Hannah McGee achieves the Girl Scout Gold Award for building a new performance stage and bringing the community closer together.
Hannah McGee. Contributed Photo
February 11, 2026 (Geneseo, Illinois) – Hannah McGee from Geneseo, Illinois, has achieved the Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, for providing her community with a safe and sustainable stage at Richmond Hill Park for local performances and community members to use year-round.
“Before starting my project, there was only one performance stage in my town, located in the middle of the city,” says McGee. “I wanted to build a larger stage in a new area, equipped with extra stage materials for communal use.”
McGee led a team of community members and fellow Girl Scouts through brainstorming, planning, and organizing the project. This project will create opportunities for musical and theatrical performances for locals. It will also provide a new location for artists to share their gifts and talents. In addition to the stage, McGee and her team decided to landscape the area to attract pollinators.
“This new stage will foster creativity and allow a place for rising artists or bands to play for the community,” says the Gold Award Girl Scout. “The landscaping will be a healthy addition to our local ecosystem, providing a food source for local pollinators who can then enable plant reproduction, vital for a healthy ecosystem.”
While working on this project, McGee learned from professionals through hands-on experience. She collaborated with a team to design and bring an experiential piece to life that will impact both artists and community members. McGee gained valuable skills to guide her through a degree in Civil and Entertainment Engineering. Her Gold Award project will continue providing a creative and engaging space for community members for years to come.
Gold Award
The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn, available to girls in high school who create sustainable change on a community or world issue. Gold Award Girl Scouts address the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions to drive change, and lead a team of people to success. As they take action to transform their world, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they are the leaders our community and the world need.
Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois
Girl Scouts 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 www.GirlScoutsToday.org.