Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan honors Annabeth Carnes with the most prestigious award in the world for girls: the Girl Scout Gold Award. Annabeth, of Fenton, is among 13 young women who have taken the initiative to bettering their communities through sustainable community change projects. The time and commitment they’ve dedicated towards these projects prove they’re true leaders and exceptional examples for all girls to look up to.
The Gold Award is Girl Scout’s highest honor and is presented to Girl Scouts who address a community issue or problem they are passionate about. They’re required to spend a minimum of 80 hours investigating the problem, creating a plan, and implementing it.
For her Gold Award project, Annabeth organized community members to provide masks for local schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. She found that some teachers and lower-income students weren’t provided an adequate amount of PPE, such as face masks, for face to face instruction. Since these teachers and lower-income students do not have the luxury of being able to work or attend school virtually, they and their families are put at risk for COVID.
Her initial goal was to provide masks for 1,000 kids and 200 masks for teachers and support staff in Fenton Area Schools. This would provide at least one reusable mask for all the children on free/reduced lunch and teachers/support staff. This includes North Road Elementary, State Road Elementary, Tomek Elementary, AGS Middle School, and Fenton High School.
She educated others about COVID-19 and the importance of mask wearing through workshops and social media, by providing resources and quizzes. In the end, Annabeth donated more than 1,400 masks to Fenton Area Schools, and her contacts in the community plan to continue
providing masks to local schools due to the success of her outreach.
“I gained insight into my community and the people in it. You can always find a role for someone if you are creative enough.”
