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Gold Award: Tranquility in Bloom
Girl Scout Ambassador Paige E. from Chesapeake, a graduate of Grassfield High School, has earned the highest award a girl may earn in Girl Scouts, the Girl Scout Gold Award. (She has also previously earned the Girl Scout Bronze and Silver awards!) She earned the Gold Award by completing a sustainable community project called “Tranquility in Bloom” addressing the lack of dedicated spaces in the community that support first responder families.
Paige knows first-hand the stress first responders experience. Her parents have held those roles, and her family has had to deal with increased stress loads from time to time.
“Law enforcement and first responder families experience stress due to long, unpredictable hours, trauma exposure, and a lack of dedicated community support,” Paige said. “The stressors can cause strained family relationships, limited time together, and mental health struggles. While many families rely on public parks or general community events for relaxation, these are often crowded, overstimulating, and not conducive to emotional healing. My goal was to create a space where families could unwind and connect in a calm space dedicated to support emotional regulation.”
With the help of a Master Gardener (and using some of her Girl Scout Cookie proceeds), Paige created a sensory garden, Tranquility in Bloom, at the Hero Kids Foundation in Suffolk, Virginia. It is filled with native plants known for their calming effects such as lavender, silvery sage, and mint. She also worked alongside a volunteer carpenter to learn and use hands-on building skills to construct and assemble picnic tables for the garden.
To ensure the community was aware of the garden, she created and distributed flyers and a digital pamphlet that she emailed to local first responder agencies, as well as hosting a family day event in the garden.
“The positive feedback from families during the family day event and through survey responses confirmed that the space supported emotional well-being and strengthened family connection,” Paige said.
Thanks to Paige’s coordination and leadership skills, and her ability to rally volunteers from the community, there is a new and lovely scented garden where first responders and their families (or anyone!) can go to decompress from the stressors of the world. Congratulations, Paige!
