Local Rockville Centre Teen Earns Prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NEW YORK (JUNE 2022) — Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently honored Rockville Centre resident Alison McManus for earning her Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest and most prestigious award a Girl Scout can achieve, as it recognizes the remarkable dedication she has for improving their community and the world around them. Alison was presented with her Gold Award at the Girl Scouts of Nassau County's 2022 Gold Awards Ceremony, joining an elite group of 53 young women from throughout Nassau County who earned the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.

“The recipients of this year’s Gold Awards have displayed diligence, compassion and altruism in approaching issues facing their communities,” said Randell Bynum, the chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “Their efforts have not gone unnoticed in their communities and their impacts will leave an imprint for years to come. I applaud them for addressing topics like social justice, mental health, the environment and more, while putting forth solutions to create a better world.”

The Gold Award program is designated for girls in grades 9-12 and is intended to help girls explore civic and social issues they are passionate about pursuing. The process of earning a Gold Award begins with a Girl Scout identifying a civic or social issue, drafting a plan to approach the issue and, lastly, partnering with volunteers or community leaders to implement it. The plan implemented needs to be sustainable and reach beyond the Girl Scout’s personal community.

Through Alison McManus’s project “Nice to Meet You: Disability Does Not Mean Inability,” she addressed the issue that many people, especially young children, struggle to have positive interactions with and can even be afraid of people with disabilities. Seeing the need to help people interact, McManus created a guide to show young children how to have positive connections with people with disabilities. To make it accessible, she created multiple resources: booklet, PowerPoint presentation, activities, videos, and a website. She presented her guide and made it available in multiple locations and languages to ensure that teachers, parents, and other adults could access these materials to use to help her reach her goals. Alison is a recent graduate of Sacred Heart Academy and will Villanova University in the fall.

According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, girls who have achieved their Gold Award, experience greater life success due to a greater sense of self, satisfaction, leadership, life achievements, community service and civic engagement. Gold Award Girl Scouts who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive a higher pay grade and can receive scholarships or other recognition from most colleges or universities.

###a name="_Hlk108445767">For more information about the Girl Scouts of Nassau County and the Gold Award program, visit .

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We Are Girl Scouts: Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs in Nassau County, across Long Island and from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alumni, Girl Scouts leads the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.