Girl Scout Gold Award Winner

FOND DU LAC, WI–Local Girl Scout Breanna Bellows recently
earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest national award a Girl
Scout can earn. The Girl Scout Gold Award recognizes girls in grades 9 through
12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable
Take Action projects that address important community needs. In earning the
award, Bellows demonstrated outstanding leadership, organizational, and
networking skills. The award was presented to Bellows by
Girl Scouts of Manitou Council, and her troop held a ceremony on April 8 to
formally recognize this achievement.

Earning Girl Scouting’s highest leadership award is
challenging. There are no shortcuts: completing the award’s multiple
requirements often takes several years to complete, and the final requirement
is a significant service project with lasting impact. The Girl Scout Gold Award
is a nationally recognized symbol of leadership, and recipients are given
greater consideration for acceptance to and scholarships from top colleges and
universities, as well as advanced military service ranking.

Bellows’ Gold Award Project consisted of
designing, building, and installing Mason Bee Houses for Gottfried Prairie and
Arboretum.  The project was inspired by a
news report regarding bee population decline due to natural causes, loss of
habitat, and chemical sprays.

“Achieving the Girl Scout Gold Award shows your
dedication to challenging yourself, serving your community and representing
your family with respect,” Girl Scouts of Manitou Council President Amber
Lamers said in a letter accompanying Bellows’ Gold Award certificate. “By
achieving the highest award in Girl Scouting, you are truly part of a special
group of young women. Only six percent of Girl Scouts ages fifteen to seventeen
throughout the United States, about 2,500 Girl Scouts, earn the Girl Scout Gold
Award each year.”

A Girl Scout member for 13 years, Bellows
reached the Ambassador Level of Girl Scouting and is part of Troop 8671 in the
Fond du Lac/Oakfield Service Unit. She is a senior at St. Mary’s Springs
Academy, where she participates in track and field, and forensics. She also
works as a life guard at the Fond du Lac Aquatic Center. She is the daughter of
Amy Bellows and Mark Schaefer.

Bellows is joining the Air Force after graduation and is scheduled to ship out
for training in mid-July 2018. As a result of earning the Gold Award, Bellows
received an increase in rank.

Bellows was supported in her quest for the Gold Award by
project advisor Monica Walk of Walk the Talk Communications, LLC; Tracy
McDermott, as liaison to installation location Gottfried
Prairie and Arboretum; the Dvorachek Family Farm, which provided cedar
boards, power tool usage, and blueprint guidance; Girl Scout Troop #8671
members Epiphany Rhoads and Ivy Bolthouse; and additional help from Brett and
Elizabeth Dykstra. She began her Gold Award project in summer of 2017 and
completed it in November 2017.