Local Floral Park Teens Earn Prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award

FLORAL PARK, NEW YORK (JUNE 2022) — Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently honored Floral Park residents Tulah Chatterton and Emerson Lucatorto for earning their Gold Awards. 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. Tulah and Emerson were presented with their Gold Awards 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.
For her Gold Award Project, “Project Teen Forward,” Tulah Chatterton helped improve students’ resume writing, interviewing, and job searching skills. She developed virtual educational resources and presented them to local Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, high school students, and interns at a startup technology company. The website she designed includes a tool kit for teenagers, which contains a sample resume, cover letters, tips and tricks, websites, and other resources to help students find seasonal and part-time jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in their communities and in surrounding communities. Tulah’s Gold Award project is sustained by the Floral Park Youth Council, her high school’s guidance department, and her website. Tulah will be a senior at Floral Park Memorial High School this fall.

Through her Gold Award project, Emerson Lucatorto addressed internet safety by using her and her peers experience to help those younger than them. The goal of “Internet Safety: By Teens for Tweens” was to educate children on how they can make smart and safe decisions when using the internet and social media. Emerson researched methods for internet safety and consulted with popular public figures and experts on the subject.

She presented this information to seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students in her school district, and led different activities to reinforce this material. Floral Park Memorial will sustain Emerson’s project by implementing it in their technology curriculum. Emerson will be a senior at Floral Park Memorial High School this 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.

For more information about the Girl Scouts of Nassau County and the Gold Award program, visit www.gsnc.org.

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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.