Colusa, CA (MPG) – A Colusa Girl Scout catapulted her high school senior project into gold.
Delaney Amsden, 18, has achieved Girl Scouts’ highest honor, the National Gold Award after countless hours behind a sewing machine.
Amsden, who has been in Girl Scouts since she was 5-year-old, is one of four girls from Troop 4134 to earn Scouting’s highest honor in 2023.
On average, only 2% of all Girl Scouts will reach the top, compared to 4% of Boy Scouts who achieve the Eagle Scout Award.
“I knew I wanted to make blankets,” Amsden said. “I loved our Silver Award project with the pillows for cancer patients, so I wanted to do something similar.”
After careful planning, Amsden teamed up to aid Project Linus, a nonprofit organization that provides handmade blankets to children, from birth to age 18, who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. Amsden said Project Linus helped her reach the target children who she wanted to receive a gift of love, particularly young children who are in the hospital or in the foster care system.
“Because the blankets are smaller, I went from a goal of making 50 blankets to making 100,” she said.
Amsden completed 113 blankets of various sizes, including some larger blankets for older youth, starting last summer, incorporating her requirements for graduation, which included writing an essay on her impact on the community.
For many years, scouting in Colusa seemed to have fizzled, and the troops were inactive or nonexistent.
Amsden, the daughter of Kristin and Sean Amsden, was one of the first girls to join Girl Scouts when Troop 4134 organized 13 years ago and rose through the ranks with honor.
“I loved Girl Scouts,” she said. “I loved the people in it and the friends I’ve made. Some of them left and only four of us have been in it practically our entire lives. What doesn’t excite a kid but selling cookies? It really taught me how to talk to people, become independent, and to be an entrepreneur.”
From camping to troop projects, Amsden is one of the rare scouts that can say she went all the way in the organization, from Daisy to Ambassador. She is the only member to reach age 18 just days before finishing her project, which took more than 106 hours to complete.
Amsden said her most rewarding experience has been being a mentor to the younger scouts.
Amsden was recognized for her Gold Award at California State University, Sacramento, in June. She was presented the Gold Award plaque at Colusa High School graduation.
She plans to attend Cal Poly Humboldt University this fall to study physics.