At this special event, we celebrate the leadership and service of outstanding Girl Scouts and award three scholarships of $5,000 to be used for higher education. Scholarship recipients must have earned their Gold Award, the highest recognition available to Girl Scouts.

2023 Scholarship Awardees

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Coumba Diallo

Coumba Diallo, a freshman at Tufts University, saw an opportunity to support the mental health of her peers and make a positive impact in her community to earn her Gold Award.

To earn her Gold Award, Coumba partnered with the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition to provide a creative outlet for teens in foster care to promote expression and mental health stability. Coumba began by collecting art supplies, writing art prompts on cards, and assembling 150 art kits. She then invited teens who used the art kits to submit their artwork for a virtual exhibition that Coumba organized for the public. Finally, Coumba coordinated with teaching artists and facilitated ten virtual painting workshops with children in St. Louis, Senegal. Coumba took photos and footage from the workshops and created a video to post on YouTube.

Through her project, Coumba reached more than 100 teens and provided them with tools for self-expression. Coumba provided an instructional guidebook to the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition to continue assembling and handing out her art kits to ensure her project will continue in the future.

Coumba will receive the 2023 Changemaker Scholarship made possible by Laurna Godwin in memory of Corrynne Godwin.

Mira Iyer

Mira Iyer, a senior at Rockwood Summit High School, is a founding member and co-captain of the P3 Robotics team as well as a member of the GSEM Media Team. In 2020, Mira joined GSEM’s board of directors as a girl representative.

After reading the nutrition label for her favorite and seemingly healthy snacks, like protein bars and veggie chips, Mira realized a large amount of sugar and preservatives in these foods. Recognizing that these snacks are marketed to busy teens, Mira decided to take action and combat the issue of unhealthy snacking among her peers. Mira committed more than 213 hours to develop her app, CHOMP, an innovative nutrition app created for users to understand better their bodies and the foods they eat. Mira developed her app to ensure an easy-to-use interface and utilized unintimidating nutritional terminology to help teenagers understand their bodies and process the foods they eat daily.

Mira worked with a local SSM Hospital dietician, who provided knowledge and guidance, so the app better equips users with the tools to read nutrition labels and choose healthier snack options.

Mira will receive the 2023 Changemaker Scholarship made possible by Penny Pennington and Michael Fidler in honor of every girl making her mark on the world!

Gracie Steinmeyer

Gracie Steinmeyer, a senior at Rockwood Summit High School, is an eight-year Girl Scout Robotics team member and a founding member and co-caption of P3 Robotics team.

Gracie recognized first-hand the need for more in-depth programming tutorials. After advancing to the FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC), Gracie and her team struggled to find comprehensive tutorials on Java programming. So, to earn her Gold Award, Gracie filmed five tutorial videos on how to set up and program for FTC Robotics teams. Gracie then hosted a workshop for more than 20 robotics teams which covered TensorFlow software and how to program for machine learning. Gracie also visited three elementary schools to present FTC demo bots and other STEM activities to more than 80 students.

Gracie’s 11 videos have generated more than 13,000 views on YouTube. Gracie has recruited a local robotics team and has shared her video tutorial instructions so they can continue creating their programming videos.

Gracie will receive the 2023 Changemaker Scholarship made possible by the William R. Orthwein and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation.

Past Scholarship Recipients:

• Anushka Rawat, Parkway South High School, 2022 Recipient
• Nichole Hofmann, Troy Buchanan High School, 2022 Recipient
• Zoey Knight, Kirkwood High School, 2021 Recipient
• Shruti Panda, Parkway West High School, 2021 Recipient
• Alexis Edgar, Francis Howell High School, 2020 Recipient
• Nicole Licavoli, Marquette High School, 2020 Recipient
• Molly Frei, Visitation Academy High School, 2019 Recipient
• Lillian Orskog, Kirksville High School, 2019 Recipient
• Brianna Dale, St. Dominic High School, 2018 Recipient
• Sarah Eisenman, Ladue Horton Watkins High School, 2018 Recipient
• Sarah Ayers, Parkway West High School; 2017 Recipient
• Allison Licavoli, Marquette High School; 2017 Recipient
• Myra Dotzel, Parkway Central High School; 2016 Recipient
• Jessica Thoelke, Ladue Horton Watkins High School; 2016 Recipient
• Amanda Blythe, Ft. Zumwalt West High School; 2015 Recipient
• Jamielee Buenemann, Washington High School; 2015 Recipient
• Lauren Gieseking, Parkway West High School; 2014 Recipient
• Natalie Ried, Lindbergh High School; 2014 Recipient
• Julia Brose, Eureka High School; 2013 Recipient
• Melissa LaChance, Central R-3 High School; 2013 Recipient
• Carolyn Beard, Clayton High School; 2012 Recipient
• Jazmyn Ferguson, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School; 2012 Recipient

All girls who earn their Gold Award at the 2023 Reflections Ceremony will be considered for the 2024 Dessert First Scholarship. Finalists will be notified in October 2023 that they have been selected by the Dessert First Scholarship Committee for a presentation and interview. (All finalists selected for the presentation round receive a $1,000 scholarship.) The committee will announce final award decisions immediately following the presentation round in November 2023. Girl Scouts can contact Shannon Bodenschatz at sbodenschatz@girlscoutsem.org with questions regarding the Dessert First Scholarship.