The Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently distributed 101 Gold Awards hosted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy, including five to members from the Hardscrabble Association in Farmingdale. Now in its 100th year, the Gold Award program recognizes the power and dedication shared by an elite group of young women who earn the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. The girls spent more than 80 hours over the past year planning, executing and presenting the results of her project, which aimed to make the world a better place for others as well as herself.
“On average, only five percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award, making these individuals part of an exclusive group of women with the tools to become leaders in the 21st century,” said Donna Ceravolo, executive director and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County.
The five Hardscrabble recipients each tackled a project that held a deep significance to them. Their projects are described below:
Margaret Hans used her experience of having a tree-nut allergy to create her project, “Food Allergy Awareness: Don’t Share Food.” After realizing how often young children share food, Hans decided to create an informational video featuring the dangers of sharing food and common food allergies children have. She was able to share her video on food allergies with over 200 second and third graders.
Kathleen Krieg is a soccer player who was concerned about safety and fairness on the field. She discovered that the Farmingdale Soccer Club did not have mandatory or consistent training for referees to ensure that games were conducted safely and fairly. She developed a “Referee Training Program” for her Gold Award project, which included a training session, a handbook and quizzes for referees in training.
Samantha Muscarella’s project, “Changing the perception of ourselves using positive words,” aimed to raise awareness among teenagers that the words we use to describe ourselves can be harmful. By changing the words we use, our perception of ourselves can become positive thus leading to a happy and healthy lifestyle. Rather than choosing words that only describe physical features we should use words that describe our character. Muscarella developed an exhibit for her school and local library, featuring a series of photographs that raised awareness about self-perception. She also contributed articles to a teen magazine and developed a digital presentation of her exhibit. A copy of her presentation is available through her school’s guidance office and the public library.
It’s hard to believe that individuals that coach sports are not mandated to have CPR and First Aid training. Julia Schneider couldn’t believe it either and did something about it with her project, “Preparing Youth Sports Coaches to Handle Injuries.” She organized a First Aid/CPR/AED training for the entire Farmingdale Soccer Club and each coach, player and referee that participated in the training received a First Aid kit. The club will now be offering training sessions to all coaches each year. With the help of the Long Island Junior Soccer League, Schneider’s project will now go beyond her community to other clubs.
Danielle Tempesta’s Gold Award project, “Building Confidence in Special Education Students Runway,” had two goals: to increase the self-esteem of girls in special education and to break down the stereotypes about these same students. The female special educations students in Tempesta’s school district participated in a pageant and had their hair and makeup done by students from the general population giving each group a chance to know one another in a relaxed, fun atmosphere.
Gold Award projects have positively impacted girls’ lives, their communities and the world for 100 years. Approximately 1 million Girl Scout alumnae have developed Gold Award projects that addressed local or global issues. After identifying an area of interest, a successful Gold Award recipient performs hours of research and prepares a project proposal to be submitted for feedback and approval to the Girl Scouts Council before embarking on her project. The Girl Scout presents her final conclusions as the last step of the journey.
Lifelong value comes with having earned a Gold Award. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, Gold Award recipients display more positive life outcomes pertaining to sense of self, life, satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service and civic engagement.
To volunteer, reconnect, donate or join, visit www.gsnc.org or contact Donna Rivera-Downey at 516-741-2550.
—Submitted by the Girl Scouts of Nassau County
