Her Project Promoting Literacy for Inmates Earned Highest Girl Scout Honor

By Judith Dorato O’Gara

In May, Franklin Girl Scout Elizabeth Hagy was among 48 in Massachusetts who were presented with the Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. Hagy founded Second Edition  MA, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving access for incarcerated individuals in the Boston area. An advocate for prison and criminal justice reform, Hagy focused on promoting literacy in the prison system. Now in college, she has passed the project onto younger Girl Scouts

“My hope is younger Scouts can pick it up and continue the foundation I’ve laid,” said Hagy.

She believes more empathy toward incarcerated individuals could go a long way.

“That could reduce recidivism more than harsh punishment or social exclusion,” said Hagy, “especially in terms of trying to get a job or build credit after release. There’s a lot of prejudice there, but (education) could help acclimate and reintegrate people back into society .”

Hagy was especially focused on collecting books for inmates focused on financial literacy.

“I received in-kind donations from friends, teachers, family,” she said, “With that, and book donations, I got about 200 textbooks and another 300 literature books.”

In fact, the donated books helped establish a library in one of the two prisons to which Hagy donated, while donations supplemented the library of the other. 

“Then, I also (donated to) a domestic violence shelter, because I felt I wanted to directly impact women in some way. That didn’t directly impact my mission, but it reached people anyway,” said Hagy.

The Girl Scout was inspired to choose her Gold Award project after watching a TV documentary, Girls Incarcerated. 

“I watched a reality docuseries on a prison in (Indiana) that has a very strong reeducation program. It made me look at the Massachusetts program. These students get photocopies of textbooks rather than real textbooks. Juvenile (detention) is slightly better, but they have very little access to true educational material. No one believes that following your time (served) you can go be a firefighter, can go be a paramedic, go be a teacher. Some people are fully able to reintegrate, but can’t, because they don’t have the skills to do so.”

The rising sophomore at Boston University finished her project in 2024 but received the award in spring 2025. She feels her work toward the Gold Award built her confidence. 

Like a Boy Scout Eagle Project, Girl Scouts must have completed several scouting milestones before they can even consider a Gold Award project, which must be sustainable, measurable, and ultimately, relevant beyond their local community. The individual Girl Scout herself must devote at least 80 hours to the project, and, unlike the 100 hours that the Eagle Scout requires, Girl Scouts cannot count any volunteer hours of fellow scouts who assisted her toward the requirement.

Hagy learned, “I’m capable of more than I thought I was. I’m able to reach out and build a team to make something happen,” she said, but she also had to learn to overcome discouragement. 

“I heard ‘No.’ a lot,” she says, “and I had to find a way around it. I had to engage in a lot of self-reflection and growth to realize my worth, and my determination to see this project through could not be deterred by the attitudes and actions of others,” said Elizabeth.