By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Alyssa Church of Hays has earned the highest award in Girl Scouting— the Gold Award, and she will be recognized this weekend in Wichita for her achievement.
Church created 100 Homework Buddy bags for children in the five elementary schools in Hays.
Church, 16, is a junior at Thomas More Prep-Marian and an Ambassador-level Girl Scout.
The bags were filled with new and used school supplies. Some of the supplies included crayons, pencils, markers, erasers, glue, rulers, colored pencils and a homemade crayon that Church made herself.
Church also included sheets highlighting good study habits.
She also decorated the outside of the bags.
Although First Call for Help has the annual Back Pack for Kids school supply giveaway, those school supplies are meant to stay at school.
Church wanted the Hays children to have school supplies they could take home to use when they were working on homework.
"A lot of kids don't have things at home," she said. "They don't have a box of crayons or markers at home. The purpose of my project is to give them the supplies they need to successfully complete their homework at home."
Church conducted a drive for supplies at school and sent out a request on social media.
Church said when she was presenting her project to the awards committee, one of the members, who had been a kindergarten teacher, said one of her students tried to sneak school supplies from the classroom into his backpack because the child had nothing to use at home for homework.
Church developed the project idea because she wanted to rehome the pencils, markers and crayons her family no longer used.
"I wanted a way for the families who needed them to get them," she said.
Church had to complete 80 hours of volunteer service toward her project and earn a Journey badge to earn her Gold Award.
Church hopes to be a preschool teacher after she graduates high school.
"I just love being around kids. I love kids. I love being around the little ones who are preschool or kindergarten age," she said.
Church has experience babysitting and worked at Bright Minds Academy in its preschool this summer.
Church said she loves helping people, and she's been able to do that through Girl Scouts.
She and her Troop — No. 11210 — have been together since kindergarten.
Church's mother, Amy, has been her leader since the beginning.
"I'm very proud. I read that only 5.4 percent of Girl Scouts make their Gold Award. She put a lot of hard work into it," Amy said.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is often compared to the Boy Scout Eagle Award. Awardees can apply for special scholarships. They can also join the military at one rank higher, as can Eagle Scouts.
Her project was approved by the Gold Award committee in spring 2023, and Church presented the bags to the schools at the beginning of this school year.
The four girls who remain in the troop also have participated in various service projects.
Although the Gold Award is an individual project, troops can do the precursors to it—the Bronze and Silver awards—with their troops.
Girl Scouts complete their Bronze Awards as Juniors in the fourth or fifth grades. Silver Awards are completed when Girl Scouts are Cadettes in middle school.
Troop 11210 members created homemade dog toys for the Humane Society of the High Plains for their Bronze Award. They made activity bags, called Kid Kits, for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ellis County and Court Appointed Special Advocates for their Silver Award.
Church has also traveled with Girl Scouts. This summer, she went whitewater rafting in Colorado and made the cover of a Girl Scout magazine.
"Being a Girl Scout is so much fun since I started in kindergarten," Church said. "I'm really glad that I was able to be a Girl Scout this long and complete my Gold Award."
Amy said she has also enjoyed being a volunteer.
"Looking back at these girls since kindergarten and seeing how much they have matured and grown over the years and their friendships and their bonds," she said. ... We've done a lot—a lot of volunteer work, service work. We put on our church Easter egg hunt.
"I've watched them grow, and in two years, they'll be in college, and maybe they'll be a Girl Scout leader and volunteer that way and give back," she said.
Alyssa said she would like to be a Girl Scout leader as well.
If you are interested in becoming a Girl Scout or volunteering with Girl Scouts, you can call 1-888-686-6468 or email us at [email protected].
Editor's note: Cristina Janney is a Girl Scout volunteer.