Girl Scout Earns Gold Award with Little Artists Program

The University Park Public Library has long been one of Miranda McParlin’s favorite places. 

The HPHS upcoming sophomore began helping out at the library while in elementary school. She knew that she wanted to earn Girl Scouting’s highest honors — the Silver and Gold Awards — by continuing her contributions.

McParlin attained her Silver Award in 2021 by creating a children’s book recommendation board. The board, she explained, helped both the librarians and those who wanted to volunteer remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For almost three years, McParlin has visited the board each month to change the theme and recommended books. This June and July, the board has a F!RE UP S’MORE READING theme, complete with book reviews that look like marshmallows topped with chocolatey construction paper.

McParlin’s Gold Award project, Little Artists, originated through a discussion with former library director Sharon Perry Martin and youth services librarian Zoe Williams. At each Little Artist workshop, McParlin reads a book about a featured artist, then guides attendees in a project inspired by the artist’s work.

McParlin offered the program for the first time in 2023 at the library and K.B. Polk Recreation Center. Last summer’s projects focused on the work of Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Andy Warhol, and Vincent van Gogh. 

When McParlin was invited back to the library and K.B. Polk this summer, she decided to feature four new artists: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Yayoi Kusama.

On the morning of June 4, young artists listened to a story about Picasso’s life, then got busy crafting with small rolling pins and playdoh. “‘Everything you can imagine is real,’” McParlin said, quoting Picasso. She added, “It doesn’t have to be normal.”

McParlin showed the young creators an example of Picasso-inspired Play-Doh faces, but the little artists came up with a variety of imaginative pottery. Almost 3-year-old Barron Kerr made a dinosaur out of blue, yellow, and red Play-Doh, complete with a long, red tail.

Jumpstarting the young artist’s creativity, McParlin said, is her primary goal.

“I hope that they can learn to think outside the box and not follow a specific order that was given to them,” she said. “I just want them to do whatever they would like.”

McParlin’s hundreds of hours of service have earned her three President’s Volunteer Service Awards, including two gold awards and a silver award. She has also received the Bronze Scot Service Award from HPHS.

McParlin credited staff at the library and K.B. Polk with supporting her project, along with her Girl Scout Gold Advisor, volunteers, and the leaders of her Girl Scout Troop. McParlin joined the troop at University Park Elementary as a Brownie, but it dwindled after the COVID-19 pandemic and she is now the only active member. 

McParlin said the support of her mother, Randi, has been key to her project’s success. “My mom has been at every single session that we’ve done, and she has definitely helped with everything,” McParlin said. “She has been really supportive through this project.”

McParlin hopes the program continues and loves how much people have appreciated Little Artists.

“I love meeting all of the people, but my favorite part is when those people return, including the volunteers,” she said. “I recognized a few of the people in this room today. And they told me that since they loved it last year, they wanted to come back again this summer.”