Grace Orabona Receives 2025 GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouting—an honor reserved for those who rise to the challenge of making a meaningful, lasting impact in their local communities and the world. Gold Award Girl Scouts are changemakers and trailblazers who put their passion into action.
Open to Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors, the path to earning the Gold Award involves a commitment of over 80 hours. Along the way, girls build a support network of mentors, peers, and community leaders to help navigate challenges and amplify their efforts.
Each year, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) awards the Gold Award Scholarship to one graduating Gold Award Girl Scout from each of 111 Girl Scout councils.
Through a rigorous application and selection process and using the national scholarship criteria, our 2025 scholarship recipient was selected along with two honorable mentions.
Congratulations to these outstanding leaders! Read on to learn about the impact they made with their Girl Scout Gold Award projects.
2025 GSUSA Scholarship Recipient: Grace Orabona
Don’t Become a Victim
Congratulations to 2024 Gold Award Girl Scout and recent high school graduate, Grace Orabona, for being awarded the 2025 GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship! recipient.
Grace's Gold Award project, Don't Become a Victim," addressed the critical issue of human trafficking, which generates billions in profits globally each year. With financial incentives driving the industry, human trafficking has increasingly targeted teens through social media. To combat this issue among middle and high school students, Grace
created an educational campaign in partnership with Assistant United States Attorneys from San Diego and Arlington, VA to raise awareness about the dangers associated with seemingly innocuous online posts.
Her comprehensive initiative included implementing a lasting curriculum in local schools, and creating a sustainable website, workshops, and presentations that provide practical tools for teens to stay safe online. Grace taught her peers to recognize signs of grooming and informed them about available resources if they find themselves at risk.
In partnership with administrators in her school district along with the Stop Human Trafficking club, the Human Rights club, and the National Honor Society, Grace reached nearly 1,000 individuals with her public awareness campaign, creating a lasting educational impact in the community.
Survey results throughout her project indicated that most participants demonstrated a solid understanding of the material after her workshops, with over 90% answering questions correctly.
Grace continues to update and evolve her website as needed, showcasing her leadership and exceeding her initial goals.
Grace will receive $5,000 to support her future academic and career goals. This fall, she will attend Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, where she plans to major in psychology and later pursue law school. She aims to continue the work she began with her Gold Award project by maintaining her website and leading workshops on college campuses. Grace hopes to one day join the FBI’s human trafficking division, where she can build on her advocacy and prevention efforts. Her journey is just beginning, and she’s committed to making lasting change by speaking up, educating others, and confronting this critical issue head-on.
Honorable Mentions
Hannah Nevius, 2024 Gold Award Girl Scout
Running Clubs in San Diego Elementary Schools
Gold Award Girl Scout Hannah Nevius was inspired to take action after discovering that more than half of the elementary schools in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) did not offer running clubs. This contributes to a nationwide issue: only about 20% of children meet the daily recommended amount of physical activity—60 minutes—because many families lack accessible, affordable, and convenient ways to help their children achieve this goal.
To support local elementary school students in reaching this physical activity standard and leading healthier lives, Hannah started running clubs with assistance from community partners at Hancock, Horton, and Cherokee Point Elementary Schools. She organized supplies, explored high-and low-tech options to track miles, cheered on the runners, trained volunteers, and made a commitment to work with these schools and ensure the program’s longevity.
Hannah's project helped her improve her communication, organization, and leadership skills while working alongside community partners, volunteers, and students. She also sharpened her time management skills by balancing her project with school, sports, and other extracurriculars. Hannah gained an understanding of what it means to be a leader and a role model.
Cecilia Brown, 2025 Gold Award Girl Scout
Music Education: Note by Note
Gold Award Girl Scout Cecilia Brown launched Note by Note, a free music education program that addresses limited access to arts instruction due to school budget cuts and the high cost of private lessons.
In partnership with Rancho Peñasquitos Library and Westview GOLD, Cecilia led a team of trained tutors to teach weekly in-person and online lessons to elementary and middle school students.
Cecilia led with purpose while organizing a team of teen volunteers, creating lesson plans and manuals using tools like Google Drive and Wix, and running the program’s day-to-day operations. She delegated tasks and tackled challenges head-on, becoming a confident, action-oriented leader dedicated to expanding access to arts education.
Students gained musical skills and mentorship, measured through performances and surveys. With annual volunteer recruitment and leadership training, Note by Note continues to ensures sustainable, free music education that bridges educational inequity and inspires a lasting passion for the arts.
We are so proud of these inspiring changemakers in our community. Thank you for making the world a better place!
Learn more about the Girl Scout Gold Award.
For more information about the 2026 GSUSA Gold Award Scholarship, visit GSUSA’s website.
Eligibility
Gold Award Girl Scouts who are high school seniors or recent high school graduates can apply for the 2026 scholarship.
Specifically:
- current high school seniors who earned or will earn any time before April 1, 2026
- recent high school graduates who earned in their senior year after March 31, 2025
