Guest column Briley Payne: Girl Scout project highlights women who served in the military
Project display will rotate every Memorial Day to showcase new female veterans
Women in Service display at Gilroy Veterans Hall. Photo courtesy Christine West
By Briley Payne
Briley Payne
I’ve been involved locally in Girl Scouts since I was 6 years old and have recently completed my Girl Scouts of Northern California Silver Award. The project consists of at least 50 hours of volunteer work surrounding your project topic and has to leave a withstanding impact on the community.
Both my parents have served in the military, my dad in the U.S. Army as an 82nd Airborne paratrooper and my mom in the Marine Corps for 10 years. Living in a household of veterans has taught me the importance of respect and honor toward those who have risked their lives for our country.
During the summer, I toured the Gilroy Veterans Hall with the help of Christine West, executive director of the South Santa Clara Valley Memorial District.
I noticed how the hall was very male dominant in military artifacts that were showcased and on display. That’s when the idea for my project came to me. I decided to feature female veterans from the four branches of service — Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force — and displayed their uniforms, medals, and/or accessories in shadow boxes to be arranged and mounted on the main wall in the building.
Next to each uniform is a biography for each woman veteran along with a picture of them in uniform so when people visit they can read about their accomplishments and how their lives were impacted from their time in the service.
The unique role my project served was that all the women represented are Gilroy residents. I did this on purpose for a few reasons.
One reason is those females could come into the Vets Hall and see themselves being featured. The other is to bring the community closer together, knowing that these brave women who served our country are from the small town of Gilroy.
This project is very memorable for me because I feel I have achieved my goal, which is to show others the significance of women veterans and how they should be honored much more than ever. I also practiced a great deal of independence and responsibility while taking on this task. I had to be very involved in the community, to ask around to find females who served, especially from different branches. From there, I individually interviewed each woman to learn more about their experiences to create their biography that is unique to them. I feel so grateful to know that they are now seen and acknowledged for the courageous acts and bravery they performed.
The everlasting result for my project is to rotate the display of women and switch them out for new veterans so we can appreciate the four I chose along with many more. I plan to switch them only on Memorial Day every year.
I am so beyond thankful to have left this impact on the community of Gilroy. I would also like the thank the following people for making my project possible: The VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) — Raul Torrez for sponsoring my project and their generous donation of $500, Sheryl Cathers who painted the beautiful mural above my project, Christine West for allowing me to use the space and supporting me throughout, and especially the veterans showcased in my display: Jaime Payne — U.S. Marine Corps; Brielle Culbertson — U.S. Army; Nancy Hall (survived by her daughter, Kathy Joy) — U.S. Navy; and Jernell Escobar — U.S. Air Force.
Briley Payne is a sophomore at Monte Vista Christian High School. She plays varsity soccer and is the sophomore class vice president.