Makayla Hoefs working on her Gold Award project through Robotics

Only five in hundred Girl Scouts ever receive the highest achievement in scouting, the Gold Award. One challenge of the Gold Award project is it needs to be sustainable and continue on into the future. Makayla Hoefs, is a 17-year-old Girl Scout Ambassador from Becker, Minnesota. She’s working on her Gold Award to help girls become more interested in Science and Math.

She’s been in Girl Scouts for over a decade, Hoefs started her scouting journey as a brownie scout. Now she’s leading the charge to inspire younger girls in the STEM field. She’s created the Coding for the Cookies program, high school robotics teams invite Girl Scouts to learn about technology and engineering.

“Coding for Cookies started with inviting Girl Scout troops into our like robotics facility. That was just something that me and another teammate on my robotics team started doing,” Hoefs said. “I kind of turned it into my Gold Award, because I wanted to expand it past Becker and our robotics community.”

Makayla says she knew from firsthand experience how some Girl Scouts don’t have the means for earning some STEM badges. Although she wanted to make it possible for younger girls to have the opportunity to learn about Science and Math.

“That’s something that we’ve kind of experienced as my troop. We just don’t have the materials needed for certain badges. So making it available to Girl Scout troops across the state was really important to me.”

Looking to the future, Makayla Hoefs plans on a career as an engineer when she leaves for college. She did offer some advice for younger girls who seem intimidated by going into science or math. Makayla also says if you are really passionate, don’t let a lack of female representation stop you from pursuing your dreams.

“Make sure to stay vocal in your opinions and stand by what you think in those fields. Because I think that’s really important. Some women’s voices get like pushed down and their ideas aren’t hurt as much. If you really are passionate with STEM, make sure to get out there, be loud in your field too.”

Makayla is almost done with achieving her gold award. She’s finishing up the paperwork and will present it to the Girl Scouts Lakes and Pines Council for approval.