Mandeville Girl Scout Troop 1210 has achieved the impossible.

Only 5.4 percent of Girl Scouts in grades 10-12 across the nation ever achieve the coveted Gold Award, but the Mandeville Troop recently had six of its 10-girl troop receive the highest award granted in Girl Scouts for possibly the first time in history where a single troop so small accomplished the feat.

Leah Clanton, Danielle McNeil, Eleanor Nix, Erin Nolinske, Susanna Reich and Jessica Stringer, all either high school seniors or graduates, accomplished the goal they set out to reach when they entered scouting more than a decade ago.

Senior Girl Scout Troop 1210 recently made history with six of the troop'€™s 10 girls receiving the highest honor in Girl Scouts, the Gold Award. From left: Erin Nonlinske, Jessica Stringer, Susanna Reich, Leah Clanton and Danielle McNeil. Not pictured is Eleanor Nix. (Staff Photo by Chad Ruiz)

Similar to an Eagle Scout Award in Boy Scouts, but as some Girl Scouts attest, more difficult to acquire, the Gold Award is the culmination of projects, service hours and everything else a girl achieves while a scout.

The magnificent framework established to earn the award starts the moment the scout enters the organization and continues throughout their scouting career, where they complete an arduous query of steps and challenges that include hundreds of service hours, the acquisition of countless badges and the involvement in numerous community projects.

In fact, Mandeville boasts the cleanliness it does today thanks in part to the immeasurable time devoted to citywide cleanup efforts by the troop.

Once a scout reaches 14 years old, they have until they’re 18 to complete a seven-step pyramid of requirements to qualify for the award, including logging 30 leadership hours, 40 career exploration hours and 65 hours performing a community project.

Of course, these tasks are asked of the girls while they attend school and participate in academic and church organizations.

The community service project or Gold Award project is by far the largest challenge of a scout’s career, Troop Leader Diane Reich said.

The project, thought up by the scout, must be a community venture that fulfills a need, creates change and is ongoing.

McNeil identified and labeled 25 species of trees at the Northlake Nature Center in Mandeville by creating impressions in stone markers placed before the tree inscribed with its botanical information. She also redrew the center’s map and created an informational brochure highlighting the center’s many features.

In partnership with McNeil, Reich designed and developed the existing wildflower garden adorning the entrance to the center. She also created a wildflower leaflet that will be available on the Nature Center’s Web site.

Nix educated the public about proper flag etiquette by constructing and distributing instructional booklets to area schools and libraries. She also participated in several flag retirement ceremonies.

Nolinske, an avid chess player, developed three chess activity boxes to be distributed to the Covington and New Orleans Boys and Girls Club of America and Tchefuncte Middle School in Mandeville. The boxes contain lesson plans and other chess-related information on different activities that can be played using the contents.

Clanton created African and Native American Cultural Art boxes for the use of the St. Tammany Parish Art Association and parish schools. Included in the boxes are artifacts, cultural information, lesson plans, art ideas, children’s books and much more that is available to teachers parishwide.

Lastly, Stringer worked beside Clanton and created Asian and Greek Cultural Art boxes that are also available to teachers and libraries and include lesson plans, books and multiple culturally-related activities.

Besides representing leadership and commitment, the Gold Award is also highly respected in the workforce and academic arena.

Stringer recently earned a Leadership Scholarship from the University of Southern Mississippi that will fully pay for her schooling thanks to her achievements as a Girl Scout.

The other five are also making preparations to attend the colleges of their choice, which include Louisiana State University and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

“They’ve reached the top of their mountain,” Diane Reich said. The next step, she added, would be to become a lifetime Girl Scout member.

The sextet credited their parents and leaders for their accomplishments, but co-leader Susan Stringer said the girls’ initiative and work ethic are products of their strong chemistry.

Of the several senior Girl Scout troops located across St. Tammany, only a handful of girls have received the Gold Award.

Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scout organization in 1912 with 18 members. Today, the club boasts more than 3.7 million members nationwide.

The Gold Award was founded in 1980 and was distributed to approximately 5,500 members last year.