By Meda Kessler
Photo by Ron Jenkins
A love of animals helped this teen achieve the Girls Scouts’ highest honor.
Rebecca Williams has spent most of her 18 years as a Girl Scout. Her 11-year involvement took her from a Brownie to, most recently, recipient of the prestigious Gold Award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout and the one most difficult to obtain.
It was a proud moment for Rebecca and her family. The moment was especially sweet since her three brothers all earned the rank of Eagle Scout during their time with Boy Scouts of America.
The soft-spoken Williams, who graduated from Carroll Senior High School this past spring, is humble about her accomplishments and what she had to do achieve gold status.
And while she enjoyed many parts of her Scout life — from camping trips to cookie sales — her Gold Award project brought her the most satisfaction.
With one cat and one dog at home, Rebecca is definitely an animal lover. She channeled her compassion into a project where she volunteered at the Humane Society of North Texas (both the Keller and Fort Worth locations). Specifically, she took photos of cats, dogs and other animals at the shelters for use on HSNT’s website. Better photographs often mean a greater chance of adoption, and it’s not always easy to get a quality photo of a wiggling dog or an uncooperative cat.
Rebecca also talked to her teachers and classmates about her work, encouraging them to get involved and volunteer.
While at the shelter, Rebecca noticed that some of the dogs had only thin blankets in their concrete runs. To help make them more comfortable, she made elevated dogs beds using PVC pipe and fabric. While most of Rebecca’s summer has been spent ramping down from graduation, she has continued to make the beds, even delivering a set to the Fort Worth location the day after her 18th birthday in June.
Next on her list of goals is attending Tarrant County Community College before moving on to a university for a crime scene investigation degree and ultimately a master’s degree in forensics.