The Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore honored 26 exceptional young women with the Girl Scout Gold Award on June 12 at Branches Catering, Long Branch.
First presented more than 100 years ago, the Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can receive, according to a press release.
Through the Girl Scout Gold Award, girls in ninth through 12th grade are given an opportunity to engage in leadership at the highest levels while addressing issues they feel passionately about.
The honor is earned by less than 6 percent of Girl Scouts annually and requires girls to demonstrate their leadership skills by tackling a community or global issue, according to the press release. A minimum of 80 hours of community service is required for each project.
The following area residents have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award:
• Ariana Atkinson, Freehold, Garden for the Needy: Ariana’s project addressed the need for emergency food in the Freehold area for those who are less fortunate, disabled or unemployed. She planted a vegetable garden at her local YMCA which included tomatoes, beans and peppers and donated them to Freehold Open Door. Ariana also hosted food drives at the YMCA, her neighborhood and her summer classes to supplement the produce grown. Ariana’s goal was to raise awareness of the need for food (especially the need for fresh vegetables) in her local community year round, not just at the holidays. Many of her neighbors were helped through her efforts.
• Stephanie Konya, Millstone Township, Exercise Awareness: For her project, Stephanie focused on eating healthier and trying to prevent obesity. She held exercise classes for people between the ages of 16 and 70 to let them know of the fun and different exercises available so they could stay in shape. She also informed people about the dangers of eating unhealthy and how continuing to go to the gym can help them in their future. She created a blog online, available to all, with different recipes. These recipes provide people with a healthy alternative and describe how to eat a balanced diet.
• Daphne Lombardi, Freehold, Erudition on Diabetes: The goal of Daphne’s Gold Award was to create awareness for children who have diabetes. Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body generates high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period of time. The focus of her Gold Award was a mural that focused on the basic knowledge of juvenile diabetes and what can be done to help the cause. After sharing her presentation with family members, friends and church youth groups, she was able to display her mural in a local medical office where it is displayed for all the community to read and gain knowledge.
• Shreya Naraparaju, Marlboro, G.I.R.L. Power: Shreya’s project, G.I.R.L. Power, primarily sought to address the prevalent issue of women’s rights, which impacts girls everywhere. Within her immediate community, she worked to start a conversation about gender inequality, holding seminars in and out of school to raise awareness about issues like honor violence and children’s education. Shreya expanded her efforts to communities abroad, teaching a leadership and entrepreneurship class to students living in the slums of Hyderabad, India. The two-week course culminated in the presentation of each team’s business plan, based on their individual start-up ideas.
• Diya Sethi, Morganville, Geriatric Cancer Patient Pals: Diya implemented a volunteer support program for geriatric cancer patients at Care One in her community. After doing research and meeting with professionals from Centrastate and CareOne, Diya created and prepared a training module to teach her volunteers how to handle sensitive issues when conversing with these patients. After training her volunteers, she paired each of them with a geriatric cancer patient to become “pals” where the volunteers would spend time listening and conversing with the patients. Diya’s program brought much joy to the patients and her program will be continued at CareOne.
• Kirsten Worrall, Jackson, Stories and Achievements of Women: Kirsten’s Gold Award was a project that helped preserve the stories of women. She went to the Orchards (an assisted living facility) and interviewed women living there. She filmed and edited these interviews to create a DVD that showcases the stories of these women. On Grandparents’ Day, she hosted a viewing of the movie at the Orchards. She gifted the DVD of the film at the Orchards so the people living there can forever remember those women.