Katie Crockett is a former Girl Scout in the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois and a 2017 Gold Award Recipient.
For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Katie renovated the library at William BeDell Achievement and Resource Center (ARC) in Wood River, which has a mission “to provide the highest quality of services and programs to children and adults who have a developmental disability that reside in Madison County.” She was inspired by volunteer experience at the agency, which she has been doing in honor of her late uncle who had been a student there.
First, Katie worked with William BeDell ARC staff to create a new floor plan for the library that maximized space and ensured accessibility. With these priorities in mind, she began collecting furniture and shelving, as well as books and other learning materials. After arranging the new library layout and shelving, she helped establish a virtual library that could check in, check out and search for items from any device connected to the school’s wifi network. She then helped enter all of the new books and resources into the updated database. Throughout the process, she maintained a website detailing her project and encouraging others to take action to increase educational equality around the world. While 80 hours of service are the suggested minimum for completing a Girl Scout Gold Award project, Katie devoted a whopping 203 hours to her project.