Five Chandler residents are among recent recipients of The Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting.

The award was recently presented to 12 Southeast Valley girls from the Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Council.

The prestigious award is presented to girls in grades 9 to 12 who have used the skills acquired in Girl Scouts to showcase sustainable and measurable impact through problem-solving of relevant issues on a local or national level. The scouts must also complete a Gold Award-worthy project.

“Making an impact on our world is what being a Girl Scout is all about. Each Gold Award project is a journey that tells a story of a girl and the cause that is important to her,” says Mary Mitchell, co-CEO of the Council. “Gold Award Girl Scouts set the gold standard in our community, and GSACPC is proud to honor an astounding 35 awardees this year who are making lasting change.”

The 12 projects that target an array of relevant issues. Projects included establishing programs to improve mental and physical health, sustainability, and animal welfare, as well as addressing gender bias, lack of medical access, gaps in educational curriculum and more.

The 2024 Southeast Valley Gold Award Girl Scouts and their impactful projects include these five recipients from Chandler:

Ella Chevalier

Eyewear for All

Inspired by her cousin’s past Gold Award project at an orphanage in Shanghai, China, Chevalier discovered her own project idea that crossed continents.

While exploring causes, she noticed a school mission trip to Brazil to establish eye clinics in villages lacking medical access, which ignited the goal for her own project.

In preparation, Ella established reading glass donation drives at three schools in her community before traveling to Manaus, Brazil with her team and over 1000 pairs of reading glasses to share with the villages.

In addition to providing glasses, Chevalier and her team hosted clinics at three villages along the Rio Negro in Brazil, administering simple eye exams and glasses to those who attended to help enhance vision and quality of life.

Upon her return, Chevalier brought awareness to the importance of vision and the impact of community service projects by presenting her efforts to her high school class and encouraging fellow students to go on next year’s trip.

Chevalier will take the lessons she learned throughout 14 years of Girl Scouting to the University of Kentucky, where she plans to major in psychology and earn her doctorate.

Mezaan Crosby

Muslim Girls Mentoring Program

After finding support from a female Muslim mentor during the pandemic, Girl Scout Mezaan Crosby wanted to give this opportunity to other girls, leading to the creation of the Muslim Girls Mentoring Program.

With studies revealing that mentorships create healthier relationships and help improve self-confidence, Crosby organized regular monthly meetings with fun activities and celebrations for the group including an outdoor hike, community service, an Eid party, and a confidence workshop.
Crosby’s program impacted a total of 37 young

Muslim women as well as their families and mentors. 60% of program mentees said they felt more confident and 100% of the mentors who completed the survey said they would serve as mentors again.

Crosby has been involved in Girl Scouts for more than 10 years and credits her Gold Award-winning project for teaching her how to fundraise and improve her public speaking skills.

A student at Horizon Honors Secondary School, Crosby plans to major in either life science or biomedical engineering with a long-term goal of a Ph.D. in engineering from an “R1” institution.

Julia Kim

Helping Hand Yoga

When working on a health assignment for school, Kim stumbled upon an article from JAMA Pediatrics that reported a surge in depression and anxiety over the past five years in children ages 5-17.

Motivated by this data and her experiences volunteering with youth at a local after-school program, Kim dedicated her Gold Award project to creating a space where people of all ages could relax while gaining coping skills for managing stress and anxiety.

Yoga being a passion of hers, Kim conducted yoga sessions during Club Fridays at Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods (ICAN), a local community after-school program where she interacted with dozens of students, staff and educators.

She also created a blog to reach a broader audience to share information and techniques on managing stress. After graduating from high school, Kim hopes to attend a university to pursue a medical degree that will put her on track to become a physician.

Haley Lee

Preventing Period Poverty

To address period poverty and the stigma around menstrual periods, Haley focused her Gold Award project on combating this issue directly by creating an educational curriculum and period kits to distribute to communities in need.

Lee developed her curriculum to cover menstrual cycles, hygiene, and products as well as the prevalence of period poverty and the necessity to address it.

Lee’s project educated 30 girls in total, and she created 266-period kits with her team, each with more than 10 period products and a personalized label.

She donated more than $2,000 of menstrual products to AZ Diaper Bank to be distributed across Arizona and collaborated with local women-owned businesses to gather donations and make connections for kit distribution.

A Girl Scout for about 11 years, Lee continues to attribute her service to the community due to her childhood in Girl Scouts.

Lee attends Hamilton High School and plans to follow the pre-med track in college when she graduates.

Cameron Shinyeda

So You Want to Fly Podcast

With a private pilot’s license and a passion for flying, Shinyeda established her own podcast to inspire others and share resources that were not easily available to her when she started flying.

Through Spotify, Shinyeda has reached multiple listeners across the country and has learned a thing or two about podcasting. She plans to take her learning and hobby to the next level to pursue a career in aerospace engineering.

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