MADISON – Aubrey Blomeley devised an out-of-the ordinary project to earn the Gold Award in Girl Scouts.

“My motivation was to make an impact in my community by giving back through dance,” Blomeley said. “Being a dancer for 15 years and collecting hundreds of costumes made me realize how much of an impact I could make on our community if I could create an ongoing costume donation drive.”

For Blomeley, achieving the Gold Award was important “to prove that hard work can pay off and that even just one person can make that next step in changing the world.”

“I created a permanent donation location for used dance equipment in Madison at The Dance Company Inc.,” Blomeley said. “The used equipment will be distributed to any dancer in need or in a low-income area.”

She gave a head start to a dance program at Athens Boys and Girls Club and established a partnership with The Dance Company to guarantee longevity of the program. The first costume drive netted 400 costumes for the Athens club.

Her project required 91 hours of work. Blomeley placed donation bins and arranged for storage of donated costumes. “During this project, I learned that I can organize a big task and that I can reach out and work within my community with confidence,” she said. “Also, I learned that I’m capable of being a problem solver and not letting little obstacles stop my progress.”

“My project allows other dance families to support local, low-income areas and help out the dance community by starting a new after-school dance program at the Boys and Girls Club,” Blomeley said.

Blomeley is a member of Troop 926. Troop leaders are Jean Downs and Andrea Johnson.

A 2021 graduate of James Clemens High School, Blomeley participated in National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, National English Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Beta Club, Student Government Association, Red Cross and HOSA.

She plans to study pre-dentistry at Auburn University.

“Besides scouting, I use most of my pastime doing competition dance, cheering on the Auburn Tigers, worshipping with Asbury United Methodist Church’s youth groups and occasionally going to the beach,” Blomeley said.

Aubrey’s parents are Brian and Tanya Blomeley, who both work as engineers. Brian works for The Boeing Company, and Tanya is employed at Mazda Toyota Manufacturing.