Solon Girl Receiving Girl Scout Award for Building Handicap-Accessible Picnic Tables

Catherine Riordan is one of 24 Girl Scouts in the northern region and 58 in Ohio to be recognized Saturday at the John S. Knight Center in Akron for receiving a Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio. 

“Although the Gold Award is the highest, most prestigious recognition a girl may earn in Girl Scouts, we know it is just the beginning of the amazing things these young ladies will accomplish in their lives,” said Jane Christyson, chief executive officer for Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, in a press release.  “Their projects have a lasting impact locally, nationally, and globally in environmental awareness, special needs populations, healthy living, community improvements and more.”

Summit County Court of Common Pleas Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer, a Girl Scout alumna, is the keynote speaker.

The Gold Award project challenges girls to identify an unmet need or core issue in their community, research and investigate it, recruit volunteers and build a team to create a plan to address the issue or need since 1916. 

 The plan, called a Gold Award proposal, is submitted to council for approval by a committee of volunteers.  Only about 5 percent of eligible girls take the rigorous path toward earning this prestigious award, but those who complete the journey change the lives of others and their own in amazing and significant ways. 

Catherine Riordan's Hattie Larlham Project

For her Gold Award project, Catherine worked with Hattie Larlham, a non-profit organization that provides long term disability care. She designed and built four handicap-accessible picnic tables, 16 half-benches, and five sensory stimulation boards, and then she held a picnic for the residents using the items she had built.

Girl Scout Experience, Accolades 

Riordan has been a Girl Scout for 11 years and counting, ever since she was a Daisy. She is also a National Delegate. 

Riodran earned the Girl Scout Silver Award by spearheading a school supply drive to reuse school supplies from her middle school by collecting, cleaning, organizing, and then donating them to needy teens at Bellfaire JCB.  

She will be a junior at Solon High School in the fall. She lettered on the varsity bowling team and is an active member in her church’s teen program. She is trained as a Girl Scout Program Aide and was presented with the Girl Scout Marian Award by Bishop Lennon. Catherine donated her hair for the second time to Locks of Love, and she loves camping.