Girl Scouts from western Monmouth County were honored by the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore with the Gold Award at a special event held at the Woodlake Country Club, Lakewood.
The New Jersey Education Association sponsored the event on June 3.
“Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award designation is truly a remarkable achievement and these young women exemplify leadership in all its forms,” said Susan H. Mc- Clure, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore. “Each young woman saw a need in her community and around the world and took action. This extraordinary dedication, perseverance and leadership is making the world a better place.”
The Girl Scout Gold Award can be earned by Girl Scouts in grades nine through 12.
The young women honored were:
Rachel Beck, Morganville, Go Purple: Epilepsy Awareness. Rachel is an advocate for individuals who have epilepsy. She educated people and made them more aware of the disorder through Power Point presentations, pamphlets, posters and a video. She also hosted a booth at various events in the community.
Aayushi Bhatnagar, Morganville, Animal Planet project. Animal Planet is a project in which quiz boards were created to aid 4-H animal clubs and volunteers at fairs. The boards educated visitors about animals.
Sarah Bond, Marlboro, 100 Acre Woods. Throughout her childhood, Sarah visited Kateri Environmental Center in Marlboro and enjoyed being outside and learning about nature. She learned how the organization provided a summer camp experience to economically at-risk children. She created an outdoor space for the camp with an atmosphere of nature, simple childhood play and safety using wooden Winnie the Pooh characters that she designed, cut and painted.
Stephanie Brogna, Morganville, Project Blankie was designed to help children with developmental delays feel safe and secure. Through Project Blankie, Stephanie created a team to craft hand-made blankets for a children’s outreach program. More than 80 unique blankets were created and distributed to families who lacked the resources to provide an attachment object for their toddlers.
Jessica Campisi, Marlboro, No Child Left Behind. When an illness afflicts a child, the whole family dynamic changes. The Ronald McDonald house strives to make its facility as friendly and home-like as possible, however, during a recent visit to the house it was brought to Jessica’s attention that the house was in need of a new addition — creativity. Jessica created a special arts and crafts room for the house. By doing this, she wanted to give the children and their families staying there a chance to not only escape from the reality of the situation, but to express their artistic and creative abilities and use it as an outlet.
Kimberly Fitzgerald, Manalapan, Sound Instruments. Kimberly’s Gold Award project included rebuilding the storage area in the back of her Manalapan High School band room. Working with her band director and mentor, she designed and built a new shelving unit.
Kelly Mazzotta, Manalapan, Warm and Welcoming Meeting Place. After visiting the senior citizens at the Manalapan Senior Center, Kelly noticed they were lacking a meeting room. She repurposed an old storage room and created a warm and welcoming meeting room for the seniors in her community.
Justine Nguyen, Marlboro, Blogging for Better Lives. Justine’s Gold Award project addressed the issue of financial difficulty and the way it can affect one’s health and lifestyle. Justine created a blog which described ways to save money while maintaining a healthy, enriching lifestyle. With the help from her adviser, she was able to give helpful tips for simple and doable strategies anyone could adopt to change the thinking of those going through such crisis.
Meher Pandher, Marlboro, Home Cooking and Baking. Meher noticed that teenagers do not know what goes into the food they eat and they make unhealthy choices for their body. She created a blog to teach the teens simple healthy recipes they can make at home by themselves.
Mary Purcell, Freehold, Discovery of Debate. Mary created a debate club at St. Rose of Lima School, Freehold. She taught the children lessons every Monday after school. She taught them how to handle heckling, debating proposition and opposition, and researching. The children eventually participated in a debate tournament.
Reina Puri, Marlboro, Innovation as Easy as 1,2,3. Reina’s inspiration for her project came from President Barack Obama’s Educate to Innovate campaign which was designed to encourage and motivate children to excel in science. She created a sustainable science program for children at the Montessori Summer Camp. She worked on different hands-on and creative experiments with the children throughout the summer.
Avina Rami, Morganville, Creating Care Kits for Kids. Avina had the idea for her Gold Award project when her sister was in the hospital. Seeing how lonely and upset her sister was, Avina decided to create care kits for pediatric patients, not only to provide entertainment, but to show them someone cares for them. The care kits consisted of small toys, coloring books and crayons.
Alison Schwerthoffer, Freehold, A Day in the Garden. Alison worked with Mrs. Patterson of the Freehold Community Garden, creating plans for raised garden beds for planting, along with picnic tables for the garden. She organized teams to construct, assemble, fill and plant the raised beds, and to construct and deliver the picnic tables. She taught others to how to grow and maintain the vegetable garden beds. The produce was grown and donated to Open Door.
Klaire Wall, Freehold, Grammy’s Garden. Klaire’s Gold Award project consisted of a complete patio restoration at a residential facility in Freehold. With a crew of friends, fellow scouts and family members, she made, painted and decorated flower boxes, cleaned the garden area and planted new flowers in a tropical theme. She then hosted a summer and a fall party for the residents to enjoy the new addition to their facility.