MANSFIELD: Local Girl Scouts go for the gold

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
    Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey presented young women with Girl Scouting’s highest honor — the Gold Award — on June 1.
   Three local Girl Scout ambassadors from the Town and Country Service Unit earned their Gold Award — Rebecca Szatkowski, Stephanie Parada, and Stephanie Moffett-Hugg.
   ”Each one of the girls has been active in Girl Scouting for 12 or more years now,” said Troop Leader Deann Szatkowski. “Each girl continues to make a difference in our community by practicing the values of the Girl Scout Promise and Law. It has been my privilege to watch them grow and mature into the fine young ladies they are today.”
   ”The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouting,” said Rebecca. “It recognizes girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable ‘Take Action’ projects; making the world a better place. Earning the Gold Award means I gained knowledge to be an effective leader in today’s society. I learned how to run all aspects of an event. I was excited to earn the award.”
   Rebecca has been in Girl Scouts for 13 years and this year she became a Life Scout.
   ”I got involved in Girl Scouts because my mom and sister were involved before me,” she said.
   Stephanie Moffet-Hugg has also been a Girl Scout for 13 years since kindergarten.
   ”My mom was a Girl Scout and became my leader,” said Stephanie.
   To earn the Gold Award a final project must be completed, which symbolizes everything a girl has learned and requires a minimum of 80 hours in planning and execution, she said.
   Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey provides programs for New Jersey girls who live in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex and Salem counties and parts of Monmouth County.
   Ms. Szatkowski noted that the Gold Award is open only to girls in high school.
   ”This prestigious award challenges the recipient to change the world — or at least her corner of it,” said Ms. Szatkowski. “By the time each girl puts the final touches on her seven-step project, she’ll have solved a community problem — not only in the short term, but for years into the future.”
   The scope of projects ranged widely from the girls holding lock-ins teaching younger girls about endangered animals and environmental concerns, to enhancing the environment and habitats around local lakes, to conducting local health programs for the community, to organizing an event to promote physical activity for people with disabilities and to raise awareness of adaptive sports.
   Rebecca held a lock-in/sleepover for girls in grades first through fourth. The theme of the lock-in dealt with endangered animals and environmental concerns. She taught the girls how animals become endangered and how to protect them and their habitats. She also showed the girls that environmental issues and concerns are important and anyone can help protect the earth and save all the plants and animals, Ms. Szatkowski said.
   ”During the event, Rebecca set up stations of activities which included an obstacle course, games, and crafts,” Ms. Szatkowski said. “In addition, the girls were educated about endangered animals with a live animal.”
   The inspiration for the project came from when a Girl Scout lock-in/sleepover she attended as a younger Girl Scout.
   ”When I was a younger Girl Scout, I attended Girl Scout lock-ins or sleepovers,” Rebecca said. “I always had so much fun that I wanted to organize a lock-in for the younger girls. When I was trying to come up with a topic, I wanted to choose an environmental topic. I realized that I felt really passionate about saving endangered animals and I wanted to teach younger girls how to protect the animals and their habitats.”
   Rebecca said she was motivated to “show the younger girls that environmental concerns are important and that anyone can help save plants and animals.”
   ”Working on my Gold Award inspired me to make a difference in the world so that the world could become a better place for humans and animals,” she said.
   Her mom and troop leader noted how she made a “wonderful impression” on the younger girls.
   ”It was a year later, and one little Brownie that had attended Rebecca’s lock-in told Rebecca that she still had the crafts on her dresser that she had made at the lock-in and told her I love the turtle craft and asked when can we have the sleepover again,” Ms. Szatkowski said.
   ”See, I told Rebecca, she had made a wonderful impression on the younger girls,” she said.
   During the second part of her project she cleared away debris and vegetation to help the growth of environmental friendly plants at the Crystal Lake Park in Columbus. She planted 21 shrubs to enhance the environment and habitats of the animals that live there. She started the project during her senior year of high school and completed it in the summer of 2013.
   Stephanie Parada conducted health programs in the community. She taught young girls about nutrition and offered a stress reducing yoga program to high school students. She started her working on her project in January 2012 and completed it June 2013.
   ”Stephanie concluded her project with a health fair, which offered attendees brochures and information on many of health issues and concerns as well as samples of beauty and health products,” Ms. Szatkowski said.
   Her troop leader recalled a phone call she received after the health fair from a gentleman who complimented her.
   ”The effort and time involved impressed him and he wanted to express how wonderful it was to see such a positive teenage role model,” Ms. Szatkowski said.
   Stephanie said she wanted to “address the issue of unhealthy living, eating and life styles.”
   ”I wanted to share tips and information about healthy living with various age groups,” she said.
   Stephanie Moffett-Hugg organized a disability sports festival. She created an event to promote physical activity for people with disabilities, raise awareness of adaptive sports and provide a safe and fun place to try out different sports. Her inspiration and advisor is her uncle Aaron Moffett.
   ”The California DisAbility Sports Festival was started by my uncle, Aaron Moffett, PhD,” said Stephanie.
   ”The event was an all-inclusive sports festival with various adaptive sports such as goal ball, a blind sport,” Ms. Szatkowski said. “Paralympic athletes were there to speak about how adaptive sports changed their lives.”
   Ms. Szatkowski noted that one family’s son learned something new that day, which the family thought “seemed unlikely.”
   ”As one family was leaving Stephanie’s disability fair, one mother told Stephanie how wonderful it was to see her son learning karate as this was something that seemed unlikely,” Ms. Szatkowski said. “Then the little boy told Stephanie ‘This was the best day ever.’ I almost cried.”
   She will be hosting the second annual New Jersey DisAbility Sports Festival on Aug. 24 at Branchburg Sports Complex. For more information, please visit http://disabilitysports.csusb.edu/.
   For Rebecca, the highlight was “seeing what the other girl’s projects and what all the girls did to receive the award.”