West Hartford Students Earn Scouting's Highest Honor

Scouting is very popular among young girls in West Hartford. Just watch the annual West Hartford Memorial Day Parade and you will see scores of Daisies, Brownies, and Junior Girl Scouts from every elementary school in town.

And although we often read about boys earning achieving the coveted rank of Eagle Scout – which is a tremendous achievement – it's even rarer to hear about girls achieving scouting's highest rank.

On Friday, two West Hartford high school seniors will be honored with the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest leadership award in Girl Scouting and an honor attained by less than six percent of eligible scouts. 

Margaret Czepiel of Conard High School and Anastasia Konefal of Hall High School have both earned Gold Awards, the first Girl Scouts in West Hartford to have achieved the honor since 2003.

Czepiel's Gold Award project involved the creation of a nature center on the grounds of the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, while Konefal started a summer camp for children at Interval House. Read more about their projects here.

Both will be honored in a ceremony Friday at Atria Hamilton Heights in West Hartford.