Girl Scouts of Colorado is proud to announce Emily Krizmanich is the 2016 recipient of the Johanna Farrar Girl Scout Memorial Scholarship. Emily, who is from Howard, Colo., is a lifetime Girl Scout, Gold Awardee and recipient of a Look Wider International Travel Scholarship. She was also a member of Johanna’s troop. Emily is currently a sophomore at the University of Colorado in Boulder where she is majoring in International Affairs and Anthropology. She hopes to one day join the Peace Corps or become a college professor. Emily plans to use the $600 in prize money for education at CU or to study aboard.
Emily earned her Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouts, in 2013. She worked to educate others about the importance of recycling and waste management by placing recycling bins for fishing line at parks in the Salida-Buena Vista area. Emily credits her success in earning her Gold Award to Johanna. Emily said as her troop leader, Johanna helped guide through the Gold Award process and encouraged her every step of the way. “Receiving this scholarship is kinda like her way of looking down at me, pushing me, encouraging me to still achieve my goals—just like she did with my Gold Award,” Emily said.
Johanna Farrar’s husband and children started this scholarship in 2015 to celebrate all of her accomplishments, particularly those within the Girl Scout community. Born in London, England, raised in a small village on the south coast of England, Johanna was a Girl Guide in her childhood. She was also the youngest ever to have achieved the Queen’s Guide Award at that time, the English equivalent of a Gold Award. After earning a software engineering degree from Loughborough University, Johanna moved to New Jersey to work for Bell Labs. In 1985, she accepted a position with FedEx in Colorado Springs, where she met and married Gene Farrar in 1990. Johanna and Gene lived and worked in the Colorado Springs area, moving to Monument in 1992 when their oldest daughter, Hannah was born. In 1995, after their second daughter, Rachel’s birth, Johanna retired from a successful career as a Technical Advisor at FedEx for an even more successful and rewarding career as a dedicated full-time mother.
Johanna introduced her daughters to Girl Scouts at the first opportunity and became a local leader in Monument, then again after relocating to Buena Vista. When Johanna first arrived in Buena Vista, she learned Girl Scouts had all but disappeared in Chaffee County. Johanna believed so strongly in the values and skills that scouting develops, it became a passion to reestablish scouting for girls in the high Rockies. Known to many of her friends as the “Engergizer Bunny” because of her seemingly never-ending energy and indomitable spirit, Johanna provided the leadership and drive to rejuvenate scouting in the valley. Now, for the first time, there are troops for all ages. Additionally, Johanna loved the outdoors, including skiing, hiking, biking, mountain climbing, and especially gardening – passions she loved to share and instill in young women.