Haley Farinato learned that many students in her community lacked basic school supplies because their families struggled to afford them. Partnering with her local elementary school, Haley worked with a nurse and social worker to create a resource room stocked with essentials like notebooks, pencils and hygiene items. She relocated and renovated the school’s nursing station to build an organized space where students in need could “shop” for supplies with dignity. Thanks to her efforts, more students can now focus on learning. Haley earned a prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award in 2025 for her Karns Elementary Care Closets 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 address a concern in their community. They plan and implement projects that produce lasting change in their region and beyond. The Gold Award is the Girl Scouts’ highest honor.

Haley was a lifelong student at Karns’ schools, and her mother works at the elementary school, which is how she learned of the need for these essentials. “I wanted to give back to where I’ve been,” Haley shares. “Not everyone can afford all the items necessary for school each year. I wanted to set up a system that would ensure that kids could get the supplies they need.”

Her love of organizing was put to the test when she approached the first area to clean out. “It was completely filled to the brim with of a little bit of everything,” Haley says. “Decorations, nursing supplies, school supplies – we pulled it all out and kept what we needed.”

Her project scope expanded after she started, but after some shuffling and moving, it all worked out, moving the nurse’s room to a classroom with more space and the social worker into the vacated nurse’s space.

Haley’s team completely cleaned out, organized, installed new fixtures and bins, and re-stocked two closets: one for the nurse with items like clothing and toothbrushes and one for the social worker with items such as toiletries and school supplies.

The idea was for students to enter the social worker closet and have something similar to a shopping experience by picking colors and items. Haley built cube shelves and sorted and labeled lots of supplies, then purchased items needed to fill the gaps, such as binders.

In the nurse’s closet, her team purchased bins and sorted clothes by gender and size and bought drawers for quickly needed and most-used items.

She worked with the social worker to share information with the teachers, so they could share with students and also come themselves to pick up items for their students. In addition to sharpening her communication skills, Haley also learned more about leading her project team, which consisted of friends and family members, and shares with humor: “I learned to be assertive without them hating me later.”

She credits her mother for getting her started in Girl Scouts at the Daisy level, and she’s enjoyed many experiences over the years.

Haley recently completed her first year of college at East Tennessee State University, where she made the dean’s list her first semester and is pursuing a double major in health administration and health sciences. She intends for these majors to support her ultimate goal of becoming a dentist. She shares, “I’ve loved my freshman year, I love the independence and it’s so fun meeting people from all over.”

In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing games with her brother, who will join her at ETSU next year.

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