close

Kellin Daley earns highest Girl Scout honor

By Suzanne Elliott 3 min read
article image -

Kellin Daley is a senior at Peters Township High School and will graduate in June and then attend Millersville University in the fall.

She drives, has a part-time job, and will receive the Girl Scouts of America Gold Award – the highest award in Girl Scouts – April 9 at a ceremony in New Jersey. She has been involved in scouting for 13 of her 18 years.

“Girl Scouts help people and I like helping people,” she explained.

Sounds pretty impressive. And it is, especially since Kellin has the learning capacity of a fifth or sixth grader.

But that has not stopped Kellin, the daughter of Linda and Doug Daley of Venetia. With the encouragement of her parents and family, Kellin said she wants to be a role model for people who are also developmentally disabled.

Her scout troop is based in New Jersey, where the Daley’s lived for several years. Linda said her daughter made a number of friends in New Jersey from Girl Scouts and opted to remain with that troop and her friends after the family moved to Pittsburgh nine years ago.

For her Gold Award, Kellin, with the help of her mother, who also serves as one of the leaders of her troop, did a project called Babies, Blankets and Bibles. The project, which is kind of a support kit for expectant unwed mothers, consists of a blanket, a devotional book and a baby’s first Bible. Kellin, who worked on her project for two years, raised $3,500 to fund the project through solicitations and assembled 150 of these kits, which she gave to the Pregnancy Resource Center in Bethel Park and Choices Pregnancy in Robinson Township.

Linda said her daughter’s goal with the project was to teach the women and their babies about Jesus and ultimately provide the children with a loving and Christian home.

Scouting is not Kellin’s only activity. At school, she is involved in the National Honor Society, the Interact Club, Skills USA and Student Activists for the Environment and Skills USA. She is also actively involved in her church youth group at The Bible Chapel in McMurray and works at Sunshine Kids, a pre-school in Eighty-Four.

“I want to teach pre-school or little kids,” Kellin said. “I also do a lot of badges with Mom.”

Linda said she is not worried about Kellin attending college at Millersville, where she will be enrolled in the university’s two-year career and lifestyles program for the developmentally disabled.

But to prepare her daughter for living apart, Linda said she has been training Kellin how to do her own makeup, as well as her own laundry.

Despite graduating and going away to college, Kellin said Girl Scouts will remain part of her life. She said she will mentor some friends who are working on scouting badges and projects. Or, she might one day become and assistant troop leader.

Whatever her daughter decides to do, Linda said she and her husband are very proud of what Kellin has accomplished.

“She continues to surprise me,” Linda said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today