Eleni Mouyos earns Gold Award
Eleni Mouyos of Windham earns Girl Scout Gold Award with improvement project
September 21, 2023
WINDHAM, NH – Libraries today are so much more than books. They are community centers, offering classes, access to the internet and printers, quiet study spots, and even real items to borrow, such as video games, telescopes, and musical instruments. Gold Award Girl Scout Eleni Mouyos wants her community to understand that and has worked to improve the Nesmith Library’s teen area by providing new furniture and a reading campaign.
Mouyos, 18, of Windham, earned Girl Scouting’s highest honor for a high school student, the Girl Scout Gold Award, with her project, Reading Campaign at Nesmith Library. She has long been active at the library through its Teen Advisory Group. Her experiences led her to make the teen space at the library more inviting.
“We were having our meetings there monthly, and we sat on these old beanbag chairs that you immediately hit the ground as you sat on them, because they’re that thin,” she said. “The area was just really dark. For some reason we had blinds up that weren’t necessary because the sun didn’t really reach that area. It was just a problem everyone complained about.”
Mouyos gathered a team to help her raise $1,226 through fundraisers like participation in a town-wide yard sale and selling hand-painted water bottles and origami earrings at the town’s Strawberry Festival.
“We ended up getting a bar, three barstools, and a table by that window that replaced the blinds,” she said. “We added extra study space. Really nice chairs that replaced those beanbag chairs. They allowed for better seating because, like I said, those beanbags chairs were really awful. And then we got a circle rug which fits the space better. So that cleaned it up.”
Youth services librarian Molly Pevna said Mouyos did an amazing job.
“Even before this project, Eleni was an active member of the Teen Advisory Group since its inception in 2019,” she said. “The culmination of all her work with the project is example of what the Teen Advisory Group is all about. She was able to blend her work as a Girl Scout and as a Nesmith TAG member and it came out wonderfully.”
Pevna said Mouyos’s project made the teen area at the library a more welcoming space for Windham teens and there has been a measurable increase in the use of the space since its completion. Further improvements are planned as well.
Along with the furniture, Mouyos created a reading campaign website which the library will maintain and future members of the Teen Advisory Group can contribute to in the form of blogs and spotlights.
Mouyos has been a lifelong Girl Scout, starting the program in kindergarten as a Daisy. She recalls wonderful memories with her troop friends on overnight trips, visits to Rocking Horse Ranch and Martha’s Vineyard, camping, and camporees, and selling cookies. Staying connected to her friends and town was important to her, especially as she stayed involved as an older Girl Scout.
“We tried to be involved with our community and keep up with everything,” she said about her troopmates. “We took on the same struggles together, even outside Girl Scouts. This is a night where we can discuss important things. Just the fact that it’s building up relationships, a support system. It keeps you positive about it. Girl Scouts isn’t a forced thing. You do it because you like it.”
She encourages others to go for Girl Scouting’s highest awards.
“I had such a good time because you get to choose what you want to do,” she said. “It shouldn’t be something you’re not interested in. My Silver Award - I had such a good time, because I built a footbridge over a pond in town that had trails and other hiking spots. My dad helped me out because he’s a big engineering guy, and it was fun learning how to build and use power tools and stuff.”
Taking on these projects honed her skills in many areas, not just how to use power tools. She said she learned how to present an idea to the Windham Conservation Commission for the footbridge, which was good practice for presenting her ideas to the library’s board of trustees.
Moyous graduated from Windham High School last year, where she earned her place in the National Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Science Honor Society. She is now a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, where she hopes to learn marine architecture and eventually do field research tracking ocean habitats, ecosystems, and the animals within them.
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Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good. The Gold Award is earned by girls in grades 9–12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in developing sustainable solutions to local, national, and global challenges. Since 1912, Girl Scouts have answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change. They earn college scholarships, demonstrate high educational and career outcomes, and are active in their communities.
Eleni Mouyos has answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change, and her Gold Award is a testament to her remarkable dedication to improving her community and the world.
About the Girl Scout Gold Award
- Gold Award Girl Scouts on average spend one to two years on their project.
- A Gold Award project must be sustainable after the girl’s involvement ends.
- The average age of Gold Award Girl Scouts is 17.
- Since 1916, more than 1 million girls have earned the Gold Award or its equivalent.
- Gold Award Girl Scouts are entitled to enlist at a higher pay grade when they join the military.
- University research indicates that noting you are a Gold Award Girl Scout on a college application is influential in the admissions decision-making process.
- Twenty-two young women from New Hampshire and Vermont have earned their Gold Award in the 2022-2023 membership year as part of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
- The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable.
We Are Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
