TOWN OF MANLIUS – Each fall, the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways (GSNYPENN) Council recognizes its exceptional class of local Girl Scouts who earned the organization’s highest achievement, the Girl Scout Gold Award.
The council’s charter organization, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), has awarded one of those Class of 2023 Gold Award recipients, Sarah Rinzan of Manlius, a $10,000 national scholarship for her outstanding community-based project, Musical Lending Library.
Rinzan is among a group of 110 Gold Award Girl Scouts from across the U.S. receiving national scholarships made possible in part by the Kappa Delta Foundation in addition to funds from GSUSA and its National Board. She was selected because her project exemplifies the core components of the Gold Award and demonstrates extraordinary leadership to drive lasting change in her community and beyond.
Rinzan’s Gold Award project improved access to musical instruments and resources in her community by creating a musical lending library at Fayetteville Free Library. Patrons can check out a variety of instruments donated to the collection and use the instructional website that Sarah built to pursue their musical passions.
A June 2023 graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School, Rinzan will study chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University this fall. The GSUSA national scholarship is awarded to selected Gold Award Girl Scouts to help defray tuition costs.
“I joined Girl Scouts as a Daisy and never looked back. Working on the Musical Lending Library was an incredibly gratifying experience, especially considering that it was a passion project at its root,” Rinzan said.
“Music is such an integral part of my life and completing my Gold Award as a capstone on my Girl Scouting years allowed me to share that with my community and encourage music education and appreciation amongst my peers, neighbors and friends,” she added.
Gold Award Girl Scouts make positive impacts on their local communities by addressing some of our most pressing issues. Nationally, GSUSA is recognizing nearly 3,200 members of the Class of 2023 Gold Award Girl Scouts who identified issues in their communities, took action, and found or created solutions to earn their awards.
This year’s class of world-changers raised $2.5 million in funding and invested over 300,000 hours to address real-life problems such as environmental sustainability, racial justice, mental and physical wellness, and gender inequality in STEM. Gold Award Girl Scouts demonstrate the breadth of issues American teens feel are most prevalent in society today.
“The Girl Scout Gold Award is a major accolade and one of the highest honors one can earn through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience,” GSNYPENN CEO Julie Dale said. “Sarah’s take action project reflects the highest standards of the Gold Award and leadership skills that set her apart. We are incredibly proud of her achievements.”
GSUSA CEO Bonnie Barczykowski wrote in Rinzan’s official scholarship notification letter, “We applaud you for your extraordinary leadership, proving that Girl Scouts of courage, confidence, and character truly do make the world a better place. Your accomplishments will endure for generations to come and serve as a powerful example of Girl Scouting in action.”
Less than six percent of Girl Scouts nationwide earn the prestigious Gold Award. Above all else, this achievement exemplifies to Girl Scouts the difference one person can make and how dreaming big can make a positive change in the world.
To learn more about the Gold Award and the nationwide Class of 2023 Gold Award Girl Scouts, including Sarah, visit girlscouts.org/goldawardclass.