December 17, 2025 by Notre Dame Academy
Women make up over half the population and yet they account for less than a third of the nation’s STEM workforce. One of the most impactful ways to improve this statistic is for girls to gain STEM confidence by working with young women immersed in STEM as role models.
Leah Boucher of Hingham, a senior at Notre Dame Academy (NDA) in Hingham, is a captain of NDA’s robotics team, and a longstanding member of the Girl Scouts. She is working toward the Girls Scout’s Gold Award. Like the Boy Scout’s Eagle Award, the Gold Award is the highest honor available in the organization. It recognizes exceptional leadership, service, and long-term commitment. Only about 5.4% of the young women who are eligible earn the Gold Award, making it among the most prestigious awards available to this age group.
In a recent interview, Leah generously shared her insights into this process.
What are the requirements of the Gold Award and how did you decide on your project?
The award is open to Senior and Ambassador Scouts. I’m an Ambassador Scout. The project requirements involve finding a community issue to focus on, then you plan your project. It’s a solo project but you can have help from others. One of the cool things about the project is that it involves something sustainable.
I’ve been involved with Community Outreach for the NDA robotics team for three years. My mom and I were talking about how I could combine my project with outreach, so I’ve developed a curriculum guide for helping local scout troops achieve badges related to technology.
Can you share details about your project?
Sure! My idea was to develop an age-appropriate introduction to robotics that would help young members of scout troop and school communities understand technology, coding, and building robots. My NDA robotics teammates were excited to share what we have been doing in our meetings and at competitions, so we worked together to make implementing the project informative and fun! We planned a script, so the content is very clear. I worked with Troop 77445 in Hingham at the Hingham Scout House. Everyone was super engaged. The girls completed their Design and Build Badges. My hope is that they will continue on to receive their more advanced technology badges. The troop leaders asked if we could come again and that’s a sign that everything went
well!
You mentioned that the project must be sustainable. What steps have you taken to satisfy this requirement?
When I first began my project, I set up a comprehensive binder, keeping notes of all our meetings. Mrs. Clogston, my robotics coach, has been a big help. The binder contains a blueprint of every step: from choosing themes to completing badge requirements with local troops. It’s a step-by-step guide so that future members of my team can continue the community outreach with other scouts/school groups.
When do you anticipate completing the process for achieving the Gold Star Award?
I hope to be done by this winter. I’ve completed the outreach and now need to finish the written documentation: timeline, time sheet, aim of the project, evidence, and why my project qualifies for the award. The review process is intense. I will keep everyone updated on my progress!
For more information about robotics at NDA, please email STEM Teacher and Department Chair, Anne Marie Clogston ’87, P ‘20, ‘22, ’24 at aclogston@ndahingham.com.