President Joan Develin Coley was honored April 19 as one of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s Distinguished Women of 2007. The award recognizes those who defy the ordinary by exemplifying the Girl Scout ideals of character, confidence and courage.

“Girls can do anything they set their minds to,” Coley, a former scout, told those gathered at the Baltimore Country Club. “No wonder Girl Scouts become Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court. No wonder they grow up to be Eileen Collins, the first woman to command the space shuttle, and our own remarkable Senator, Barbara Mikulski.

“You challenge girls to defy the ordinary – to make the world a better place. At McDaniel, we change lives. And so does girl scouting.”

Other honorees include Patricia Brown, Esquire, president of Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC and senior counsel of Johns Hopkins Health System; Carla Hayden, executive director of Enoch Pratt Free Library and a 2007 honorary degree recipient at McDaniel College; Denise Koch, journalist and news anchor at WJZ-TV; and Penelope Taylor, retired vice chair and chief diversity officer at M.B.N.A.