Award-winning Girl Scout supports caregivers using public libraries

A Pennsylvania College of Technology student has received the highest award in Girl Scouting – the Girl Scout Gold Award – for the 2024 Gold Award class, according to Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania.

The award was earned by Sarah Marie Kline, a graduate of Montoursville Area High School and a member of Troop 60041, who is majoring in baking & pastry arts and applied management at Penn College.

Her project, “Caregiver Work Stations at Public Libraries,” focused on supporting parents who use library computers for job-searching or other tasks. Kline created a safe space for an infant or toddler to play while their caregiver uses the public computer.

She addressed the lack of child care parents often face while they need to complete essential paperwork or other computer projects. Her mission will continue through the permanent placement of a desk with an attached play space for children.

Kline devoted a minimum of 80 hours to problem-solving, planning and implementing her ideas for change. She partnered with the college's Women in Construction Club and the Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace at Penn College to design and build the workstation. The impact of her Gold Award project will be felt long into the future, the organization noted, and Kline has shown the next generation of girls what they are capable of accomplishing.

The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn, available to girls in high school who address pressing issues in their communities and create sustainable change to make the world a better place. The award process enables girls to help their communities and provides tangible benefits as they grow as individuals. By going Gold, girls build professional skills, earn scholarships and build their networks.

The honoree's mother, Tina Marie M. Kline, is troop leader and an associate professor of nursing at Penn College.