A minute here, an hour there, and soon Riverton 13-year-old Girl Scout Amber Barron's service hours began to add up.
Meticulously logged, the South Hills Middle School student donated 64 hours of her summer to a laundry list of charitable pursuits between June 22 and Sept. 11.
"I really like helping people," Amber said. "I think it's really fun because you get to meet so many new people."
A few entries on her three-page list of accomplishments: "Watering and house-sitting retired neighbor's yard, one hour." "Cleaned building -- bathrooms and mopped, one hour," etc.
She also spent 20 hours writing a grant proposal requesting funding to start a MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) Club at her school for the current school year. Amber will soon learn if her proposal was accepted and if her classmates gain access to MESA, a club that works to help female and minority students seek careers in math, engineering and science.
For her efforts, the Utah Commission for Volunteers gave the Girl Scout the Presidential Service Award. Her prize: a luncheon with Lt. Gov. Greg Bell.
"She's a good girl doing great things," said Janae Barron, Amber's mother.
The Lt. Governor's Office announced Amber recorded the highest number of service hours in her age-gender category this summer.
Amber first caught the service bug after joining Girl Scouts four years ago.
"She's the most amazing person," Barron said. "I wish you could see the difference from when she started Girl Scouts [and now]."
Since joining, Amber has transformed from a "shy and timid" girl, according to her mother, to a bold public speaker who is unafraid to approach strangers and make friends.
"She can just walk up to people and start talking and making connections and discovering new things about them," Barron said.
A trip to the bank revealed her daughter's assertiveness even more. Barron overheard her daughter say matter-of-factly to a teller, "I'd like to discuss this charge on my account."
"I wasn't necessarily shy before," Amber said. "Well, actually, I take that back. I guess I was shy."
Barron attributes her daughter's confidence to her involvement in Girl Scouts, and Amber agrees.
"It did bring out the fun in me, I guess," Amber said. "I felt like I could be who I really was [at Girl Scouts], not hold back or try to impress anybody. I didn't feel intimidated."
Says Barron, who was never a Girl Scout herself, "The Girl Scouts program is really changing these girls' leadership opportunities. I don't even know how to describe it. They're giving them a voice."
