It's a twin thing.

Hannah and Emily Reiter, twin sisters who recently graduated from Lampeter-Strasburg (L-S) High School, were recently awarded Gold Awards, the highest possible honor available to Girl Scouts.

Gold Awards are earned by high school girls who tackle pressing issues and lead projects that create meaningful, lasting change in their communities and beyond.

Both twins completed projects centered around mental health, and both were implemented at the Willow Street campus of the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center (LCCTC), where both students partially attended.

Emily's project focused on creating practical and easily accessible brochures centered on student mental health and well-being, including test anxiety, growth mindset, mindfulness and coping strategies. It was titled "Mind Matters: Tools for Student Well-Being."

Hannah's project was centered around creating an interactive mental health bulletin board for student engagement and encouragement. The board allows students to take inspirational quotes with them, providing tangible reminders of positivity. She also developed "random acts of kindness" challenges to promote a supportive and compassionate school environment. It was titled "Mind Matters: Words of Encouragement."

"We know a lot about it, so we wanted to just set awareness out," Hannah said. "There's a lot of students who don't understand (mental health) and see it, so we wanted to put it out for them just to get an understanding about it."

Girls Scouts are awarded Bronze and Silver Awards through different projects before they become eligible for the Gold Award. Both Hannah and Emily both did their previous projects on mental health, as well, their mom, Eileen, said.

"Two kids that struggle with their mental health to begin with, and learning the coping skills, they wanted to share those resources out with other students and staff, too," Eileen said.

Hannah and Emily have done almost everything together. Along with both being Girl Scouts, both played volleyball at L-S and both were awarded a James W. and Janice G. Frey Scholarship at graduation. They were both also students of the month in the LCCTC's Medical Assistant program.

It does not stop there. Both plan to attend HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College in the fall to study nursing.

"You never have to ask for each other to be there," Emily said.

"There's like two minds, so we can get things done," Hannah added.

The Reiters were not the only L-S students to earn the Girl Scouts' top honor. Brynn Young, a 2025 L-S graduate, was also recently named as a Gold Award recipient.

Young, a bioengineering student at Northeastern University, centered her project around a book donation program that creates a dependable flow of books for children experiencing homelessness.

"I have always loved to read, so it's just such an important thing to me to allow kids to have an outlet to read and something to call their own, such as a book," Young said. "I feel like that was where I really stand for the inspiration for this project."

Young's project included placing six metal drop boxes throughout Lancaster County so people can donate books conveniently at all hours. The drop boxes, located in Lancaster city, East Petersburg, Salunga, Lititz, Manheim Township and Millersville, are all sponsored by local businesses.

At L-S, Young was the tennis team captain, National Honor Society president, Scrubs Club treasurer, Mini-THON treasurer and a member of Student Council.

Young's mother and sister are also Girl Scouts.

"Girl Scouts has always just been a very nice community to go to for any age," Young said. "I just feel like that has created a great foundation for me in creating leadership for other people."

All three L-S winners were honored alongside other winners from the area at an award ceremony at Bucknell University in June.