eighteen-year-old Teia Willa Shannon, a resident of Kensington, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, reaching the pinnacle of the Girl Scout leadership experience.
Teia earned her Gold Award by creating a program called “Consenteens: Educating High Schoolers about Sexual Assault and Consent.” While writing an article for her school magazine, she learned that the majority of reported sexual assaults are by attackers who knew their victims. Teia addressed this issue through her program, which included role-playing workshops, a website, and other resources she developed.
She joined Girl Scouts in kindergarten as a member of Troop 3289. In middle school, she earned the Silver Award, the highest accolade for Girl Scout Cadettes. In addition, she was named Encanto Scout of the Year by VFW Post 1512.
Teia graduated from Francis Parker School in June, and will be a freshman at Smith College in Massachusetts this fall, with plans to study biochemistry and German. She aspires to become a medical examiner. To prepare for her chosen field, Teia interned at three local police departments and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Regional Crime Laboratory, where she helped examine evidence, analyzed fingerprints, and observed a crime scene investigation. In addition, she shadowed a New York Times best-selling author and medical examiner in San Francisco, where she witnessed forensic autopsies and a deposition, and reviewed casework.
She was among 61 Gold Award Girl Scouts honored during a recent ceremony hosted by Girl Scouts San Diego at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. Hundreds of family members, friends, community leaders, and Girl Scout volunteers attended the event.
The keynote speaker was Coreen Petti, Our Lady of Peace Academy’s board chair emeritus. In addition to that volunteer position, Petti is associate vice president of advancement marketing and strategic partnerships at the University of San Diego. The Girl Scout alum is a Gold Award Girl Scout, former troop leader, and member of a multi-generational Girl Scout family. She was named one of Girl Scouts San Diego’s Cool Women of 2019 earlier this year. During the Gold Award event, she shared about how Girl Scouting experiences like outdoor adventures and becoming a camp counselor-in-training prepared her for leadership roles throughout her life.
The Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable…earned by a high school Girl Scout who works to address an issue she’s passionate about in a way that produces meaningful and lasting change. Whether it’s on a local, national, or global level, Gold Award Girl Scouts provide innovative solutions to significant challenges.
“Gold Award Girl Scouts change the world for the better, and change it for good!” said Girl Scouts San Diego CEO Carol M. Dedrich. “Our 2019 Gold Award Girl Scouts embody everything this achievement stands for.”
The Gold Award enables young women to distinguish them- selves in the college admissions process, earn college scholar- ships, and skip a rank when enlisting in the military.
