Girl Scouts NorCal Gold Awardee on Capitol Hill with Congress, U.S. Treasurer Unveiling New Girl Scout Centennial Coin

GSNorCal's Sri Muppidi & Marina Park

From Thin Mints to the U.S. Mint -- Girl Scouts officially has its own coin, and one of our own girls from Girl Scouts of Northern California helped unveil it today in Washington, DC! 

Girl Scout Gold Awardee Sricharana Muppidi of Pleasanton is on Capitol Hill celebrating women's leadership and the second century of Girl Scouting with members of Congress and the U.S. Treasurer. 

Sri, a Girl Scout Ambassador and one of 10 National Young Women of Distinction by Girl Scouts of the USA for 2013, joined Girl Scouts NorCal CEO Marina Park, GSUSA CEO Anna Maria Chávez, and 16 other Gold Award recipients from across the country for a leadership breakfast and the official unveiling of the new Girl Scout Centennial Silver Dollar from the U.S. Mint.

Girl Scouts of the USA completes its centennial year on March 12, 2013, and the breakfast also served as a launch celebration of the 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Centennial Sliver Dollar. The coin is now available through the United States Mint. For information on the coin, visit girlscouts.org/coin or usmint.gov, or dial 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). 

Rosie Rios, Treasurer of the United States, was also on hand for the coin unveiling and breakfast, which brought together 100 other leaders on Capitol Hill and outstanding women and men from the public and private sectors. The event also included members of Girl Scouts Honorary Troop Capitol Hill, made up of all the female Members of Congress. 

“Girl Scouting is all about creating girls of courage and confidence who will make our world a better place.  For one day, we will bridge the gap between generations, bringing together the leaders of tomorrow – the amazing young women who have earned the Girl Scout’s highest honor, the Gold Award,– with the leaders of today,” Chávez said prior to the event. “The energy in the room will be palpable, as these incredible young women interface directly with some of the most successful and influential women from both the private and public sectors. It will be a true meeting of the minds, one that will speak to the power of Girl Scouting to change lives and, in the process, shape our future.”

 

A key feature of today's event was recognizing Girl Scout Gold Award recipients and five of the 2013 Young Women of Distinction – girls like our Ambassador, Sri, that have earned the Gold Award and were selected by an external committee with representatives from leading nonprofit organizations, Girl Scout partners, and funders. Both recognitions require significant planning and project management within their communities, and are awarded at the Girl Scout Senior and Girl Scout Ambassador levels. 

Sri’s Gold Award project, titled “Magic of Maji,” had two main parts. She first educated her community on African culture through an event that hosted a crowd of 500 participants and brought in African dance groups, choirs, churches, and organizations to perform and inform.  Her show was a huge success and the money she earned as well as additional money earning projects, funded the second part of her project – to build a water retention system in Bukoba, Tanzania. 

With the help of her father, she purchased all the supplies needed and traveled daily to the village of Kangabusharo to work with villagers to build the water retention systems. The system allows villagers to efficiently collect the water flowing from their roofs into their gutters, which would eventually flow into the holding tank. The tank would provide water for the women’s cooperative and their families as well as the goats in the adjacent goat pen. The villagers would use these goats to sell milk to make extra money for their children’s education, which was a primary goal for many of the women they were working with.    

Congratulations to Sri for your many accomplishments now and in the future – we are proud that you were on Capitol Hill today to represent Girl Scouts NorCal! Click here for more information Girl Scouting's highest achievement, the Girl Scout Gold Award.