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Gold Award Girl Scout: Ellis Edmonds
Ellis Edmonds has been a Girl Scout with Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama for 13 years. She says that she has learned many things through Girl Scouting, but the most important thing she has learned is her love of volunteering and helping others. Through these passions, she developed her Gold Award Project. She created a digital cookbook called Chef Beyond Bounds that uses pictures to describe the steps to make simple meals for individuals with disabilities.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the pinnacle of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, and it is available exclusively to Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors (9-12 grade). Through the Gold Award, girls engage in a rigorous leadership process, tackle issues they are passionate about in order to create long-term, sustainable change. To earn the Gold Award, girls typically spend one to two years exploring the root cause of a local or global issue and partner with the community to create lasting solutions.
Ellis gave insights on her life-changing Gold Award Project below.
How did you come up with your idea?
“Two years ago, I visited the Children's Center Adult Program in Montgomery for the first time and was excited about the work they do. More than that, I wanted to help! The organization is based around supporting individuals with disabilities, and while I was there, I found that they were missing something important. Each student had the potential to cook for themselves, they were just unable to understand a typical recipe (i.e. one with written words). From there, I decided I wanted to bridge that gap and find a way for each student to cook recipes by themselves, as well as learn the life skills that cooking teaches.”
Why did you choose this project?
“I chose this project because of the enjoyment I found when I first visited CCAP. I had no idea of the challenges that individuals with disabilities face in their everyday lives, so to see that I could make a difference to that was incredible.”
What did you learn along the way?
“I learned how important it is to put yourself out there! If I hadn't contacted Mrs. Cynthia about my project, it wouldn't have had the opportunity to grow the way it did. You should also always try to serve others because doing is incredibly rewarding.”
Tell us a little story about some part of your project that was special to you. Something funny, touching, most successful, or where it went wrong and how you fixed it?
“For the third session of my project, I chose to have everyone make a dinner of pizza and s'mores. Everything was going well until we got to the s'mores, where the students’ dessert creations kept falling apart as we tried to move them to the oven. I was worried about it, thinking they would be upset that their s'more didn't look how they remembered, but the director of CCAP, Mrs. Cynthia McCaghren, assured me it would be fine. I wasn't quite sure it would be, until I saw the smiles on each student's face as we placed their s’mores on their plates. They each loved their s'more!”
How will people benefit from your project?
“Individuals with developmental and physical disabilities will have the opportunity to learn life skills despite the challenges they may encounter. My goal is to help them live a more independent and fulfilling life.”
How did you feel after you finished your project?
“It felt so good! I loved being able to look back at my project and see just how many lives it was able to touch. CCAP made it so easy for me to see everyone's joy in the cookbook, as well as everyone's progress.”
What advice would you give to other girls considering a Gold Award Project?
“I would tell them to really consider what difference they are passionate about making. It is so important to understand who or what it is that you want to help since it can really help you be inspired to create your project and truly make that impact. I hope every girl feels inspired to create one!”
Your Gold Project made a change for the better in your community. Did it change you? If so, how? Did you learn new skills, or change your outlook on an issue? What will you take away from this experience?
“I learned how much I genuinely enjoy leading people and how good it allows me to feel about myself! My Gold Award has allowed me to feel more comfortable in my own skin and understand just what I want my identity to be. It has also given me to courage to take over the role of president in student-lead organizations at school since I now feel comfortable leading projects.”
Ellis Edmonds is from Pike Road, AL, and will soon graduate from Pike Road High School. After graduating, she will be studying Computer Science at Auburn University. Her hope is to continue positively impacting lives of many people with the use of her degree, similar to what she has already done with her Gold Award Project and through Girl Scouts.
Congratulations on earning your Girl Scout Gold Award, Ellis!
