Palisades Elementary School Girl Scout Troop 12845 Earns Bronze Award

Members of the Palisades Elementary School Girl Scout Junior Troop 12845 were supposed to attend a Bridging to Cadette ceremony on June 1 at a local resident’s home.

When the girls walked through the door, all their parents and siblings yelled “Surprise!”

And it was a surprise when the 10- and 11-year-olds learned that each troop member would receive the Bronze Award, the highest award that a Girl Scout Junior can earn.

(Bottom row, left to right) Junior Girl Scouts Hope Hudson-Morcomb, Florianne Berendsen, Ellery Preven and Ava Dixon; (middle row) Hallie Bird and Elise Charbonneau; and (top row) Lindsay Baker, Lexi Raben, Girl Scout executive Lise Luttgens, Simone McClary, Ruslan Heginbotham, Lily Parlane, Sedona Marshall, Madeline Jochen and Sydney Reid were surprised to learn they had earned a Bronze Award.

“I wish you could have seen their faces,” said troop leader Amy Baker. “They were really surprised!”

The girls earned the honor by making it possible for a second-grade Brownie troop to be formed at Western Avenue Elementary, a low-income school in downtown Los Angeles.

The fifth graders first recruited two volunteer leaders, then acquired donations of uniforms, badges and pins.

Using money from their cookie sales, members of Troop 12845 put together Girl Scout Brownie binders, written in both English and Spanish, for the girls as well as a leader. The girls also made a paper chart, song boards and meeting agendas.