Baldwin H.S. seniors earn their Gold Award

Baldwin High School seniors Marcia Trice Noel and Ashley Zingale have achieved the highest designation within Girl Scouts: the Gold Award. 

Only six percent of girl scouts around the country are recognized with this honor each year. And not only were Noel and Zingale recognized with badges and certificates for their achievements, but the Gold Award often leads to academic scholarships and other financial awards for college.

For her Gold Award project, Noel spearheaded a 30-day wellness challenge at Baldwin High School last fall in which she encouraged classmates to complete one healthy task each day, such as not drinking soda or meditating for five minutes each day.

Through the morning announcements and working with the principal, Dr. Neil Testa, she was able to promote the challenge school-wide. In addition to being a dedicated Girl Scout, she is the vice president of her school’s choir, a cellist in the orchestra, plays on the soccer and badminton teams, and is a member of the National Honor Society. Noel plans to attend Long Island University in the fall, according to a news release.

Zingale’s project focused on teaching financial literacy to middle school students in an effort to make the youth more financially responsible as they grow older. She created detailed materials, a website and taught lessons at Baldwin Middle School and the Baldwin Public Library.

Zingale’s dedication to finance has also been demonstrated through her leadership position of chief financial officer for Baldwin High School’s Virtual Enterprise, according to a news release. She is the vice president of public relations for the Future Business Leaders of America club and was awarded the Recognition of Excellence Award this spring. She plans to attend the Honors College at Adelphi University in September.

Because of the pandemic, the official awards ceremony was canceled. Upon being designated with the Gold Award, Girl Scouts of the USA selects ten of the Gold Award Girl Scouts, nominated by local councils, as National Gold Award Winners. They are chosen based on their projects demonstrating extraordinary leadership, measurable and sustainable impact, and whether it addressed a local challenge related to a national and/or global issue. The final winners were to be announced this month.