Catherine Gergel worked to help victims of racially driven attacks. After experiencing anti-Asian racism, Catherine created a website to help people find help and learn self-defense basics and for potential bystanders to learn strategies to safely intervene. She created videos and classes using karate, one of her lifelong passions, to teach both de-escalation and self-defense. She also led in-person workshops to empower people to safely confront hate in their community. She earned a prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award in 2024 for her To Fall Seven Times, to Rise Eight project.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are rock stars, role models and real-life heroes who address issues they’re passionate about by using everything they’ve learned as a Girl Scout to solve an issue. They plan and implement projects that produce lasting change in the community and beyond. It is the Girl Scouts’ highest honor.

An unfortunate incident brought Catherine face-to-face with racism and prompted her to put together and execute this project, “I was furious after being told to ‘go back to China,’ ” Catherine shares. “Especially since I was born and raised in the United States. I realize that while emotionally hurtful, my encounter could’ve been so much worse, and it has been much worse for many other people. Over the past few years since 2020, I’ve seen reports of increasing anti-Asian hate crimes due to people blaming us for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

She saw that people weren’t equipped to defend themselves – either by de-escalation or self-defense. She also noticed that bystanders often have the same deficits, keeping them from stepping in and standing up for others. Her determination to reach her goal was sparked. “I decided to take action,” Catherine says. “I can’t get rid of racism, but I can give potential victims the tools to defend themselves.”

Catherine loved getting to share her knowledge of martial arts and self-defense with other people – skills she learned through a lifetime of karate classes – and discovered a new passion for teaching karate. “I feel great knowing that the information I shared can help other people if they’re ever in need.”

She persevered through the challenges of creating a website, but she researched and figured it out. Visit https://www.tofallseventimestoriseeight.com/ to learn more about Catherine, de-escalation and self-defense techniques and bystander actions.

Catherine enjoys spending time with her mom, friends and dog, Marshmallow. Her favorite pastimes include karate, painting, photography, listening to music, reading and creative writing.

Congratulations, Catherine! Visit girlscoutcsa.org to learn more.