HURRICANE, W.Va. — The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive and Hurricane high schooler Ashton Warner achieved just that.
Warner, 16, is a rising Ambassador in the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council. She’s been participating in Girl Scouts since she was just five years old.
She wanted to make sure Girl Scouts are well represented and appreciated at the World Scouting Museum, which recently relocated from Las Vegas to Charleston. Thus came the creation of her project, Increased Girl Scout History Resources, and the Gold Award recognition.
When the museum was moved across the country to West Virginia, a lot of Girl Scouts items hadn’t been unpacked yet. Warner made sure all different types of Girl Scouts resources like books and historical materials were put on display in the museum.
“I’m very happy with the outcome of it and what we’ve accomplished with the resource library,” she said.
All the items in the museum are cataloged too. Warner hopes the resource library is around for a long time so future generations can utilize it too.
“I hope it makes people happy and educates them on scouting,” said Warner.
Beth Casey, chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond, said by earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, Warner is becoming a leader in her community.
“Ashton saw a need in her community and took action,” said Casey. “Her extraordinary dedication, perseverance and leadership is making the world a better place.”
A visit to the museum this time last year gave Warner the idea for her resource library. A small staff tasked with handling and moving the books and other Girl Scouts memorabilia meant a lot of the things were packed away and spent too many days not in display cases and not being looked at.
“A lot of it was books so we talked about getting a room and we can take all of these out and make sure they’re accounted for,” Warner said.
The Gold Award winner has always loved scouting. Even when some of her closest friends were dropping out around junior high, she stuck with it.
“Our troop that I’ve been in has changed and evolved so much but I’ve always enjoyed scouts so much that I knew I wanted to be in it for a long time,” she said.
The Girl Scout troop is always looking for opportunities to get involved in the community. Warner said she has some tremendous leaders that she gets to learn from and grow with. Ashton’s mother Sarah is also an assistant leader with the group.
Members of the community are invited to the upcoming Power Her Promise: A Celebration of Gold Award Girl Scouts event which is taking place Saturday, June 15 at the Charleston Marriott Town Center.