ALEXANDRIA, VA – Four Alexandria Girl Scouts recently earned their Silver Awards, the highest honor a Cadette Girl Scout can reach. Alexandria Country Day School 8th graders Evelyn Bryan, Ellie Harris, Abby Michel, and Taylor Reynolds were recognized for the achievement by the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital. Fewer than 10% of all Cadettes earn the Silver Award.

Harris received her Silver Award for her work raising teens’ awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects families. Harris planned, executed, and directed a powder puff football game to educate her peers and the community about the impact this tragic disease can have.

“It was a lot of work to put the elements of the game together – to find interested girls to participate, recruit coaches, promote the event, and make sure it was a fun-filled, educational day for everyone who came,” said Harris.

To ensure the project’s sustainability, she created a 40-page guide to planning and executing a community event for other teens, including key information about Alzheimer’s disease.

“It feels great to know I’m helping other teens who may have a grandparent or loved one with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Harris. “Hopefully being educated about the disease and how to connect with impacted family members will make other teens feel less alone.”

Bryan, Michel, and Reynolds received their award for their work to educate the community about the challenges children in foster care face and how we can support them. The girls focused on providing dignity to children in foster care by giving them belongings of their own.

“We had a speaker come to our school in 6th grade who talked about the way not having belongings of their own makes kids in care feel,” said Reynolds. “That really stuck with us – it’s hard to imagine being away from your family and support system and only having a trash bag to take from house to house.”

The group reached out to Comfort Cases to learn more about what kids in foster care need, and then solicited donations to assemble kits of their own.

“The Alexandria community was very generous to our project,” said Michel. “We had huge piles of donations to sort through, and wanted to be sure every kit was complete. It was important to us that we fill each bag with things that would feel thoughtfully selected to the recipient.”

The girls made the project sustainable by producing a how-to brochure for other teens to use in supporting kids in foster care.

“Getting to visit Comfort Cases and hear from people who had been in foster care firsthand was powerful,” said Bryan. “I hope our project will inspire other teens and adults to help support kids who don’t have all of the love and support we do. Everyone deserves to feel worthy.”

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