Berthoud girl scout receives statewide award for her skincare project helping others build confidence

A Berthoud Girl Scout was one of 36 Colorado girls to earn the organization’s most prestigious Gold Award for her project teaching young people about skincare.

Lucca Legendre, a 16-year-old Mountain View High School sophomore, said teaching others how to create a skincare routine allowed her to help them build confidence and debunk online trends, all while aligning with her dermatologist career aspirations.

“I saw a disparity in the knowledge of my peers,” Lucca said. “I thought if I could spread some of that knowledge, certified by real dermatologists, I could definitely improve people’s skin and set them up for success later in life.”

Her project teaches young people how to create a step-by-step skincare regimen with a cleanser, moisturizer and sun protection, Lucca said. She also teaches about nutrition because she said what people eat has an impact on their skin.

Her project is available online, https://simplyskinspiration.com/.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the most prestigious award in the world for girls, and the highest honor in Girl Scouts, according to the Girl Scouts Colorado blog. The award, open to high school students, asks that girls identify an issue in their community, investigate it, get help and build a team, create a plan, present the plan and get feedback, take action, and finally, educate and inspire others.

“I was just so happy,” Lucca said about her reaction to the news. “It was a lot of work, a lot of time that I put in, and so it just felt so rewarding to be able to actually get the award. It was crazy, like ‘Oh my gosh, I actually got it!’”

She presented her project at a Berthoud Recreation Center craft fair where she showed attendees how to build a skincare routine, which products to use, and also conducted a sunscreen experiment.

Lucca said she had attendees rub on a small amount of sunscreen and then had them view the applied area under a small UV light. The experiment showed how sunscreen offered protection in the areas where the light hit versus where sunscreen wasn’t applied.

“I have connections to dermatologists and estheticians, and I basically consulted them on this knowledge,” Lucca said about how she put her project together. “I also definitely got a lot of the information from the American Academy of Dermatology, which is a trusted website that shares the specifics of skincare by dermatologists.”

Lucca said she is the skincare and beauty expert of her friend group, and with the rise of faux beauty trends on TikTok and Instagram that her project became even more relevant.

“I definitely saw a lot of incorrect information getting spread and a lot of fear tactics, like ‘Oh, there are chemicals in this (product), this isn’t good for you.’ It’s just completely false,” Lucca said. “I really wanted to clarify the information.”

She said she first became interested in skincare and beauty through her mom.

“She made me have a tiny little skincare routine,” Lucca said. “I feel like that just really encouraged me to find joy in skincare, and I honestly really liked it, and it just made me feel confident, and I thought I could help other people by making them confident in that, too.”

Lucca’s mom, Summer Legendre, is also how she became involved in Girl Scouts at just 5 years old.

“I thought Girl Scouts would just be a fantastic community, because everyone is so incredibly accepting,” Summer Legendre said. “It’s just a really fun thing, especially for young girls … selling cookies, the cute vests. It’s just all really fun. It’s just a great community.”

Summer Legendre said she is proud of her daughter for persevering through her project, even when she was faced with difficulties designing her website.

“She’s worked so hard. She just had a lot of grit,” Summer Legendre said. “… She grew so much. The skills, like communication skills, and talking to adults, and coordinating meetings, organizing. I mean, seriously, this was no joke.”