Navajo Girl Scout Diana Greymountain has had a Busy Year

Including a Visit to the White House

Native News Network Staff in Native Currents. Discussion »

PAGE, ARIZONA – Little could Diana Greymountain know that a path she stepped on in kindergarten 11 years ago would lead to the White House to meet the president of the United States.

Diana Greymountain – Navajo, is now an official Gold Award Girl Scout

The 16 year old Page High School junior was invited to Washington, last May because of her Girl Scout Gold Award project and a video that captures the story of a Navajo girl who has grown through scouting to embrace friendships, her culture, her school and her community.

The video was produced through a grant she received from the Navajo Youth Achievement Fund, a program of the Page/Lake Powell Community Foundation.

“You have made such a difference in my life that I never would have dreamed of, and can never imagine happening again,”

Diana told an audience at an Achievement Fund banquet at the PERA Club in September that included Salt River Project Board President David Rousseau, SRP Associate General Manager Mike Hummel and other top SRP officials.

She thanked the foundation for making it possible to produce the video of her quest to obtain her Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouts.

Last month on October 4, Diana had her final interview with the Gold Award board and learned she met all the requirements. She is now an official Gold Award Girl Scout, and among only 5.4 percent of Girl Scouts to achieve it.

Being a Gold Award recipient raises her rank in the Girl Scouts to Ambassador Scout.

She will be honored in Phoenix on March 23 along with all the other Arizona Girl Scout Gold award winners.

“With the generous help of the Navajo Youth Achievement Fund, we were able to tell the story of my project and my Girl Scouting life,”

she said.

Navajo Generating Station Plant Manager Robert Talbot, a Page/Lake Powell Community Foundation Board member, said the achievement fund supports several Navajo students each year who participate in math, science, music, dance or accelerated academy summer programs. It raises money through its annual NGS Shoot-Out Golf Classic tournament and banquet.

“This lady has a remarkable story to tell,”

he said.

“The Girl Scouts program encourages values in young women to become strong, respectful, courageous and make a difference within their communities. Some of these young women inspire others through their accomplishments and awards.”

Talbot said Diana is the first Navajo girl and one of the first Native Americans in the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council to undertake the Gold Award.

As she was moving toward the start of her project, Diana said Girl Scouts officials in Phoenix thought it would be wonderful if a Navajo girl could achieve the Gold Award.

“They wanted to know more about me, and wanted to tell other people about me, too,”

she said.

“They asked me to make a short video about myself, so I did.”

Diana, who is Zuni-Edgewater and born for Bitter Water, used her scholarship to have Cherylee Francis of CF Productions produce a video that portrays her project to refurbish the Hanging Garden Trail.

The Hanging Garden is a luxuriant fern-covered wall hidden in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone across from the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the Glen Canyon Dam. From the road to the Chains area, it takes about 45 minutes to hike there.

Diana Greymountain – Navajo

“The first time me and my mom and my brother walked the trail we got lost and we ended up down by the lake,”

Diana said.

“We didn't really like that because you walk down and you're hurting the vegetation and everything on the ground. So if there was a trail then you wouldn't hurt the environment around you.”

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posted November 10, 2012 8:30 am est