Community Corner

12 Westfield Girl Scouts Receive Organizations Highest Honor

Press release: 

Reflecting the leadership and perseverance that set them apart, twelve young Westfield women earned the Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.  Nicole Devitt, Julia Diamantopoulos,  Michelle Kostyack, Mackenzie Kuhl, Claire Lynch, Kathleen McCutcheon, Emily Tate McLane, Caroline Bonacci McNamara, Alyson Palia, Megan Pinna, Clara Smith and Caitlyn Tierney were honored for their accomplishments at a community ceremony Thursday night. 

Only about six percent of all Girl Scouts achieve the Gold Award.  To earn it, each girl provides a minimum of 80 hours of leadership on an original, sustainable project that solves a community problem for the long term.  In addition, Gold Award candidates complete multiple prerequisites to learn project planning, marketing, fundraising and management.  The process can take years, but must be complete before graduation from high school.

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Sixteen Westfield teens also earned the Girl Scout Silver Award, and were recognized for their accomplishments at the ceremony.  The girls are: Chloe Brown, Pamela Burke, Lizzy Evans, Jessica Fritz, Samantha Fritz, Fiona Gillespie, Claire Hunter, Marissa Lehmberg, Anna Masciandaro, Margaret Schantz, Erica Schoenfeld, Adriana Vergara, Keelyn Weber, Caroline Willson, Karolina Zboralska, and Amanda Zhang.  The Silver Award may be completed by a team or individually, and includes a significant project that benefits the local community.

GO FOR GOLD: HELPING YOUNG AND OLD

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This year, Westfield scouts addressed concerns as disparate as obesity, biodiversity, music therapy, and emergency preparedness.  Their projects include:

  • Nicole Devitt planned and executed Project: Sister, designed to spread positivity throughout her community and provide incoming freshman girls with a support network for entering high school.
  • Julia Diamantopoulos created a sports equipment donation program that gives the donated items to children in need.  Her program shares space with Furniture Assist.

·         Michelle Kostyack created a curriculum kit on Awareness of Hunger in Local Communities and distributed it to local youth organizations, schools and religious programs.

 

  • Mackenzie Kuhl published a children’s book about how to handle the stress of losing a parent, and shared it with eight groups of campers at a bereavement camp for kids.
  • Claire Lynch created personalized memory books and held a “memory night” to help memory-impaired seniors that told the story of their lives.
  • Kathleen McCutcheon wrote and translated a bilingual cookbook, and taught elementary school students in Elizabeth how to make healthy food choices.
  • Emily Tate McLane created an anti-bullying club for middle school students and helped them create a lesson plan to teach younger students about bullying.
  • Caroline McNamara’s extensive research on Alzheimer’s disease led her to create a music therapy club that supported patient treatment at multiple centers.
  • Alyson Palia presented children’s programs at zoos and schools to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, specifically as it relates to the endangerment of rhinos.
  • Megan Pinna created an acting class for disabled high school students that culminated in a full class production.
  • Clara Smith developed a program to teach safe hiking skills in conjunction with the Watchung Reservation.  She taught workshops and developed brochures the Reservation will use going forward.
  • Caitlyn Tierney empowered teenagers to make a difference in case of an emergency by teaching first aid and basic CPR to middle school students. Her hands-on lesson program will be part of the health class going forward.

SILVER SIXTEEN

Cadette Troop 40056

  • Caroline Willson, Claire Hunter and Lizzy Evans researched and catalogued a library of fiction books at Tamaques school library to enable the success of the school’s new Guided Reading Levels program.
  • Fiona Gillespie designed and planted a Sensory Garden at a local nursery school to help preschoolers learn to explore all five senses.
  • Marissa Lehmberg, Anna Masciandaro, Adriana Vergara and Karolina Zboralska designed and installed a memorial and garden for soldiers stationed at the Westfield Armory.

Cadette Troop 40219

  • Margaret Schantz created and planted a garden that supported the educational efforts of the Miller Cory House Museum. She used plants authentic to the time period.
  • Pamela Burke and Keelyn Weber arranged donations and solicited help from seniors to create fleece blankets for donation to children in the New Jersey Foster Care system.

Cadette Troop 40068

  • Chloe Brown, Jessica Fritz, Samantha Fritz, Erica Schoenfeld, and Amanda Zhang organized a Girl Power Conference where they taught confidence, teamwork and high self-esteem.  Their project benefited the Bridges Outreach program for the homeless.


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