Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania has awarded Bethel Park resident and Lyla Walsh the Gold Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout can receive.
By earning the honor, Walsh positions herself as a community leader by advocating for others and using leadership and citizenship skills that set her apart from others her age.
The Bethel Park High School senior earned her award by tackling the gender gap in engineering through a project aimed at introducing young girls to the field. In a four-day summer camp that she designed and hosted, Walsh brought together women engineers to inspire and educate participants.
Through presentations and hands-on STEM activities, the girls were given a glimpse into the rewarding world of engineering. Walsh’s primary focus was to highlight how engineering can be a “helping” field, showing the positive impact women can make in traditionally male-dominated industries.
Walsh’s project adviser is Mary Zeis, former vice president of STEM outreach and current SWENest coordinator at the Society of Women Engineers — Pittsburgh.
“I found that Lyla was an intelligent, mature and motivated young lady,” Zeis said. “I loved that she wanted to tackle the problem of the gender gap in engineering as her Girl Scouts Gold Award project.”
Reflecting on her journey, Walsh said:
“Since I was a young Girl Scout, earning my Gold Award has always been a goal of mine. This project taught me invaluable lessons about perseverance, leadership and time management. I’m so proud to be a Gold Award Girl Scout.”
The daughter of James and Diana Walsh of Bethel Park has been a member of Girl Scouts for 12 years and was supported in her Gold Award effort by Zeis, troop leader Diana Walsh, publicity adviser James Cromie and the accomplished women engineers who donated their time to speak at her camp: Miranda Slomkowski, Sarah Ramp, Nina Carney, Kelly McCarthy, Sophia Zitkus, Katrina Sandoval, Erica Blumenschein and Mariangela Peters.
Walsh received sponsorship from Menard USA, a geotechnical ground improvement company headquartered in Pittsburgh, which helped bring her vision to life.
She began her Gold Award project in January, and her accomplishment will be celebrated in the spring of 2025 at a ceremony for new Gold Award Girl Scouts in the GSWPA Council.