HURON — Shelbey Hershman, 15-year-old daughter of Stacey and Thomas Hershman of Huron, has an impressive collection of awards, badges, pins and patches fastened to her Girl Scout vest for Troop 50027.
But there’s room for one more — the Gold Star Award, the highest ranking available in Girl Scouts; similar to the Eagle Scout Award presented in Boy Scouts.
Shelbey’s project will be to install a Meditation Garden in Huron Regional Medical Center’s Legacy Park, located just south of the hospital.
“My plan is to install two granite benches with a stamped concrete pathway and lots of plants,” Shelbey said. “It will definitely be brightening up the area. It will also give patients, families and hospital staff a place to go to relax and unwind, because it can be a stressful place.”
Shelbey has a goal of raising $5,000 to go toward this project, with funds to be turned over to the HRMC Foundation. She and a representative of the Foundation are planning to pick out materials and colorful perennials and other plants at East River Nursery.
“Our goal is to install it on the Day of Caring on Aug. 14, and get all the volunteers to help,” Shelbey added.
“To earn their Gold Star award they have to pick a project that will improve the community, and it has to be sustainable,” added her mother, Stacey, who is also leader of Troop 50027. “Hospital maintenance workers will sustain the garden.”
When Shelbey’s project is complete, she will be the first Girl Scout from Huron to attain a Gold Star award in almost 20 years.

“It’s a big honor for Huron,” Stacey said. “Only 5.4 percent of Girl Scouts actually reach Gold star. There’s a lot of work to it.”
Donations for the project can be sent to Shelbey at 924 Montana Ave. S.W., Huron, S.D. 57350. Make checks payable to Girl Scouts.
Shelbey, who will be a sophomore at Huron High School this fall, joined Girl Scouts 11 years ago when she was in kindergarten. Since then, she has risen through the ranks from Daisy to Junior, Cadet and her current level as Senior. When she becomes a junior in high school she will become a Girl Scout Ambassador.
Through it all, her mom has been with her as the Troop’s leader. Co-leader is Jennifer Kight, whose daughter, Emily, plans to start her Gold Star project this fall.
“I think it brings us closer together,” Shelbey said of having her mom as Troop leader. “She’s always taking off work to help me and it really means a lot to me.”
“That first year she was a Daisy there were 25 in the troop, now we’re down to four,” added Stacey, who was a Girl Scout herself until reaching eighth grade. “Many drop out when they get to seventh or eighth grade. It’s fun, but more of a challenge. They have more things they have to do to earn their badges.”
Although there are only four members in the Troop, they’re a creative and energetic bunch.
“This summer they earned a trip to Minnesota to Valley Fair and Mall of America,” Stacey said. “They had a couple bake sales and did craft fairs. They had to make their own projects and crafts and sell them.
“They pooled all their money together and that’s how they did it,” she added. “It was fun. That was the troop on their own doing that with money they earned selling the products and crafts.”
Troop 50027 also has a motto, which is printed on tie-dyed t-shirts each of the girls made: “When there is greatness on the inside, it shows on the outside.”
Girls in the Troop are allowed to work as a group to earn their Bronze Star and Silver Star awards, but the Gold Star award has to be an individual project.
For the Bronze Star, the Girl Scouts put up bird feeders outside the windows at SunQuest Healthcare Center, so residents could watch the birds eat. Troop members helped keep the feeders filled for one year, then turned the project over to the senior facility to continue with it.
Troop members earned their Silver Star awards by organizing a crew to clean up and paint at the Girl Scout Camp near Huron, as well as build a fire pit.
“It’s a good learning experience actually to be in Girl Scouts,” Shelbey said. “You meet a lot of new people, learn to do things like selling and learning to be a leader.”

Crystal Pugsley/Plainsman
Girl Scout Shelbey Hershman, seated, and her mother and Scout leader Stacey Hershman, are shown with a picture of granite benches Shelbey plans to install as part of a Meditation Garden at Huron Regional Medical Center’s Legacy Park. This project will help her earn her Gold Star Award, the highest achievement a Girl Scout can reach in the program. At left and below are the many patches and badges she has earned in Girl Scouts.