Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts of the USA, once said, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!”

Alecia Bell has been a Girl Scout for ten years and counting, and in those ten years, largely due to her determined attitude, similar to that of Juliette Gordon Low, she has achieved much.

She recently worked on achieving her Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest achievement within Girl Scouts, only earned by Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts have successfully earn the Gold Award.

Alecia’s interest in engineering and computer science got her thinking about how many girls might want to pursue degrees in those fields.

She learned that only 20% of degrees awarded in engineering and computer science are given to women. Researchers have found that the percentage is so low because women have misconceptions about the field. Alecia came up with the idea to hold a panel type event to give girls information about these fields in an interactive way. First, she had to get the approval from the Girl Scout Council to be able to perform the event. After getting the “ok” to go forward with this she started networking. Alecia contacted students and professionals in the fields of engineering and computer science to help with the endeavor. She contacted eight high schools to advertise the panel.

Her choice of topic was engineering and computer science because her older brother is majoring in it at the University of Illinois. He helped in many ways such as putting her in contact with female engineers and students from Northwestern who went to Nazareth Academy. She talked to youth groups and people from her church and they were all very excited with getting involved and helping with her panel.

The entire project has taken about 80 hours, and she still has to complete a website and even more paperwork.

Alecia Bell has lived up to the expectations of Juliette Gordon Low. Part of the Girl Scout Pledge and Promise state that the girls promise to be “ friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do.” Alecia Belle truly embodies all of these characteristics.