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QUINCY, ILL. -- A local teen is helping young girls improve their self esteem, and she's earned a scholarship for it.

The Young Women's Christian Association awarded the Quincy Notre Dame senior for her volunteer work with youth.

"If one person wants to put their whole heart into something then it's going to benefit someone else," Breanne Meyer said. "Good things come from giving it your all and trying your hardest and doing everything you can for someone else."

Breanne received a Young Women of Achievement scholarship from the YWCA for her volunteerism through the community. She partnered with the organization last October to create the program, "A Girl Like Me." 

"I go and I teach these girls. They're all in about fourth grade and they're at risk children, so I teach them the importance of a good self esteem and making positive decisions," Breanne said.

That's not the only award she'll receive this year.

"The gold award, it's for my girl scouts and basically, what I did was hold monthly events for the girl scouts in the community," Breanne said.

The gold award is the highest award a girl scout can earn and requires an 80 hour final project, which sparked Breanne to help with a "A Girl Like Me."

"You know, I was like 'that's a big commitment,'" Anne Meyer, Breanne's mom said. "And she was excited about that and helping the kids, so I guess I kind of felt proud that she wasn't taking the easy way out. She was in it for the long haul and wanted to make a difference."

Seeing the young girls make good decisions makes a difference in Breanne's life too.

"It makes me feel good honestly," Breanne said. "I know that when I see that happening, I know that I influenced them to do that, what I said, it stuck with them and they learned from it. They applied it to their life, which is what I want them to do and it feels good to know that they're actually doing that."

The Young Women of Achievement scholarship is awarded to four women a year giving each of them $1,000 toward college. Breanne doesn't know what school she'll be going to in the fall, but she does know where ever it is, she'll be volunteering.