[dropcap]A[/dropcap] local Kyle Girl Scout has been awarded the Gold Award by the Girl Scouts of America organization for the creation of a butterfly habitat at Lake Kyle Park.
Valeri Redd, 19, said she joined the Girl Scouts when she was in first grade and has been an active member of the organization for 12 years until she graduated from Lehman High School in May of 2017.
“I don’t remember why I joined, I was too young,” Redd said. “But I do remember why I stayed. Girl Scouts was a second family for me. I made lifetime friends there.”
According to the organization’s website, its mission statement encompasses the spirit of strength that it wants young girls to grow up with and nurture into adulthood.
Redd said she always had a lot of fun being a Girl Scout and was empowered as a young girl to discover the possibilities of success within herself.
“I learned that young girls are capable of anything and it really helped me to grow as a person and a woman,” Redd said.
Redd said she created the serene butterfly habitat at Lake Kyle Park as the focus of her Girl Scout Gold Award Project which represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting but is not a mandatory requirement of the organization.
She said she hopes the new butterfly habitat at Lake Kyle Park will bring back the butterlies in full force amidst a declining population.
According to the Girl Scout website, “The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, recognizing girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through remarkable Take Action projects that have sustainable impacts in their communities – and beyond.”
Redd said she chose to create a butterfly habitat after learning that the Monarch butterfly population has decreased by 90% in the last 20 years, not including other declining butterfly populations.
“When I learned this I was so shocked that I had to do something,” Redd said. “And it eventually turned into a beautiful, all Texas native garden for my gold award project.”
As a prerequisite of the Gold Award, Redd had to complete a project for the Silver Award with her Girl Scout troop by planting more than 100 trees and plants at Lake Kyle Park during a previous project.
Redd said she chose Lake Kyle Park for her butterfly habitat because she fell in love with it when her troop planted trees and plants there for their Silver Award and “loved working with their REC team and director Kerry Urbanowicz.”
Redd said although the Gold Award isn’t a requirement of the organization, it is an award that works as a motivational tool for other girls who want to make “an impacting difference in their communities.”
“It’s also an inspiration and is motivating for girls to see others who have earned their Gold Award, and to see the projects and impacts they’ve made in their communities,” Redd said.
