Five from Lincoln earn Girl Scouts’ highest honor

By Linda Hammett Ory

Five girls from Lincoln Girl Scout Troop 72886 who have been Scouts since kindergarten — Lia Darling, Ashley du Toit, Alison Dwyer, Anya Elder, and Audrey Ory — attained the honor of earning their Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.

All five graduated from high school this year (du Toit, Dwyer and Elder from Lincoln-Sudbury High School, Darling from Beaver Country Day School, and Ory from the Middlesex School).

The girls were recognized at the State House on June 14 along with 88 other awardees from across Massachusetts. Lincoln had the most number of girls at the ceremony of any town represented. The girls received special commendations for their accomplishments from multiple sources, including the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives, their local state representatives, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and Gov. Charles Baker.

To earn the Gold Award, Girl Scouts must identify an issue in their community they’a passionate about, and then complete a project to address the issue that will continue to operate in their absence. Each girl created her own project plan and team, and then devoted at least 80 hours to implement the plan.

Darling’s project was designed to address the lack of information about mental illness in her school and community. She formulated a plan and a team that used facts and stories to educate herself, classmates, and teachers about how to be mentally healthy and informed about types of mental illness and prevention.

“Girl Scouting is where you can challenge yourself to do things that you thought you couldn’t do,” said Darling, adding, “it’s a way to make incredible bonds with girls that will always support you throughout life.”

Du Toit focused on bicyclist safety in Lincoln. She worked with Lincoln’s local government and a special committee to successfully install road signs around town letting motorists know that “bicycles may use full lane,” and then wrapped up her project by organizing a bicycle safety event for children. 

“Girl Scouts teaches girls how to speak out and be bold without fear of being criticized,” said du Toit.

Dwyer’s project focused on increasing residents’ participation in Lincoln’s town government. She conducted several studies to identify best communication practices about how town decisions are made, and she developed a curriculum about local government that will now be added to the middle school social studies program.

Through the process of earning the Gold Award, “I discovered I enjoyed working with people I never thought I’d talk to, and I learned from others in the process,” Dwyer said.

Elder aimed to reduce cyberbullying by creating a program that will now be offered annually at her school to educate and bring awareness around the topic, with the aim of reducing the frequency of this damaging online behavior.

Girl Scouting “taught me not to shy away from opportunities or challenges, but rather, to embrace and appreciate them,” Elder said.

Ory developed and taught a financial literacy curriculum for middle school girls to foster both knowledge about finances and the confidence to pursue their interests in related fields. She pinpointed this critical developmental age as an important way to help address the lack of women in the finance industry.

“Without Girl Scouting, I wouldn’t be the person I am today, and I never could have done what I have been able to achieve,” said Ory.

In addition to learning all these life skills, Lia Darling reflected that “Girl Scouting is a way to make incredible bonds with girls that will always support you throughout life.”

Research has shown that girls who earn their Girl Scout Gold Award display a more positive sense of self, participate in more community service and civic engagement, and reach higher levels of education and income. If your daughter is aged 5–18 and is interested in joining the Lincoln Girl Scouts, contact Heather Coughlin at hmcoughlin@gmail.com.