Girl Scouts Julia Russo and Megan DiLeo of Troop 424 are working on their silver award project. Russo and DiLeo are cadets in the eighth grade at Weber Middle School. The silver award is the highest award a girl scout cadet can earn. To earn the silver award, each girl commits at least 50 hours to a leadership project that benefits her community. They are conducting a five-week Saturday sports program for children ages four through six. They coordinated with the Parent Resource Center and pre-k programs in Port Washington to recruit children for the classes.
The program consists of leading the children in different activities, such as soccer, kickball, hockey, jump rope and obstacle courses. The girls are focusing on teaching team work, hand-eye coordination and sports skills to the children. “I enjoyed teaching the children different sports games,” said Russo. ” I also loved the children’s eagerness to learn and their energy. I learned that working with children requires demonstrating activities and having patience until they complete the task. It was satisfying to watch the children understand and accomplish new skills each week.” Bryan DiLeo and Jill Beberman volunteered their time to assist them. The girls held the classes at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The church donated the use of the space for five Saturday mornings. Troop leaders Donna Russo and Jessica Griffin and parent supervisor Karen DiLeo are proud of the hard work the girls are putting into their project. “Both Julia and Megan worked very hard on creating a silver award project that they felt was needed in our community,” said troop leader Russo. ” They felt that many children on our town don’t have the opportunity to join a sports class due to barriers such as financial, time, language, etc. We hope that a free sports program will be offered in our community after this program ends. I am very proud of the hard work Julia and Megan have done.”
