Laura Bryant and Lilly Stratton of La Jolla have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award. They were among 61 young women honored by Girl Scouts San Diego during a recent ceremony at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.
 
Achieving the award is the pinnacle of the Girl Scout leadership experience. To earn it, Girl Scouts change the world by creating sustainable solutions that address society’s greatest challenges. 
 
For her Gold Award project, Laura designed and led character education workshops, games, fairs, and assemblies for K-6 students of The Evans School in La Jolla. A core feature of her Values Education Student-Led program was mentoring students to teach values to peers. She shared her curriculum with other schools and on her website, valued.weebly.com. 

A third-generation Girl Scout, she was in Troop 4134 for nine years. Laura previously earned her Silver Award (the highest accolade for Girl Scout Cadettes) for developing and running a children’s summer camp called Clued In Detective Academy. She is also an aerial silks coach and a musician (drums, piano, voice) for her church’s youth group worship team. The La Jollan will graduate from Santa Fe Christian School in 2020.
 
Lilly held a modified baseball tournament for children with special needs to give them the opportunity to experience playing sports competitively. She teamed up with parents, volunteers, field management, insurance companies, and public agencies to complete her project—using her earnings from the Girl Scout Cookie program. Lily’s competition series was a home run: The youngsters were excited to participate in a championship game and discovered they could achieve whatever they set their minds to.

She started Girl Scouts in kindergarten as a member of Troop 3048, and earned her Girl Scout Bronze and Silver Awards as a Girl Scout Junior and Cadette, respectively. Lily graduated from La Jolla High School this year. She was accepted into the University of California’s Bachelor’s of Science in Health Science and Master’s of Science in Occupational Therapy dual degree program.
 
Hundreds of family members, friends, community leaders, and Girl Scout volunteers attended Girl Scouts San Diego’s Gold Award event. The keynote speaker was Coreen Petti, associate vice president of advancement marketing and strategic partnerships at the University of San Diego, and board chair emeritus of Our Lady of Peace Academy. She is a Gold Award Girl Scout, a Girl Scouts San Diego Cool Woman of 2019, a former troop leader, and member of a multi-generational Girl Scout family. 
 
“Gold Award Girl Scouts change the world for the better, and change it for good!” said Girl Scouts San Diego CEO Carol M. Dedrich. “Our 2019 honorees embody everything this achievement stands for.” 
 
The Gold Award enables young women to distinguish themselves in the college admissions process, earn college scholarships, and enlisting in the military at a higher pay grade. Gold Award Girl Scouts are an elite group of individuals, and many have gone on to become change-makers and prominent leaders in their communities.