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As a Girl Scout, you have a multitude of opportunities to develop your leadership skills and achieve awards! You can earn awards at all levels, starting with our youngest leaders—Girl Scout Daisies in kindergarten, all the way through high school seniors—Girl Scout Ambassadors. Get an overview of all awards with our Girl Scout Awards handout and learn more below.
Awards for all Girl Scout Grade Levels
Journey Summit Award 
This award is earned by completing three Journeys for your Girl Scout level. Chose from It’s Your World—Change it!, It’s Your Planet—Love it!, It’s Your Story—Tell It!, Think Like an Engineer, Think Like A Programmer, Think Like a Citizen Scientist, and Outdoor.
Safety Award
Each Girl Scout Level has its own set of requirements to teach you how to stay safe at home, school, and in your community.
DAISY SAFETY AWARD
Learn how to stay safe on your Daisy adventures! When you do, you’ll earn this important award.
Complete these three steps to earn the award:
- Understand what to do if you get lost. Know your phone number, address, and who it’s safe to ask for help (police officer, teacher, person in charge).
- Suggested Activity
- Role play approaching someone to ask for help. Memorize a second phone number for an emergency contact (parent, grandparent, trusted adult).
- Resource
- Suggested Activity
- Find out what you should do if you or a friend is choking.
- Suggested Activity
- Practice calling 911 on a locked cell phone, practice what you’d say on the phone.
- Suggested Activity
- Learn how to do “Stop, Drop, and Roll” if your clothing catches on fire.
- Resource
BROWNIE SAFETY AWARD
**Before starting this award, you might want to review the Safety Award for previous levels to make sure they are familiar with the other safety activities as these build on one another over the different Girl Scout levels**
It’s important to stay safe in your daily life and when you go on Brownie adventures!
Complete these five steps to earn the award:
- Talk to a teacher, parent, or another adult about how to stay safe at school. Make a list of the three most important rules for playground safety or safety on the school bus.
- Suggested Activity
- Make a list or poster of the three most important rules for playground safety or safety in the car. Share with family members to promote safety in your community.
- Resources
- Suggested Activity
- Get a map of your neighborhood or town and mark where the police station, fire station, and other important points are located.
- Suggested Activities
- Look online or get a map of your neighborhood or town and mark where the police station, fire station and other important points are located.
- Make a list of emergency numbers and post it in your home so you can easily find them when you need them.
- Resources
- Suggested Activities
- Find out how a smoke alarm works. Test the one at your home so you know what it sounds like and make sure it’s working.
- Suggested Activities
- Test the smoke alarm at your home so you know what it sounds like (you may want to warn everybody at home that it’ll be loud!) and make sure it is working. Mark your calendars to change the battery twice each year. Daylight savings are great days to use to remember to do this!
- Develop an escape route and meeting place for your family in case of fire.
- Resources
- Red Cross
- Reach out to your local firefighters for fire safety tips, plans, and additional local resources.
- Suggested Activities
- Choose an upcoming trip you plan to take – to a carnival, amusement park, the mall, the playground, or even just the grocery store—and make a safety plan with an adult.
- Suggested Activity
- Make a safety plan with an adult. Find out what to do if a stranger approaches you in a public place.
- Suggested Activity
- Find out what natural disasters are most common in your area (earthquakes, blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods) and discuss with your family or another adult what to do when they happen.
JUNIOR SAFETY AWARD
**Before starting this award, you might want to review the Safety Award for previous levels to make sure they are familiar with the other safety activities as these build on one another over the different Girl Scout levels**
Know how you and your friends can stay safe on your Junior adventures!
Complete these five steps to earn this award:
- Find out what the most common injuries are for kids your age. Make a list of how to prevent them. Then do a home safety audit to check for dangers around the house.
- Suggested Activities
- Make a list of common injuries that could happen in your house
- Do a home safety audit to check for dangers around the house. Find three dangers and discuss with your family how to avoid them. Make a plan to fix the hazards.
- Resource
- Suggested Activities
- Conduct an emergency evacuation drill of your home or the place your Girl Scout group meets. In the case of fire, know where your main exit is located, and plan an alternative way to get out if the first exit is blocked.
- Suggested Activity
- Draw a map of your house. Mark all the exits with a bright, colored crayon, pencil, or marker. Share this with your family. Work with your family and plan alternate ways to get out if an exit is blocked.
- Plan and execute two different fire drills with your family based on the previous activity. Time how long it takes to execute each plan.
- Resource
- Suggested Activity
- Find out how to read weather signs so you know when to head indoors and get to safety.
- Suggested Activity
- Go to the Farmer’s Almanac and learn about ways farmers would try to predict the weather before we had radar to tell us what was happening. Look up the signals that bad weather is coming and write what each means:
- Halo around the moon
- Dark, low clouds
- Red sky at sunrise
- Thunder
- Go to the Farmer’s Almanac and learn about ways farmers would try to predict the weather before we had radar to tell us what was happening. Look up the signals that bad weather is coming and write what each means:
- Resources
- Suggested Activity
- Learn about bicycle safety. Research why biking helmets are important and how to check if a helmet fits you properly
- Suggested Activities
- Research why bike helmets are important and make a safety poster that will teach others the basics. If you have a helmet, try it on and have an adult help make sure it is adjusted correctly
- Practice hand signals for riding a bike. Demonstrate them to an adult.
- Resources
- Suggested Activities
- Go on a hazard-identification walk along a local hiking trail, bike trail, or horse trail.
- Suggested Activity
- Go on a hike and record the following.
- I did this walk on:
- The trail was located at:
- Hazards I found:
- Go on a hike and record the following.
- Resources
- Suggested Activity
CADETTE SAFETY AWARD
**Before starting this award, you might want to review the Safety Award for previous levels to make sure they are familiar with the other safety activities as these build on one another over the different Girl Scout levels**
Know how you and your friends can stay safe on your Cadette adventures.
Complete these five steps to earn this award:
- Learn how to make a room safe for a young child.
- Suggested Activities
- Research and find a baby-proofing checklist.
- Pick one room in your house and follow the list. What needs to be done to make it safe?
- Now go from room to room. What is different depending on the room? Try doing a bedroom and a bathroom or kitchen.
- Resource
- Suggested Activities
- Find out about water safety and learn to perform a reaching assist from a dock or the side of a pool to help someone out of the water.
- Resources
- Teach a Daisy or Brownie what to do if she gets lost and why she shouldn’t talk to strangers.
- Suggested Activity
- Assist a younger troop in earning their safety award: Attend a troop meeting or build an activity or make a worksheet, poster, or video that could help a Daisy or Brownie leader teach her troop these skills.
- Suggested Activity
- With your family, make sure you have enough food, water, and medication supplies on hand to last at least three days in case of a natural disaster. (Remember to plan for pets!) It’s important to have someone outside the area whom everyone in your family can contact in case you are separated. Learn who your family contact is or help your family choose a contact.
- Suggested Activities
- Research what is needed to create an emergency tub/kit for a flood, thunderstorm, or tornado. Go through the house and see what you can collect. Make a list of what is still needed. Along with your family, create a safety plan for a fire, a tornado, and any other disaster you might think of.
- The Red Cross has great activities to help you prepare for a natural disaster like a flood, thunderstorm, or tornado. Check out the different links listed below under resources for these activities.
- Resources
- Suggested Activities
- Discuss bullying with your Girl Scout group, friends, or family. Write and sign a personal responsibility statement that covers how you’ll behave at school, at home, and online.
- Suggested Activities
- Research forms of bullying and create a list of behaviors you may have witnessed that hurt others.
- Decide how you want to be treated and interview family members and friends about how they want to be treated. Use the information you gathered and create a personal or troop pledge. Decorate it and hang it in your room as a reminder of how you can influence others with your positive treatment of others.
- Resources:
- Suggested Activities
SENIOR SAFETY AWARD
**Before starting this award, you might want to review the Safety Award for previous levels to make sure they are familiar with the other safety activities as these build on one another over the different Girl Scout levels**
Know how you and your friends can stay safe on your Senior adventures.
Complete these five steps to earn this award
- Take a self-defense class or ask a police officer to talk to you or your group about self-defense tips
- Teach younger Girl Scouts about fire and kitchen safety, water safety, or safety on the trail.
- Learn about the dangers of distracted driving, and make a poster or PSA about paying attention at the wheel.
- Help two people to resolve a disagreement peacefully and respectfully.
- Resources
- Discuss the dangers of alcohol and drug use with your Girl Scout group, friends, or family. Write a personal-responsibility statement that covers how you’ll behave.
- Resource
AMBASSADOR SAFETY AWARD
**Before starting this award, you might want to review the Safety Award for previous levels to make sure they are familiar with the other safety activities as these build on one another over the different Girl Scout levels**
Know how you and your friends can stay safe on your Ambassador adventure.
Complete these five steps to earn this award:
- Pick a safety issue important to you, and organize a forum where other teens can discuss the issue.
- Suggested Activity
- Have a discussion within your troop about this issue. If you’d like to take it a step further, find a local organization or gather a group of friends where you can discuss this issue more in-depth.
- Suggested Activity
- Talk to younger Girl Scouts about Internet safety and safe use of social media.
- Resource
- List your duties as a counselor-in-training, volunteer-in-training, or in other leadership roles you hold. Carry the list with you, and use it to make sure you’ve covered all your bases when making a safety plan for trips and events.
- Suggested activity
- Think of your list as a resume—an overview of the skills you have and the responsibilities you have been trusted with. Host a brainstorm session (or turn it into a game) with trusted friends and adults about what types of situations where those skills would be helpful. Build scenarios for each other and brainstorm how you can make the most of the skills you have and are building!
- Suggested activity
- Talk to a counselor, social worker, or someone who works at a local women’s shelter to find out more about how to stay safe while dating.
- Resource
- Pick a sport or outdoor activity you enjoy. Find out how rules, training, and safety equipment are designed to protect players.
My Promise, My Faith
Girl Scouts of all levels can earn one award each year as you explore the connection between Girl Scouts and your faith and learn about additional religious recognitions. Learn more.
Bridging Award
Girls Scouts earn this award by completing two steps: Pass it on—to share what you’ve learned with younger girls, and Look Ahead—to learn from older girls about what great things will be happening in your next level of Girl Scouts.
Outdoor Awards - Juniors through Ambassadors
Do you enjoy camping, boating down a river, or hitting the trail? Can you set up a tent, navigate your way, and care for an injury? If so, the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania Outdoor Awards program is for you.
Get ready to build your courage, confidence, and character through outdoor adventures and skill-building. This program is open to Girl Scout Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, Ambassadors, and adult volunteers who love to hike or ride the miles, camp the nights, run the rivers or lakes, adventure through nature, do the work to conserve the land, or serve the outdoors!
This program offers a series of seven patches designed to recognize Girl Scouts with exemplary knowledge and experience in performing high-level outdoor activities. Each series is earned individually.
Start by registering for the GSWPA Outdoor Awards to receive the main/center patch.
Upon completion of each award’s requirements, you must report on how the requirements were fulfilled, so record your progress diligently. After you complete an Outdoor Award segment, complete the form for that award:
Award for Camping
Award for Hiking
Award for Aquatics
Award for Riding
Award for Adventure
Award for Conservation
Award for Service to the Outdoors
After you complete the form for your award, you will receive a link to order your award segment patch. Award patches will be mailed to you.
Award Pricing:
- Main/Center Patch - $4
- Segment Award Patch - $2
This program was started in 2019 and revamped in 2024. Girl Scouts who began earning their Girl Scout Outdoor Award between 2019-2024 may transfer their progress to the 2024 requirements.
Girl Scouts may earn each award once per program level.
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
The Presidential Volunteer Service Award is a national opportunity to honor outstanding volunteers and recognize the impact they make. While not a Girl Scout award, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award is awarded by age group in three tiers: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
To be eligible, volunteers must be a United States Citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States, at least 5 year old, and complete eligible service within a 12 month period (January 16th – January 15th each year).
Eligible Service:
- Unpaid acts of volunteer service benefiting others
- Service through National service programs that provide a stipend (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) may count towards the Lifetime Achievement Award*, but not for the annual Bronze, Silver, and Gold
Eligible Service does not include:
- Donating funds
- Political lobbying (Non-partisan voter registration is an eligible activity)
- Religious instruction
- Conducting worship service
- Proselytizing
- Volunteer service performed as part of court-ordered community service
- Serving only family members
Hours required to earn awards in each age group:
These hours ONLY reflect the Presidential Volunteer Service Award tiers. (DO NOT include hours for the Girl Scouts Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards).
Age Group |
Bronze |
Silver |
Gold |
| Kids (5-10 yrs.old) | 26-49 hours |
50-74 hours |
75+ hours |
| Teens (11-15 yrs. old) | 50-74 hours |
75-99 hours |
100+ hours |
Young Adults (16-25 yrs. old) |
100-174 hours |
175-249 hours |
250+ hours |
| Adults (26+) | 100-249 hours |
250-499 hours |
500+ hours |
Please use the Service Award Log to keep track of your hours. Hour logs should be submitted via email to customercare@gswpa.org with the subject line: Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Alternatively, hours can be submitted using the online form. Hour submission must be submitted by January 31.
Mentoring Awards
Junior Aide
Girl Scout Juniors can earn this mentoring award by making and completing a plan to work with Daisies or Brownies on one of their Journeys.
Leader in Action (LiA)
Cadettes earn the LiA award by assisting Brownies to complete a Journey. Learn more.
Earning the Leader in Action (LiA) award is a pre-requisite to earning the Program Aide award.
Cadette Program Aide
Have you always wanted to be a mentor to younger girls? Do you want to be a role model and inspiration and have a lasting impact on a girl's life? Girl Scout Cadettes have exciting opportunities to share their skills, passions, and experience with younger Girl Scouts! As a Program Aide, you'll develop your leadership skills and learn age-level communication techniques and tips for planning and leading activities for younger girls.
There are three steps to earn this mentoring award—earn one LiA award, complete the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania Program Aide training, and work directly with younger girls over six activity sessions. (One-hour sessions are suggested.)
To become a Program Aide:
- Earn a LiA (Leader in Action) Award.
- Complete the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania Program Aide Training. The Program Aide Training includes virtual Foundations training and in-person Skills training. To find upcoming training, check out our Activities List.
Girl Scout troops or service units who are interested in hosting a Program Aide Foundations training can submit this form to request a training.
- Work directly with younger Girl Scouts over six activity sessions to complete 25 internship hours. How this happens for each girl may vary. This can be assisting girls on Journey activities (in addition to what you have already done for your LiA Award), badge activities, troop meetings, or other activities You can also help out at day camps and council-sponsored events.
Current Program Aide facilitators are asked to complete this form to let the girl program team know that you are interested in continuing to be a facilitator for the Program Aide Skills training. Program Aide Foundations training is a virtual training led by Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania staff.
FAQ:
Q: My daughter is already a Program Aide. Does she have to take the new training?
A: No! Current Program Aides do not need to take the new training. If they feel that they would benefit from additional training, they are welcome to register for the new training, but it is not required.
Q: I’m currently a facilitator. Can I keep training girls?
A: If you are interested in continuing to be a Program Aide facilitator, please contact the girl program team at 800-248-3355 or customercare@gswpa.org for more information.
Q: If my daughter is in the middle of earning her LiA Award, can she still attend?
A: Having a completed LiA Award is a pre-requisite, so no, she will need to complete the LiA Award before attending.
Volunteer-in-Training (VIT)
Seniors and Ambassadors who would like to mentor a Daisy, Brownie, Junior, or Cadette group outside of camp can earn this award when you work with an adult mentor, complete Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania training, and create and implement a program for girls based on a Journey or badge.
Counselor-in-Training (CIT)
As seasoned Girl Scouts, Seniors and Ambassadors have exciting opportunities to mentor younger girls in a camp setting and build skills toward becoming camp counselors.
Both Seniors and Ambassadors can earn the Counselor-in-Training I award by taking a leadership course on outdoor experiences and working with younger girls over the course of a camp session through a CIT session at a Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania resident camp. Once the CIT I award is completed, Ambassadors can earn the Counselor-in-Training II award by continuing to build their skills and focusing on a specific area, like riding instruction, lifeguarding, or the arts.
Meritorious Service Awards
Bronze Cross
This lifesaving award is given to a Girl Scout who has shown extraordinary heroism or risked her life to save another. Contact Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania to request guidelines and an application.
Medal of Honor
This lifesaving award is given to a Girl Scout who has saved someone’s life in an emergency. Contact Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania to request guidelines and an application.
National Leadership Awards
Silver Torch Award
This award recognizes Cadettes who act as leaders in their community. There are two steps to earn this award—complete a Journey and serve for one full term in a leadership position in your community. This could be serving as a yearbook editor, a member of student government, the president of a club, or a sports captain.
Keep track of your hours using the Leadership and Service Award Hour Log.
Once you've completed the requirements for this award, please fill out the Torch Award Application.
Gold and Silver Torch
This award recognizes Seniors who act as leaders in their community. There are two steps to earn this award—complete a Journey and serve for one full term in a leadership position in your community. This could be serving as a yearbook editor, a member of student government, the president of a club, or a sports captain.
Keep track of your hours using the Leadership and Service Award Hour Log.
Once you've completed the requirements for this award, please fill out the Torch Award Application.
Gold Torch Award
This award recognizes Ambassador Girl Scouts who act as leaders in their community. There are two steps to earn this award: completing a Journey and serving for one full term in a leadership position in your community. This could be serving as a yearbook editor, a member of student government, the president of a club, or a sports captain.
Keep track of your hours using the Leadership and Service Award Hour Log.
Once you've completed the requirements for this award, please fill out the Torch Award Application.
Community Service Bar
To earn this award, you will choose a community organization to work with, receive instructions, and complete at least 20 hours of service.**
**Hours of service you use to earn these awards must be separate from those counted towards other awards.
Keep track of your hours using the Leadership and Service Award Hour Log.
Once you've completed the requirements for this award, please fill out the Community Service Bar Application.
Service to Girl Scouting Bar
Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors often volunteer to help at service unit or council events with younger girls or volunteer to help with other special Girl Scout projects. Once you complete at least 20 hours of service, you earn this award.**
**Hours of service you use to earn these awards must be separate from those counted towards other awards.
Keep track of your hours using the Leadership and Service Award Hour Log.
Once you've completed the requirements for this award, please fill out the Service to Girl Scouting Bar Application.
Special Opportunity Awards
Cookie Activity Pin
You can earn this award every year when you participate in the cookie program. For age-level, qualifying activities click HERE.
World Thinking Day Award
Girl Scouts take part in activities to honor and celebrate our global sisterhood around the world. Check out the age-level activities to earn this award HERE.
Global Action Award
Learn more about how girls live around the world and do an activity to help girls who need it to earn this award. More information can be found HERE.
