 |
| 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.
