Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan honors Victoria Cattermole with the most prestigious award in the world for girls: the Girl Scout Gold Award. Victoria, of Oakland Township, 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, Victoria wanted to raise awareness to an often-overlooked environmental cause that impacts her community. After learning about the growing trends of pollinator decline, she built a community pollinator garden in a local nature preserve filled with only Michigan-native pollinator plants. With the help of the community, she sourced a variety of plants from community gardens and local nurseries to fill a 120 square foot garden. She also worked to promote ways people can help remedy pollinator decline in their own gardens. The nature preserve has volunteered to upkeep the garden and the perennial plants will continue to grow and help pollinators for years. Victoria has additionally begun work on another pollinator garden at her high school. Her project resulted in increased community awareness and a place for local pollinators to call home.

“I learned the importance of determination and hard work. I can make positive change and accomplish anything I put my mind to!”