A Gold Award Girl Scout Project: Combating Sexual Violence Towards Young Women
My Neighborhood News is excited to partner with the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council with our new "Girl Scouts in Action" series, which aims to spotlight the incredible work being done by local Girl Scouts throughout the Greater Houston Area. This series will showcase how these young leaders are making a positive impact in their neighborhoods, from community service projects to environmental initiatives.
By highlighting their efforts, we aim to inspire others and demonstrate how the Girl Scouts organization is dedicated to preparing young women to become confident and compassionate contributors to society. Together, we celebrate the spirit of service and leadership that empowers the next generation of changemakers.
By Ava Tobar
My name is Ava Tobar, and I’m a first-degree black belt and a Gold Award Girl Scout. With my combined interests, I realized I could help young women leaving home for college and work to learn about self-protection. My Gold Award Project addressed the lack of education and awareness surrounding sexual violence and promoted self-defense, ensuring that young women understand the prevalence of sexual violence and how to defend themselves in dangerous situations.
Ava Tobar, first-degree black belt and a Gold Award Girl Scout. (Source: GSSJ)After conducting research, I created a presentation about sexual violence awareness, which covered statistics about sexual violence around the world. My presentation also discussed the safety precautions women can take toward sexual harassment in the workplace and on campus. I gave this presentation to approximately 30 women in the senior women club at Cypress Ranch High School. A recording of my presentation is published on YouTube, and more information about my project and additional resources can be found on my website.
To promote self-defense, I created a video with one of my instructors at Cypress Taekwondo. This taekwondo school teaches mandatory self-defense techniques involving situations with weapons or when someone is larger and heavier than you. This appealed to me as I’m five feet tall and smaller than most of my peers. My self-defense video has step-by-step audio explanations and visual demonstrations and is also published on YouTube.
I hope that my project inspires others to speak up about sexual violence in their communities. Now, as a junior at Baylor University, the Gold Award has given me many life-long skills. I am currently the president of the university’s running club and a collaborator with the head of the Medical Humanities program to publish a medical humanities magazine.
To learn more about Girl Scouts in the Greater Houston Area, visit www.gssjc.org.
