Girl Scouts Celebrate International Day of the Girl in Montana

Each year, the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming recognize a member for their Gold Award Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to 3,500 members of the Girl Scouts across the US!

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This year, Rebekah Schoen is honored with this achievement. The class of 2022's world-changers invested over 300,000 hours in addressing real-life problems such as environmental sustainability, racial justice, mental and emotional wellness, and gender inequality in STEM.

Schoen, who is currently in their second year at Michigan State University, earned the Gold Award in July 2021 by addressing period poverty and stigma at their high school in Wyoming while advocating for young people in their community.

According to Schoen, “I decided to do the Period Project my senior year because I wanted to choose a cause that empowered women in my community in a multifaceted way while still being true to my gender identity.” Through their Period Project, Schoen partnered with the national organization PERIOD to establish a PERIOD chapter in their high school. The PERIOD chapter created a safe space for students to collaborate and advocate for change for themselves and others. They hosted workshops with educators on how to address period poverty in the classroom, held period product drives, and created educational content for social media.

GSUSA’s 111 councils were each provided the opportunity to nominate one of their outstanding Gold Award Girl Scouts to receive a national scholarship for over $2,000 each. The GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship recipients represent $225,000 invested, made possible by Insight Global, The Coca-Cola Foundation, and Kappa Delta Foundation. “RJ was chosen by GSMW for the GSUSA Gold Award scholarship because their project demonstrated extraordinary leadership, measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed an issue of national and global significance,” says Bridget Moore, GSMW’s Member Support Manager, who oversees the council’s Highest Award program. “RJ’s project addressed the issue of period poverty in their high school and had a multifaceted approach to tackling the issue that resulted in opening up conversations and raised awareness for the problem in their community and beyond.”

To view the list of the 3,500 outstanding 2022 Gold Award projects, visit girlscouts.org/goldawardclass.