ON MY HONOR—Pam Chang, Anisha Rajavel and Amy Bellinghiere receive the Gold Award, the highest honor for Girl Scouts, during a ceremony at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church on July 24. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspaper Pam Chang, Amy Bellinghiere and Anisha Rajavel are the “Golden Girls” of Girl Scout Troop 60972.

The recent Oak Park graduates are among the 5 to 6 percent of Scouts age 14 to 18 to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement within the program. The honor is comparable to the Eagle rank earned by Boy Scouts.

The girls’ accomplishments were recognized at a special ceremony at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Westlake Village on July 24.

According to Barbara Bellinghiere, leader of Troop 60972, Girl Scouts must complete many hours of leadership programs and activities, career exploration, badges and a comprehensive community service project.

“Very few Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award,” Bellinghiere said. “In fact, I have been the troop leader for 11 years, and I have never been to a Gold Award ceremony. To have three girls in one troop earn the award is very rare. We had nine that were working toward the award, but the other six did not finish the project.”

Chang has been involved in Girl Scouts for four years. A high-achieving student who will attend Harvard University in the fall, Chang found volunteering at homeless shelters with her troop to be exceptionally rewarding.

For her community service project, Chang tackled water conservation. In addition to creating a website on the topic, she developed and taught an educational program for stu- dents at Oak Hills Elementary School in Oak Park.

“I’ve learned so much about being part of a community and being part of something bigger,” Chang said about her experience with the Girl Scouts. “I loved the Girl Scout experience, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to take part in it.”

Chang hopes to become a Girl Scout mentor or volunteer.

“My sister wants to join Girl Scouts, too, and I believe that you can definitely get involved without having to have kids in the program, especially if you are a former Girl Scout,” she said.

Bellinghiere joined the Scouts when she was just a tyke. After 11 years in the program, she has received Bronze, Silver and Gold awards for her work.

In fifth grade, Bellinghiere earned her Bronze Award when she and two partners made blankets for Casa Pacifica, a residential center for abused and neglected children.

In eighth grade, she introduced a cultural event to her troop called “Thinking Day.” The event taught the girls about cultures of the world. The project earned her the Silver Award. She also volunteered to work at the Girl Scout Camp in eighth grade.

Bellinghiere went for the gold the summer before her senior year at Oak Park High School. She hosted a camp-out to teach survival and basic camping skills, including first aid, knots, firebuilding and cooking.

Throughout her years in Girl Scouts, Bellinghiere has been a tireless worker. She volunteered at homeless shelters; collected food for Manna, a local food bank; cleaned and organized areas of the Agoura Hills Library; and sang to the elderly at local senior living centers.

“I planted trees, picked up trash and cleaned windows at my high school,” she said of her efforts over a decade of Scouting.

Girl Scouts taught her about being a member of the community, Bellinghiere said.

“A community is truly a community when the people in it give back to one another,” she said.

“I have also learned how to be the linking hand between people that want to give back to the community but need (help),” she said. “I have learned how to organize and plan projects that benefit the community. I plan to take the tools I learned from those projects to continue helping others and to organize more events to benefit others.”

As for her future with Girl Scouts, Bellinghiere plans to stay involved and perhaps one day become an adult leader.

Bellinghiere will attend Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo as a chemistry major.

Rajavel has been an active Girl Scout for six years. She earned a Silver Award when she made breakfast for people at a homeless shelter and raised money for the shelter through cookie sales.

Rajavel said she honed her leadership skills in Girl Scouts.

“The Gold Award project is run entirely by the Scout, so it takes a lot of self-discipline and planning to execute a successful project.”

Rajavel earned the Gold Award after she worked with middle school band students after school. After the semester-long project, students performed at a senior citizens home.

Rajavel will attend UC Davis and plans to double major in economics and chemistry.