Girl Scout Creates Sensory Garden to Earn Girl Scouting’s Highest Award

National Play Day, celebrated in the United States each year on July 19, is a special time to acknowledge the power of play, one of the simplest and most rewarding activities for a child. Besides helping youth explore their world in an engaging way, play opens a sense of enjoyment that is essential for development and overall well-being which can help build problem-solving skills and resiliency.

Driven by a commitment to youth in her community, Elyse Townsend, a Senior at Hazelwood West High School, partnered with Ackerman School to rejuvenate their existing sensory garden and create an inviting space that provides children of all abilities a chance to find calm and peace. In addition to planting new perennials to beautify the area, Elyse also constructed a bench for the students to relax on. To help children interact with the garden, Elyse created a scavenger hunt game that can help students learn how to identify objects of different textures, colors and sizes based on a hint card that describes the object.

“I have a very personal connection to Ackerman school because my little brother is currently a student,” said Elyse. “When my little brother was transferring to Ackerman, the staff gave our family a tour in which I visited the sensory garden for the first time. After that initial visit, I started brainstorming and planning for my projects’ proposal. This project was important to me because of my desire to help the students at Ackerman by creating spaces for children of all abilities that allowed them to feel calm and appreciate their surroundings.”

Elyse’s Gold Award project included training members of the Ackerman School staff on how to facilitate the game with their students. Elyse’s renovation of this important space will help students immerse themselves in nature for years to come.

“I was motivated to earn my Gold Award for two main reasons,” said Elyse. “One is because I felt like my Girl Scout journey would be more complete if I earned the highest award a Girl Scout could earn, to tie a pretty bow around my almost 13 years of being in this program. Second, the idea that I could pay back the community that has raised me really helped push me forward. Because as I worked on it and more people from the community knew about it the more, I told myself I had to finish because I couldn’t let my community down.”

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador, girls in 9th-12th grades can achieve. It requires girls to identify a need in their community and dedicate on average more than 80 hours towards addressing and solving the issue. When Girl Scout Seniors or Ambassadors focus on an issue, they care about, learn the facts and take action to make a difference while gaining the confidence and skills that catapult them to lifelong success.