have to talk to the board,” she explained.

To qualify, a Gold Award project must focus on organizational, leadership, and networking skills; fulfill a need within the community and

create potentially ongoing change.

 

Baker said she’s been a Girl Scout consistently for the last five years.

“I enjoy Girl Scouts because I’m meeting people all the time, and I get to interact with girls of all ages, and it’s just a good environment,” she said.

A different Girl Scout sewing program years ago led Baker to ask Scout volunteer Gail Alguire for more sewing tips. Baker has since participated in group quilt projects, and says she enjoys the camaraderie, as well as the creative process.

Baker will fly to Anchorage for the Alaska Girl Scout award ceremony on March 27th.

Five other Alaska Girl Scouts earned their Gold Awards this year and will be honored at the Anchorage ceremony. They are Leila Pyle of Kodiak, Addoris Davis of Homer, Bonnie Billingsley of Anchorage, Anna Grant of Anchorage and Cassandra Alexander of Wasilla.

More information about the Gold Award is available online at http://www.girlscoutsalaska.org/for-teens/leadership-awards