Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan honors Jennifer Bricker with the most prestigious award in the world for girls: the Girl Scout Gold Award. Jennifer, of Troy, is among 14 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 at least 80 hours investigating the problem, creating a plan and implementing it.

For her Gold Award project, Jennifer addressed the issue of unhealthy eating habits and limited resources of healthy food options in the Pontiac area for children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she became aware of the prominence of food insecurity and wanted to see how she could help others. Jennifer collaborated with the Micah 6 Community and constructed six garden beds to increase the availability of healthier food options. She also planned and taught 12 lessons to school-aged children about what constitutes as a “good” food choice and the benefits that come with a healthy eating lifestyle. She also created a website, bet-against.weebly.com, that has additional resources, recipes and information on fruits and vegetable to further expand her impact.

“By honing in on my creativity and confidence, I was also able to communicate well with others and become a strong leader.”