Rachel Devoid’s Vitrine project.
To hone her welding skills, Rachel Devoid initially put together a metal bat rack for a local Little League baseball team several years ago. But this year, the 16-year-old self-described “rising junior” at Viera High School created something far more elaborate for her Girl Scout project—a decorative vitrine for the school’s cadet program.
The 24.5 footlong metal display case so impressed the awards committee of the Girl Scouts of Citrus that Devoid became one of only 29 girls in the Central Florida area this year to win the highest national honor any Girl Scout can receive: the Gold Award.
These awards, which are presented annually across the country, go to girls in grades 9-12 who plan and execute significant projects that meet a pressing community need. The pressing need Devoid addressed concerned the high school’s 200 or so cadets in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) who lacked a place to house the numerous trophies they’d won over the years. So, Devoid, using the skills and safety rules her father taught her about metal working, welded each shelf of the large case by hand. The finished product can display up to 115 JROTC trophies and will become, she hopes, a lasting fixture at the school.
In citing Devoid’s achievement, the Citrus Council noted she used not only craftsmanship, but also leadership and project management skills—important factors in determining which Girl Scouts ultimately win the prestigious Gold Awards each year.
How many Girls Scouts are recognized annually in this way is up to each of the nation’s 100 Girl Scout Councils to decide. The various councils also choose how to honor the winners, with the Girl Scouts of Citrus holding a special dinner for them in June and exhibiting the girls’ work at the Women’s History & Cultural Center on 341 N. Mills Ave. The newly opened museum, which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of women, showcased the projects in one of its rotating exhibits, running through August.
Girl Scouts display at the Women’s History & Cultural Center.
On display are an impressive breadth of award-winning initiatives. Among them video film clips on domestic violence, eating disorders and drug abuse in one project, while another described a program helping families move from war-torn Ukraine to the United States. Still others detailed the creation of a “bee hotel” in Orlando’s Wetlands Park to address the environmental threats facing these vital pollinators, or that of the harmful “muck” accumulation in the Indian River Lagoon.
The Girl Scouts of Citrus serves troops in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties. There are no cash prizes, although Gold Award winners gain recognition from Girl Scouts USA, joining an elite group of about a million Girl Scouts nationwide who’ve received the prize since its origin in 1916. One girl from each council also is eligible for a $5,000 scholarship, but no selections have yet been announced.
Girl Scouts display at the Women’s History & Cultural Center.
The stories below highlight the winning strategies of three additional local Girl Scouts. Their stories illustrate how being part of the Girl Scouts influenced their lives and inspired them to be leaders in their communities:
Meet the Girl Scouts of Citrus, whose creative solutions to issues in their communities are making an impact far and wide. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez
• Kirby Ferraro’s project pursued a topic of intense personal interest and one of growing public concern—food allergies. The 17-year-old Oviedo teenager, who suffers from peanut and tree nut allergies, wanted to draw attention to the potentially deadly symptoms of food allergies. An estimated 16 million adults in the United States have food allergies, as do 8% of the nation’s children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. When these reactions occur, they trigger a wide range of symptoms.
Although her own symptoms have been mild, so far, Ferraro says, she decided to launch a YouTube channel to make others aware of the dangers food allergies can pose. The site, called “No Allergens Allowed,” provides information and advice on how to use an Epi-pen, a medical device that administers a quick dose of epinephrine in an emergency. She also posts safe and allergen-free recipes and lists community-sponsored events. A recent high school graduate, Ferraro is off to college soon at the University of Southern Maine, but she intends to keep her channel updated. “There are so many topics I can still bring awareness to,” she says. “I’ll definitely keep doing it.”
Taylor White’s book project.
• Like most of her peers, 19-year-old Taylor White has been with the Girl Scouts for years, starting long before her current enrollment as a sophomore in Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, where she is studying graphic design. Her Gold Award project involves another artistic pursuit—writing—and the desire to inspire self-confidence in young girls, especially Black girls. White describes her story, “What Makes Me Remarkable,” as a story-within-a-story of how young girls develop confidence and overcome a crippling lack of self-esteem. It’s not just the story of one girl, but of many, she says, which she read only to kids in her Melbourne neighborhood at first. But last year, White read the story at an invitational event at a local community center. “It had a good turnout,” she says. “My hope is my story will really help other girls.”
• Corbin Whitlow’s project for the Girl Scouts brought a little magic and even safety to one of the three trails at the Girl Scouts of Citrus Riverpoint Park in Merritt Island. As a child, Whitlow remembers going to camp there and she wanted to enhance the experience for other young campers. Her team of volunteers first trimmed back overgrown plants along the trail nearest the program center, then added signage along the way, to enable visitors to learn more about them. They also hung whimsical fairy ornaments in the trees and seeded the ground with colorful lights so the campers would be safe. “There was no way to walk this trail before at night,” Corbin says, but now, it’s a permanent addition to the hiking experience at the park.
An Oviedo resident, Whitlow, now 19, is working towards an associate degree at Seminole State College in Sanford, and hopes to eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in the medical sciences. Whitlow has been with the Citrus troop since age five, and says, “I absolutely love it.”
Chartered in 1956, the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council serves more than 7,700 girls and 6,000 adult members across Central Florida. The Citrus council is one of six councils in the state of Florida that helps each Girl Scout earn badges, take part in camping adventures and organize a meaningful service project of their own. All girls, ages five and up, can join Girl Scouts regardless of ethnicity, religion or orientation.