At Nishi Girl Scouts’ 39th annual Court of Awards, six gold awardees were presented on stage to their troop.

2024’s graduating Ambassador 2 Class was exceptional. Six of their eight graduates earned their Gold Award — Girl Scouts’ most prestigious community service award. The 2024 honorees were Kiyomi Natasha Banta, Kelsie Michiko Kato, Mia Ren Lai, Airi Esperanza Montoya, Mihiro Mei Okubo, and Hannah Yi-Ling Pung.

Each girl spoke of their future plans, and gave tearful thanks for the many years of support from their parents, leaders and Nishi Hongwanji Temple’s ministers and president. The scouts relayed memorable lessons to their troop’s younger scouts in the audience.
The mentoring benefit of a rainbow troop was on display. This rare troop of multiple grade levels – kindergarten through 12th grade – was passing the torch from its graduates to its future Gold Award candidates.

Kiyomi Bantajoined Nishi Girl Scout Troop 12135 as a Daisy Scout in 2011 when she was a student at Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Child Development Center.

Kiki’s Gold Award project is “Preserving Japanese American History.” She produced, filmed and edited a documentary that highlighted the underrepresented personal stories of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. This project was used as a resource to connect students at Gardena Buddhist Church’s Wisteria Chugakko summer school community to this important history since it is not fully integrated into most American education curriculums today.

She graduated from Girls Academic Leadership Academy on June 7 and will be attending Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, where she will pursue a degree in film and television production.

Kelsie Katojoined Nishi Girl Scout Troop 12135 when she was in first grade as a Daisy Scout in 2012.

Kelsie’s Gold Award project is called “Promoting Positivity.” She implemented positive affirmation posters along the walls in the front office and waiting room, made children’s activity books, built new shelving and created mental wellness flyers for the Asian Pacific Treatment and Counseling Center’s West Covina Office. She hopes that clients who utilize the office will feel more relaxed and in a positive environment.

Kelsie graduated from Arcadia High School on June 6 and will be attending Chapman University, where she will pursue a degree in the health sciences.

Mia Laijoined Nishi Girl Scout Troop 121235 as a Daisy Scout in 2011. For Mia’s Gold Award project, she worked with the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Center (APCTC)’s Alhambra Center to create a creative space called the “Creativity Center” for their clients. APCTC mainly seeks to provide mental health and wellness services to the AAPI community, a group of people that has had a history of being averse to seeking help for mental health issues.

Considering art therapy is an alternative therapy that holds less of the pressure that traditional therapy does, Mia believed providing the means for creative pursuits would encourage APCTC’s clients to be more open with expressing themselves and their feelings. To create this creative space, she planned out and built the Creativity Center — cabinets and shelves full of art and craft supplies at the ready, with plenty of spaces for the clients to display their work. Mia also created a book of crafts for the clients to use if they weren’t sure what to make.

She graduated from Alhambra High School on May 24 and will be attending Art Center College of Design for an illustration degree in the fall.

Airi Montoyajoined Nishi Girl Scout Troop 12123 as a Daisy Scout in 2011 when she was a student at Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Child Development Center.

Airi’s Gold Award project is “Open Hearts, Open Books.” Knowing the importance of access to educational resources as well as the benefits of reading as a healthy coping skill to manage stress, she created the first Lending Library at her Title IX high school, Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, and established a book club where she connected students in her community through the joys of reading.

She graduated from Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy on May 31 and Harbor College with two associate’s degrees on June 4. She is going to UC Santa Barbara, where she aims to pursue a degree in linguistics with an emphasis in speech pathology.

Mihiro Okubojoined Girl Scout Troop 12135 as a Daisy in 2012.

For her Gold Award project, she collaborated with the Little Tokyo Sparkle community. Sparkle holds annual cleanup events where over 380 volunteers help to beautify the district. The community was concerned that its older leaders would retire, so she decided to make a custom web-site to connect the community with a larger, younger audience who could guarantee the continuity of Sparkle and its events. She also coordinated recycling during cleanup events by setting up recycling stations, appointing volunteers, and educating others on how to properly recycle. She graduated from Glendale High School on June 5. In the fall, she will be attending UC Berkeley, where she plans to major in environmental economics and policy.

Hannah Punghas been a Girl Scout since 2011 and joined Troop 12135 as a Senior Scout in 2020.

The title of Hannah’s Gold Award is “Calming Room Beautification.” For her project, she worked with Title 1 school Nelson Elementary to turn an old classroom into their Calming Room. By using tools she’s gained from personal experiences and her AP psychology class, she was able to create a room for students from kindergarten to sixth grade to use anytime they needed to relax, calm themselves, or just take a break.

This May, Hannah graduated from California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, where she has been a student since seventh grade. In the fall, she will continue her education at UC Irvine to pursue a double major in data science and economics.

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