5 April 2009
Sunday’s Golden Girls – 04/05/2009
Posted by admin under: recognition .
California
Girl Scout Malia Mailes is being hailed in her hometown of La Cañada Flintridge for her crusade — and her prescience. Malia, a 16-year-old La Cañada High School sophomore, had been warning for months about the safety problems posed by trucks driving downhill on Angeles Crest Highway. The review, prepared for the Girl Scouts Gold Award and put together in a Power Point presentation, was shown to the La Cañada Flintridge City Council in early March. City officials then forwarded it to Caltrans, urging the agency to act. When Malia heard about Wednesday night’s accident, she rushed to the scene. On Thursday, city officials invited her to speak at a news conference about the crash. “I was absolutely devastated, and I was wondering what more I could have done,” said Malia, adding that she cried at first and then got mad. Mayor Laura Olhasso praised Malia’s work, but said she was disappointed that the response to the safety issues she raised wasn’t greater. “I thought it was impressive, thorough and understood the importance of the issue,” she said.
Link to source
Florida
Four Girl Scouts came to the village council last summer and asked for permission to build a butterfly garden in Constitution Park. They planned the garden as a memorial for “Ranger Frank” Montigney, who worked at Girl Scouts Camp Welaka in Jonathan Dickinson State Park before he died in a motorcycle accident in 2005. The teenagers – Shelbey Ganzel, 18; Amanda Klopp, 17; Emily Nys, 17; and Arielle Valdez, 17 – worked for eight months on the project. For their work, the teens will earn the Gold Award, the highest honor awarded to a Girl Scout. The four childhood friends will celebrate at a May ceremony before going off to different colleges in the fall.
Link to source
Massachusetts
After much hard work and dedication, Westborough resident Katherine Tully McManus has earned the Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. Katherine is an active member of Westborough Girl Scout Troop 513 and has been for the past 13 years. Katherine’s Gold Award Project, “Youth Vote MA” focuses on civic engagement and voter registration for high school-age youth. The project addresses the lack of accessible information available to high school students regarding voter registration and absentee balloting. The project includes a Web site, which provides information on voter registration, and links to various other voting and civic action resources. The site, www.youthvoteMA.org, was distributed to school districts across Massachusetts, as well as through youth groups, the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils (MASC) and Girl Scout contacts.
Link to source
Last Sunday, Westwood High School seniors and Troop 4279 members Molly Shea, Laura Anderson, Katelyn Raftery, Janelle Argiros, Julie Moloy, Julia Kane and Jillian London were presented Gold Awards, the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, for their work refurbishing and repairing the Medway Family Shelter. Present at the special ceremony were Superintendent Antonucci and Selectman Nancy Hyde. While earning a Gold Award is the Girl Scout equivalent of earning the rank of Eagle Scout, most girls never even make it to the point where they are old enough to start Gold Award Projects, and only about five percent are presented with the award. It is even rarer for seven girls from the same town to earn the honor in the same year, let alone work on the same project.
Link to source
New Jersey
Every Girl Scout pledges to “make the world a better place;” the heartfelt embrace of this concept earned a Jackson teen a Girl Scout Gold Award for her efforts to raise awareness about health issues in Uganda. Jennifer Okulewicz collected medication and medical supplies for the Bishop Asili Clinic in addition to making many community presentations about the health issues in the East African country. Okulewicz is one of more than 30 girls from Monmouth and Ocean counties who have already earned a Gold Award this year from the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore.
Link to source
Sharing a passion and talent for creating pottery with others has earned a Tinton Falls teen the Girl Scout Gold Award. Audrey Paraskevas taught members of Arc of New Jersey how to make pottery. The Arc of New Jersey is a statewide, private, nonprofit advocacy organization incorporated in 1949 by a group of parents who had a vision of building a better quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
Link to source
North Carolina
Jennifer Rose Kueffer of Chapel Hill has been awarded the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement presented by the leadership-development organization.
Link to source
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 04/19/2009
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 12/07/2008 (delayed)
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 01/13/2009 (thought I forgot, didn’t you?)
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 11/16/2008
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 02/01/2009 (delayed)
