280 residents earn Gold Awards
Ivey Randle and Taylor Player, both seniors at Oak Mountain High School, have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.
Randle earned her Gold Award for her project, “Beauty Within – Gold Created You Beautifully.” For her project, Randle wanted to promote self-esteem among middle school girls through her Christian faith. She created a workshop for middle school girls at Valleydale Church to address age-appropriate clothing, a makeup demonstration, healthy eating and fitness through a hands-on workout routine, as well as discipleship.
Her project will be sustained for years to come through a Beauty Within workshop template she created for Valleydale Church. Randle said earning her Gold Award has strengthened her public speaking, time management and problem-solving abilities.
“Through the Gold Award project, I was able to act on what I believe in,” Randle said. “I think it’s important to be a female leader because younger girls need someone to look up to and have a positive role model in today’s world.”
Player earned her Gold Award for her project, “The Four Little Girls Patch Program.”
Her project focused on the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963, which caused the death of four young girls and was a turning point in the civil rights movement. Player was touched by this story, particularly by the fact that one of the girls, Carole Robertson, was a Girl Scout like herself. Player wanted to take action to spread awareness so the Four Little Girls’ story would not be forgotten.
Player began the process by learning more about the girls, including meeting with their families and getting first-hand accounts. She met one-on-one with Sen. Doug Jones, who successfully prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members and put them behind bars after the case was reopened nearly 40 years after the bombing. She talked to him about his role in the case and to ask that the Four Little Girls be in the statewide curriculum.
“He told me that my generation, people like myself, we’re going to change the world,” Player said.
She created a Girl Scouts patch program so girls in Birmingham and all over the country can learn about the Four Little Girls. Some of the activities to earn the patch include: watching the Spike Lee documentary, visiting a Civil Rights museum, talking to a Civil Rights activist or someone who was alive during that era, visiting a historical African American church and discussing why the story of the Four Little Girls is important today.
Player is interested in studying law and will be attending the University of Alabama this fall.
Each girl earning her Gold Award demonstrates excellence through a leadership project totaling more than 65 hours.
Submitted by Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama