Olivia Weaver, daughter of Tommy and Cindy Weaver, of Suffolk, has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

Olivia has been a Girl Scout for two years. She was homeschooled and is a 2017 high school graduate. She currently studies sequential art at Savannah College of Art and Design.

For her project, Olivia wrote and illustrated a children’s book, “Lucy’s Big Idea.” The book follows a little girl named Lucy who pursues a friendship with a girl who is hearing impaired. The book teaches children about friendship and kindness, as well as the importance of not being quick to judge others.

“I have been drawing all of my life, and I knew that I wanted to use my talent for my Gold Award project,” Olivia said. “Someone in my church is hearing impaired, and I wanted my project to speak on that subject and lead into the broader topics of kindness and acceptance.”

Olivia hosted story times at libraries in Suffolk, where she read her story to children, taught them basic signs from American Sign Language and led them in a coloring activity on bookmarks she designed featuring characters from her book. In addition, Olivia created a lesson plan to go along with her book that she shared with homeschool educators in her community, and she donated her book to two library systems.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in the community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Olivia to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.