Judy Bafaro of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award.

This is the highest recognition for girls in Girl Scouting and symbolizes outstanding accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service, career planning and personal development.

The award requirements involve the completion of multiple interest patches, a variety of leadership experiences, career exploration and service projects. The culminating service project requires a minimum 65-hour commitment and allows the Girl Scout to demonstrate her skills and abilities in goal setting, planning, putting values into action and relating to the community.

Bafaro, a 13-year Girl Scout, participated as a student leader in a mission trip to Mexico and helped lead a team on a home-building project. She documented the experience on film to recruit students from her high school and to raise money and awareness for future mission trips. She has earned the Girl Scout Silver Award and 10-Year Pin.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is an extension and combination of all that the Girl Scout has learned in her previous Girl Scout experience. Girl Scouts who receive the Girl Scout Gold Award are eligible for a number of college scholarships.

Bafaro is a student at DePaul University in Chicago and a 2008 graduate of Cor Jesu Academy.

She is the daughter of Jim and Jayne Ba-faro of south county.