Gold Award Girl Scout Creates Native Perennial Pollinator Garden for Community
WICHITA, Kan. — Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland congratulates Jenna P. for becoming a Gold Award Girl Scout, a designation she earned by creating a perennial pollinator garden with native Kansas plants and education plan for local students.
The Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable—earned by a high school Girl Scout who works to address an issue she’s passionate about in a way that produces meaningful and lasting change. Whether it’s on a local, national, or global level, Gold Award Girl Scouts provide innovative solutions to significant challenges.
“Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good—and Jenna embodies everything this achievement stands for," said Liz Workman, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland.
“Jenna addressed an issue that’s important to her— installing a pollinator-friendly garden with an educational focus for local students—for her Gold Award, and we congratulate her on this momentous accomplishment.”
Hoping to inspire children to connect with nature on a deeper level, Jenna set out to create a new garden at her school to function both as an educational opportunity and a place for bees and butterflies to pollinate. She developed plans to incorporate native plants from Kansas into the garden, seeking out advice from experts in the area to fully formulate her project concept. Some of the school children from Faith Academy of Wichita assisted with planting the garden to learn about the space in the process. In tandem with planting perennials, Jenna developed an educational booklet alongside her school’s science curriculum with instructions to continue maintenance of the garden throughout the years.
“I put my leadership skills into practice by first assessing the situation that we were dealing with and then figuring out a solution and building a plan,” said Gold Award Girl Scout Jenna. “My original goals were achieved by creating this perennial garden and having people to help sustain it for a very long time. Not only will the garden be sustained, but kids will learn hands-on how nature works and learn skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. I want kids to realize they can be a part of something bigger than them. They may be small, but their impact doesn't have to be.”
