Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania presented Kyla Colcombe with the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest recognition for achievement in Girl Scouting.

Kyla spent two years developing a program for girls ages 9-14 in an effort to show them that they are perfect just the way they are. The program was four days long and took place during the third week of August at Upper St. Clair Community and Recreation Center and was called "Girl Camp."

Kyla felt that when girls looked at magazine images and other media portrayals of girls, it pressured girls to make them feel like they needed to be perfect to fit in. She created this program so that girls would be proud of themselves and their positive traits and understand how false the media images are.

Several activities and lessons were included such as eating healthy, being themselves, identifying positive versus negative influences, handling peer pressure and understanding the manipulation of media photos. The program was so successful, Kyla was asked to present it again next summer for the same age group and to develop another camp for younger girls.

As a Girl Scout member for 12 years, Kyla is a Girl Scout ambassador of Troop 51405. She was supported in her Gold Award effort by Eileen Geffrey, Amy Kerman, Sharon Enslen, Melissa Lindberg, Isabelle Collins and Rachel Geffrey.

Kyla, daughter of Tom and Victoria Colcombe, is a senior at Upper St. Clair High School. She also serves in a leadership position as an Advisory Committee Board of Directors member with Girl Scouts and was elected president of a 60-plus member senior high youth choir at Christ United Methodist Church

Kyla will graduate in 2013 and plans to become a Pediatric Nurse Anesthetist. She was recently accepted for admission to the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown to their Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program.   

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