The highest honor a Girl Scout can earn is the Gold Award, an award given for demonstrating extraordinary leadership in their community. In Santa Clarita, 23 girls demonstrated the skills necessary and will be honored on June 4 in Pasadena by the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.

Since 1916, thousands of Girl Scouts across the country have earned Girl Scouts’ highest honor — now called the Girl Scout Gold Award — for demonstrating extraordinary leadership and making change in their communities. On Saturday, June 4 in Pasadena, 265 Girl Scouts in Greater Los Angeles — the largest Gold Award class in the nation — will be honored by the regional Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) council, while celebrating the prestigious award’s centennial.

Click here for a list of Gold Award recipients by city.

Nationally, only six percent of all eligible Girl Scouts achieve the Gold Award.Girls who earn the Gold Award automatically enter the military one rank higher, and qualify for college scholarships, additional national service awards, and more. As Gold Awardees, these girls are part of an elite group of women. Formerly called the Golden Eaglet, Curved Bar, and First Class, the Gold Award was introduced in 1916, four years after Girl Scouts was established in the U.S.

Earning the Gold Award requires the planning and implementation of a challenging, large-scale project that is innovative, engages others, and has a lasting impact on its targeted community. In greater LA today, Gold Award projects tackled things like illiteracy, homelessness, sexual assault, discrimination, pollution, and more. This year, one girl created a science camp in Compton; another designed and built wheelchair-accessible telescope mounts; and another girl added a new basketball court to a homeless shelter, for example.

Click here to see what projects the girls completed for the 2016 Gold Award.

“For 100 years, Girl Scouts has recognized girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership by paving the way for positive change in the world,” said Lise L. Luttgens, GSGLA CEO. “These girls inspire others to follow their lead in solving problems in sustainable ways. Their projects have left a permanent effect on their communities, and the process has made an impression on each of them.”