I’m a sister, a daughter, a Girl Scout, and a high school senior.

When I joined the Girl Scouts in second grade, I never imagined how much the commitment to service would shape my life. While I originally joined for the fun of camping trips and making new friends, I later realized that Girl Scouts is about making a positive impact on the world. That mission is what’s driven me toward engineering: a field where I can solve real problems and help people. Whether through renewable energy solutions or finding ways to protect our digital identities, I want to use my skills to make a difference.

As part of my Girl Scout Gold Award project, I focused on the growing issue of loneliness, which the U.S. Surgeon General highlighted in 2023. This issue hit close to home, as my grandmother suffered from dementia after years of living alone. I remember the time we spent together at the kitchen table, doing arts and crafts. Even as her memory faded, the connection we shared was a reminder of the importance of community.

My initial idea was to run art classes for seniors in my town, but the town couldn’t sustain the project. That’s when I reached out to St. Benedict’s to see how I could help here. After discussing my ideas with parish leadership, I launched the Sign of Peace Project — an online storytelling campaign that aims to bring our parish family closer together and combat the loneliness many of us experience.

Through the project, we’ve been collecting and sharing stories from parishioners to help us see how much we share with one another. In the future, the confirmation class and youth of St. Benedict’s will be instrumental in interviewing members of our parish and developing these profiles, and they will continue the project after I leave for college.

The Sign of Peace Project has taught me the power of listening and learning from each other. I’m grateful for the support I’ve received from the parish, and I hope this project can continue to grow and strengthen our sense of belonging.

Thank you for being part of this community and sharing in the stories that bring us together.

Fun facts about me: I’m a huge Radiohead fan, I can recite 200 digits of pi, and I love cats. My entire family is allergic, but I intend on becoming a crazy cat lady the second I move out.