Neela Wright of Rockwood envisioned a new life for two dilapidated buildings at her former elementary school. She set to work to renovate the buildings to become lasting resources to help the school grow its recreational programs. The results included an updated and usable concession stand to help fund school programs and a permanent storage space for recreational equipment. Neela earned a prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award in 2025 for her Recreation Renovation 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.

All the years that Neela spent as a Girl Scout led her to great success with the Gold Award project. She remembers fun times at Camp Tanasi, having everybody together for swimming, canoeing and cooking and having pillow fights. She ultimately developed into a self-described outdoorsy, adventurous and caring person.

Through an investment of nearly 90 hours on the Recreation Renovation project, Neela delivered useful assets to her community. “I picked the project because when I went to school there no one used the buildings, and I knew they could be turned into something useful for the students and the staff,” Neela shares. “My favorite part of working on the project was being able to see the final outcome put to use.”

After speaking with several community members about the challenges the school faced, Neela recruited experts to donate time and materials to replace the roof on the storage building and install new plumbing to create an accessible bathroom for students to use in the concessions area, along with running water to the kitchen for a sink. “Finding a plumber to help me was probably the hardest,” she says, “but I was able to find a retired plumber to help.”

She set to work painting the buildings, then installed final touches, such as new locks for storing recreational equipment, and held a grand opening of the new space during the back-to-school bash. Neela added multiple skills which will prove useful in the long-term, including project management, budgeting, collaboration, implementation, time management and organization.

She’ll start her senior year at Rockwood High School in the fall of 2025, and she also attends Tennessee College of Applied Technology for cosmetology. In her free time, Neela enjoys spending time with her family, friends and pets and watching movies, sleeping and playing board or card games.

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