Likely not. Of the approximately 2.6 million registered Girl Scouts in 2006, fewer than four percent of all girl scouts were eligible to earn a Gold Award. Of that four percent, "approximately 5,500 received the Girl Scout Gold Award. That was around 5.4 percent of eligible registered Girl Scouts in grades 10-12," according to girlscouts.org.

But, had you ever had the pleasure of meeting Juliet Payseur of Denville and Stacey Chin of Parsippany, you'd know two of these 5,500 extraordinary girls.

Though they are not from the same troop, Juliet and Stacey have been friends for years. Now, in the last months of their senior year at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, the two have earned their Gold Awards.

"I always thought I would continue on," said Juliet, who has been a part of Girl Scouts since she was a Daisy in kindergarten. Stacey, a Girl Scout since she first joined Troop 221 in third grade, agreed with Juliet’s sentiments.

"Girl Scouts was a great way to stay in touch with friends. I started at St. Peter’s school and then we’d all change schools, but we all had this common thing still," Stacey cited as a reason why she’s gotten to this level in Girl Scouts.

In order to earn the Girl Scouts’ highest honor, the Gold Award, a girl has to earn several other awards first, such as earn the Gold Leadership Award, Gold Career Award and Gold 4Bs Challenge Award. These awards are seen as the stepping stones toward the planning and execution of their service project, for which they receive the actual Gold Award.

For their service project, the girls conducted clinics for children with special needs and their siblings, called the Denville Hi-Flyers. The clinics ran for three hours a night, once a week, for three weeks in September. At the clinics, the children had the opportunity to play basketball, do arts and crafts projects, eat pizza and make friends.

When asked why they chose this project, the girls replied very sincerely. "There’s not a lot of opportunity for these kids," Stacey pointed out.

Juliet had also helped her father to run basketball clinics for children with special needs before, so this seemed like a logical idea, given the need in their area for activities in which special needs students can participate.

For their project, the girls had to find a place to hold the clinics and then solicit donations from local businesses and their school to help them accomplish their goals.

Finding somewhere to hold the clinics was no easy task, as Morris Catholic’s basketball season is very extensive and the gym is rarely free at night for the three consecutive weeks the girls needed.

However, the school was able to accommodate the girls’ request and the clinics were scheduled for the end of September. Once this obstacle was overcome, they then had to acquire the necessary materials.

"Coach let us use the chairs, basketballs and gym. We got pizza donated, donations from the Home Depot and all the arts and crafts supplies," Juliet said, acknowledging just a few of the many generous donors.

The girls received donations from several companies such as Home Depot, Staples, Michaels and Pathmark. Pizza was donated by Anthony Franco's Pizzeria and Marco's Pizzeria, both of Parsippany. They also got donations from friends, neighbors and the school.

Many of their friends made donations in the form of time. Truly among the most significant of the donations, the large number of volunteers allowed each child to receive personalized attention. Jillian Payseur, Nicole Wallace, Grainne Ruth and Deanna Sherry all helped out with arts and crafts. For basketball, Mark Sinatra, Tom and Jeff Rogers, and Andrew Wood, Tyler and Tim Doyle from Sacred Heart in Rockaway, and Ben Walker of Seton Hall lent their talents on the court.

But despite these volunteers, "the girls worked so independently," said Juliet’s mother, Anne Payseur. "Juliet carried a notebook with her at all times to keep organized. It was important to her that she keep track of all the donations given to the project so that she could make sure everyone was properly thanked. They went out on countless days to neighbors and businesses until they received all the donations necessary to run the clinics."

Payseur was among the several people who advised the girls on their project; Juliet was advised by both her mother and Gail Horn, another Girl Scout leader, while Stacey was advised by her troop leaders, Judy Corrente and Anne Ahern.

"I could see that both girls felt a great sense of pride and compassion for all the kids. They seemed to genuinely care that each kid was having fun," Payseur remarked. "I knew that she had gotten something really worthwhile out of the clinic."

So what’s up next for these hard-working friends? Stacey’s troop is hoping to raise money to go on a really great final trip, with Florida and London being among her top destination choices. And both girls are looking ahead to a rapidly approaching graduation. While neither has settled on one college yet, both are looking to stay on the East Coast.

There could still be further results from their projects. Some colleges and universities offer scholarships to Gold Award receivers and every year the Girl Scouts selects 10 girls to be Young Women of Distinction judged based on their projects.

One thing that is for certain is the positive impact that Juliet and Stacey have had on their community and, just as important, on themselves. Both enjoyed the smiles, hugs and well-wishes of the children they were helping and having fun with. And they learned something, too.

For her college essay, Juliet wrote about her positive experiences working at the clinics. And Stacey, when asked what her biggest challenge was, replied laughing, "Time management!"

With all of the obstacles that they’ve already overcome for their project, and all of the obstacles that no doubt await them in college, these girls have already learned some "golden" lessons.