Two area Girl Scouts have captured the gold! The Gold Award is the highest a Scout can earn and requires hours of research, networking and activism.
Kaylee Jones of Fort Myers and Alice Barr of Myakka City recently achieved honors for their projects that research issues and make lasting, sustainable changes in their communities.
Both projects have a personal side.
Jones, a senior at Fort Myers High School, explained her passion for spreading awareness and use of Safe Haven Baby Boxes. They’re climate-controlled, alarm-equipped bassinets that can be placed for safe and anonymous surrender of infants at fire stations and other locations.
"I was inspired to take on this project because I personally am adopted. My birth mother was 16 and my birth father was 17," Jones said. "They didn't have supportive families and definitely no plan for how to take care of me, an infant that they were not expecting to have when I was two months old. They were encouraged to place me for adoption. And because of this, I wanted to help other mothers who are in a crisis pregnancy situation to give them more options to safely, lovingly and legally surrender their infants if they couldn't take care of them, for whatever reason."
Jones engaged with several state Representatives and thanks to her advocacy, Florida passed a bill authorizing Safe Haven Baby Boxes be placed at hospitals, fire stations and EMS stations.
Jones conducted community education campaigns through public presentations, information and social media outreach. Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson issued a proclamation establishing the first week of January as Safe Haven Awareness Week.
"It's been a wild ride, but it's been really fun meeting all these people," she said.
Alice Barr, a junior at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy, was inspired by her own experience managing anxiety.
"Growing up, I've had a lot of anxiety in school, especially during testing and stuff, I would freak out. And during those anxiety attacks and panic attacks, there was never a place to go in school. The only place was the bathroom."
So she researched calming strategies, conducted surveys, and set up a sensory room in her school.
"There are stress balls, coloring books. There's a diffuser in there, in case they want to smell a nice minty scent or whatever other common scents. There is regular fidget toys, fidget spinners, things like that. There are quotes that teachers have written, and it says what teacher they are and their favorite quote, and it's just in a box. There's a bean bag they can lay on. There's a spinny chair. There's a couple pillows in there, some blankets, just things to make students feel comfortable in this environment. And there's also a sound machine. And there's also dim lighting, which is one of my favorite parts about the room, is the dim lighting, soft lighting, so students won't get overwhelmed by the bright light."
Gold Award projects require at least 80 hours of work and only about 5 percent of Girl Scouts earn them.
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