Cape teen earns Girl Scout Gold Award
‘Scripture for Seekers’ helps middle school students connect with the Bible and their religion
A member of a local Girl Scout Troop has earned the organization’s highest honor via a faith-based project.
Anna Onorevole, a senior at North Fort Myers High School and member of Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida Troop 463, recently earned the Girl Scout Gold Award.
Onorevole, 17, and a Cape Coral resident, created “Scripture for Seekers,” which helped middle school students connect with the Bible and their religion.
“It made me feel really good to get this award because I’ve been in Girls Scouts since kindergarten,” Onorevole said. “So I really wanted to get it all the way through to reach the award level.”
The Girl Scout Gold Award, earned by fewer than 6% of members, empowers girls to choose a community issue they care about, develop a sustainable, measurable solution, and dedicate at least 80 hours to leading and implementing their project.
“When a Girl Scout leads from her values and turns what she believes into meaningful service, she creates impact that lasts far beyond her project. Anna’s Gold Award project reflects courage, compassion, and leadership in action, and we are incredibly proud of her for earning this distinctive honor.” said Mary Anne Servian, CEO of Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida
Onorevole, a member of Cape Christian, distributed 42 Bibles to young members off her church, created custom bookmarks with verses and QR codes to resources, and produced an educational video explaining the Bible, Jesus, and applying scripture, which was shared on Instagram, YouTube, and through Youth Alive.
“I thought about this project because I am a Christian and I’m very involved in my faith and I love to talk about God and grow and help people grow and the relationship with God,” Onorevole said. “And so I founded this project because there’s a lot of people, especially in middle school, that are dealing with so many voices around them, and they don’t really always know where to go to. And even people in my youth groups and communities at my church don’t always have the right people around them.”
Onorevole said she started this project to help people know there are people out there that understand the Bible, and can help youth learn the Bible.
“To have that sense of foundation in your life that God is with you and that he loves you and that he’s able to be with you through all the hard times,” she said. “And so I wanted to bring out Bibles to give them, and then also create a bookmark with it’s called ‘Bible emergency number.'”
The QR code and “emergency number” takes scanners to certain Bible verses that can help with whatever crisis or pressing issue one feels. She felt it would be good for people who are new to their faith, such as middle school students, to have a good place to start.
One of the pastors at Cape Christian worked with Onorevole to pick out the Bible she wanted to distribute.
“So we found the New Believers Bible and it’s one that includes more description inside of it for people that may be lost on certain things,” she said. “I am really grateful that my church was able to really support me in this.”
Onorevole came up with the QR code idea. She used data from a survey she posted on the Scripture for Seekers Instagram page to know what people were looking for, and what areas to target.
Then, she took many hours to create her video slideshow, which can be viewed on the Instagram page.
“People that are new to Christianity –it can be very scary because there’s so many ideas and people’s thoughts coming into your head,” Onorevole said. “So when you just have like the simple breakdown of who Jesus is, why do we follow him, what can he like help you with? How can you help him type thing?”
Onorevole said she remembers being that same middle schooler trying to figure out who she was, and what her faith meant to her.
“And so to me, when I was passing out the Bibles, I felt like I was like my older self still passing out to like my younger self,” she said. “I felt that I was helping them grow and a way that I wasn’t fully grown in and start their journey a little earlier. I’ve been so developed in my faith that I had to kind of learn to backtrack and take it from a different perspective of like the beginner perspective of how do I teach this in simpler terms than in a way that maybe makes sense to me?”
Onorevole being a long-time member of her troop has seen it all, and sold all the cookies you could imagine. Her experience goes far beyond dealing in delicious treats.
“I really think Girl Scouts is a rewarding organization to be a part of, because you if you really stick with it and you actually like commit to it, you’re able to learn so much more than what others may experience,” she said. “You gain the badges and the fun patches and you get to see the growth in yourself and learn how to become a more outward person and become more of yourself than you really knew.”
Onorevole has been accepted to Florida Gulf Coast University, where she will major in digital media design and minor in marketing. She wants to work in the world of graphic design or marketing, or a mix of the two, in the realm of sports, with her favorite being baseball.
She said being a member of Troop 463, her fellow Girl Scouts, and members of leadership have been long-time friends and mentors, many of which she’s been around since elementary school.
“We’ve been able to grow together because we’re all so close in our scouting,” Onorevole said. “We are close in the sense of we understand our girl scouting values and we come together during cookie sales and since we’ve known each other for so long, we have our inside jokes that we all hold together.”
Her message to anyone thinking about getting into the realm of Girl Scouts?
“I would say it’s a really good way to get out of your shell,” Onorevole said. “Especially with team bonding skills and learning entrepreneurship skills and just how to have that confidence around people. Public speaking skills is a big one that you get to learn. It’s just how to speak your mind and especially your opinion. In selling cookies, you get to show your entrepreneurship skills in learning about money and learning how to speak to sometimes complete strangers. It’s just learning to come out of the shell and not just to stand behind the table.”