Gold Award Girl Scout Educates Youth on Melanoma Awareness
GARDEN PLAIN, Kan. — Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland congratulates Savannah T. for becoming a Gold Award Girl Scout, a designation she earned by educating children and young campers on the dangers and prevention of melanoma.
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 Savannah embodies everything this achievement stands for," said Rolinda Sample, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland. “Savannah addressed an issue that’s important to her — educating others on the dangers of melanoma.”
After seeing a close family member be diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer, Savannah realized how little she knew about skin cancer, the dangers of it and how to prevent it. She learned that even though there isn’t a cure, prevention can be possible and she wanted to share that information with others.
Savannah’s project was two-fold; creating a sustainable resource where children and campers could easily obtain sunscreen and educating them on the dangers of melanoma and why it’s important to wear sunscreen.
Savannah built a box that she installed at Starwoods Girl Scout Center (Clearwater, Kan.). The box is located at the front of the camp property and is stocked with bottles of sunscreen. Campers are welcome to take a bottle if they forget their own, or add to it if they have enough. The box also has a sign attached with facts about melanoma and wearing sunscreen as well as information on how to identify it and what to look for on your own skin.
The second part of Savannah’s project was to take her knowledge and research even further. Savannah reached out to five local camps as well as ICT SOS to share her information. She created flyers and booklets with the information and distributed them to all six facilities. She also created information sheets and crossword puzzles for the children to use so they could learn about skin cancer in an easier, fun way.
“Seeing my family member go through this and not knowing much about melanoma was scary,” Savannah said. “I hope that this information and this project can help others learn more about this cancer and know why sunscreen is so important.”
