Girl Scouts attain Silver Award

TAMPA - There's a leadership badge, an emergency preparedness badge -- even a media-savvy badge in the Girl Scouts.

But we found some local Girl Scouts who earned a prestigious award helping children they don't even know.

Abby Keil, Michaela Johnston and Pamela Hicks just earned the Silver Award, one of the most important honors in the world of the Girl Scouts.

But these cadettes from Girl Scout Troop 1006 did something pretty cool to earn it. They are the voices behind books on tape for children having trouble with reading.

"I never thought I'd be recording books for kids," says Girl Scout Michaela Johnston.

The audio books are geared towards youngsters who have reading difficulties.

"It's extremely important for the kids that we work with here at Tampa Day School," says Lois Delaney, principal of Tampa Day School.

"We're helping them improve on their reading, and so they won't struggle as much," Abby says.

"They can hear the stories. They can hear the sounds of the stories the way that people read the fluency of reading," Delaney said.

Girl Scout Pamela Hicks can relate. She too had trouble with reading when she was younger, and is also a graduate of Tampa Day School.

"Now I know I can help the other kids, and it helps me too because it helps me with my vocabulary. And it will help them too," said Girl Scout Pamela Hicks.

It took the Girl Scouts a couple of years to get the collection together for the kids at Tampa Day School.

"They're great kids and they all want to succeed with everything they do, and they have a lot of will power," Michaela says.

Pin or no pin on their vests, the girls say it was worth it.

"They're just gonna want to go to the library and pick up a book, and that's going to be available to them here," Pam says.

In addition to the audio books, the cadettes also developed a series of flash cards for the kids at Tampa Day School.