ND & SD Girl Scouts Honored With Gold Awards

Nine girl scouts were awarded the 2018 Girl Scout Gold Award for their time and service dedicated to their communities

FARGO, N.D. – 9 girl scouts from North Dakota and South Dakota were awarded the 2018 Girl Scout Gold Award for their time and service dedicated to their communities.

One award recipient devoted her project to a passion of hers.

“It’s a program that focuses on girls on the prairie and what life was like before technology,” 2018 Girl Scout Gold Award recipient McKenzie Hassebroek said. “They’re going to go through the daily life of a girl on the prairie, like making homemade butter, making dolls, a whole bunch of fun stuff.”

Joining the girls was a special guest and North Dakota native.

Miss America 2018, Cara Mund, was invited to speak on her experiences as a former girl scout and as a positive role model for the recipients.

“I had such an amazing experience with the girl scouts and it really taught me the leadership skills and giving back to your community,” Miss America 2018 Cara Mund said. “When I went to college and I was looking at sororities, I actually chose my sorority because our national philanthropy was the girl scouts, and so I knew what the organization did for me and I wanted to really foster that for all of the other young girls.”

Cara started off as a brownie within the Girl Scouts Organization and was able to share experiences on how being a girl scout made a positive impact on her life.

“They are some of the most elite in the world and when we say, at girl scouts, we have go–getters, innovators, risk takers, and leaders, and it’s girl–led, these are who we are talking about too, these girls are really amazing,” Girl Scouts Dakota Horizons CEO Marla Meyer said.

After dedicating years to the organization, girl scouts are starting to see their work pay off.

“It feels really good because I’ve been working at this since I was in kindergarten, that’s when I started girl scouts, so to build all the way up to this point feels amazing,” 2018 Girl Scout Gold Award recipient Mikayla Ripplanger said.

Girl Scout Gold Awards are honored annually for the girls who complete the requirements set by the Girl Scouts Dakota Horizons Council.