Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania is honored to announce that four Luzerne County residents have earned the highest award in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award, for the 2025 Gold Award class.

Brooke Plucas of Holy Redeemer High School created a project called “Painting with a Purpose” that addressed girl-to-girl bullying. She partnered with her school district to design and install a mural in the girls’ bathroom at her high school with a message promoting support for women. Her project will be sustained as the mural inspires conversations and is now a permanent part of the school.

Eliana Parra of Wyoming Seminary partnered with the West Pittston Historical Society to catalog and record memorabilia to create a database of information and photographs. Her efforts will help the organization access materials easily and keep track of inventory. Her project will be sustained as she set up the database to be user-friendly for future volunteers to keep it updated.

Em Raub of Dallas High School partnered with the Friends of Camp Louise to create team-building activities that can be used by community groups at the former campground. The project will be sustained as groups have a permanent way to enjoy outdoor recreation and team building through the course.

Lily Grymko of the Wilkes-Barre STEM Academy partnered with the Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society to create a walk-about that built awareness, preserved heritage, and fostered civic engagement. She designed a packet loaded with facts for people to use on a new historic walking trail in town. Her project will be sustained as the packet is available for anyone to access online.

Each of the four Girl Scouts devoted a minimum of 80 hours to problem-solve, plan, and implement their ideas.

The impact of their Gold Award projects will be felt long into the future, and these four have shown the next generation of girls what they are capable of accomplishing.

The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn, available to girls in high school who create sustainable change for a community or world issue. Gold Award Girl Scouts address pressing issues in their communities and create sustainable change to make the world a better place.

The Gold Award process not only enables girls to help their communities, but also provides tangible benefits as they grow as individuals. By going Gold, girls build professional skills, earn scholarships, build their network, and for those interested in serving their country, are able to enlist at a higher pay grade when they join the military.