By Renee Larr
Two Carmel residents will earn the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, a Gold Award, during Girl Scouts of Central Indiana’s Girls of Distinction ceremony June 17 at the Marriott in Indianapolis. The award requires Scouts to complete service projects that improve the community.
Jamie Goetz, a 2017 Carmel High School graduate, followed her passion in choosing her project.
“I wanted to make sure my project was something I was really passionate about and really cared about and wanted my community to benefit from. That was travel, and doing it at a young age,” she said. “I think a lot of kids want to travel, they just don’t know how to make it financially possible. It was kind of showing them all the opportunities that are out there for them, then how they could make it happen.”
Goetz created a website to showcase her research. Her love of travel began at an early age, and she’s traveled the world ever since.
Mackenzie Gonzalez, who will be a senior at CHS in the fall, approached a family friend to see if his church could provide inspiration for a project.
“We’re family friends with Father Michael at St. Gabriel Church. So when I knew I needed to complete a project, we went to him first to see if there was anything we could do around the church,” Gonzalez said. “They are currently under a lot of renovation. There was one room that was half storage, half library. It wasn’t a very effective working space. I took on the task of renovating that room and making it a workable community room.”
Both girls are grateful to receive the award.
“It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do since I started in Girl Scouts, so finally achieving what was once so intangible, I’m kind of proud,” Gonzalez said.
