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2007 Gold Award Girl Scouts Feature Archives
Each week, Girl Scouts-Mt. Wilson Vista Council highlights
one of the 85 Gold Award recipients for the year 2007.
The following are the girls who have been
featured in past weeks on our homepage.
Girl Scouting’s highest honor, the Gold Award, recognizes Senior Girl Scouts for outstanding accomplishments in leadership, community service, career planning, and personal
development.
The award culminates with a Gold Award project that has a positive and lasting impact on the community.
Each project represents a minimum of 65 hours of planning and implementation. This year’s group of Gold Award recipients
contributed over 5,500 hours of service to the community.
Kelly
Kelly completed her Gold Award project by transforming an unused storage room at her church into an arts and
crafts Sunday School room for the children.
The project included cleaning, painting, organizing and decorating. She created
a unique decoration in this room -- a colorfully painted cross formed entirely by the children’s handprints. Every child
in the church put his or her handprint on the wall inside the cross.
The children have been excited and proud to see their handprints each week
when they come to church. Kelly hopes the new room will inspire the teachers and help children enjoy their religious lessons
in a creative and fun room. |  |
Kelly has been in Girl Scouts since she
was in first grade. She is also in a Venture Crew Scout Troop. Kelly volunteers for Assisteens in Arcadia where she reads
to young children at the Arcadia Library, helps at the Bargain Box and has helped decorate the Arcadia Hospital lobby.
Kelly
has also been a wonderful volunteer in her mother’s second grade classroom for many years, tutoring in the after school
math intervention classes. She is also an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church where she helps with Sunday School
and child care programs.
Kelly plays the trumpet in the Arcadia Marching Band where she will be marching in the 2008
Rose Parade. She not only plays the trumpet, but has taken piano and dance lessons for 10 years. Kelly is in the Sign Language
and Key Clubs at her school. She enjoys playing sports and being with her yellow lab, Bonnie.
Kelly’s future goal is to attend
college and become an elementary school teacher. She would like to thank her mom for being her Girl Scout leader for so many
years and her entire family for helping with her project and always supporting her. |
Andrea
For her Gold Award project, Andrea renovated an ordinary elementary school classroom at St. Anthony’s School
in San Gabriel into an up-to-date computer lab.
Andrea was once a student at St. Anthony’s, a low- to middle-income
school, that desperately needed modern computers and technology to help its students learn the skills necessary to succeed
and compete in the 21st century.
She raised funds to upgrade the electrical system at St. Anthony’s to support
a technology lab for 30 computers. |  |
Andrea
is a senior at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in La Cañada. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Sacred
Heart Dance Company where she has been a member for three years. She has also been involved with the school’s Ambassadors
Club throughout her four years in high school as well as with the Sacred Heart Swim Team.
Andrea has participated as a main dancer in Sacred Heart’s fall musicals. Her favorite event at
Sacred Heart is the annual dance concert in which she has participated every year since she was a freshman.
Andrea would like to thank her parents for always believing in her and helping her with
everything that she does. She would also like to thank her Girl Scout leaders for their strong encouragement to complete her
Gold Award. |
Leah
For her Gold Award
project, Leah collaborated with four other girls in her troop to create an overnight camp for Brownies called “Camp
Wahine.” To organize the project, each girl had her own job description which allowed the camp to work like a business.
Leah was responsible for Public Relations for Camp Wahine. She set up meetings with council and talked with
troops as well as promoting the camp in local newspapers. She also trained the cadette camp volunteers and was in charge of
Emergency Preparedness which required Leah to be trained in First Aid by the Red Cross. |  |
Leah, who has been a Girl Scout for 13 years,
is a senior at Crescenta Valley High School. She was a member of the school cheerleading quad for two years
where she competed in the National Championships. In addition to her school squad, Leah was a member of
the Platinum All-Stars cheerleading team and traveled to Florida to compete nationally. When she is not
busy with school and scouting activities, Leah works part time at a local skate/surf snowboard shop where she has learned
many new skills.
Leah has a passion for making people feel better about themselves and plans to attend cosmetology school after
graduation. She hopes to travel and be a part of the up-and-coming makeup/hair business.
Leah is very grateful for everything in her life. She would like to especially thank her troop
leader, Silvana Casalegno, who has been with her through the ups and downs and is truly one in a million. Leah
would also like to thank her wonderful, open-minded parents and her entire family for all their support. And
finally, she is most grateful for all the parents who have supported her in scouting, and for her dear friends Amanda, Gabbie,
Emillie, and Christiana in Troop 155. |
Brittany
Brittany’s
Gold Award project, “Heart Pillows for The City of Hope,” grew out of a personal experience with breast cancer.
When her best friend’s
aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, she began to learn first-hand about the experiences of women who are being treated
for this serious disease. Auntie Leigh was being treated at The City of Hope and one of the things she said she would have
appreciated was an extra pillow for comfort.
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Brittany and her friend Kara-Leigh raised funds for materials and worked with various
Girl Scout troops, the Mayfield Senior School Breast Cancer Club, and many willing family members and friends to sew the pillows.
At the end of the project, the girls proudly delivered more than 500 pillows to patients in the Breast Cancer Center at The
City of Hope.
Brittany is a junior at Mayfield Senior School. She’s a member of the National Honor Society and is an
American Red Cross trained lifeguard, swimming instructor, and first aid volunteer. She also plays water
polo and swims for Mayfield. As a Girl Scout, Brittany has earned the “I Live My Faith,” “Marian Medal,”
and “Spirit Alive” religious awards as well as the Bronze and Silver Awards.
Brittany’s goal is to study
medical sciences. Last summer, she spent a month in England studying medical science at Oxford University and this summer
she will shadow a surgical team.
Brittany would like to thank her leaders, Jennie Jacobsen-Huse
and Heather Banis, for the guidance, support and labor they put into the project. She also wishes to thank Kathy Cole at The
City of Hope for her support. Finally, a huge thanks to Brittany’s family, friends and fellow Girl Scouts for donating
so much of their time and effort to help make the pillows.
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Ruth
For her Gold Award project, Ruth provided aid to child soldier
refugees in Uganda, Africa.
She hosted presentations to educate her community about the struggles of the Ugandan
people. She also raised over $800 for better housing, sanitation and healthcare. She collected blankets, mats, clothing, shoes,
and stuffed animals for these refugees who live in constant fear of abduction by the rebel army of Uganda. |  |
Ruth is a sophomore at La Cañada High School. She is involved in many extracurricular activities such as band,
concert percussion, concert choir, Film Club, Mock Trial, and the Invisible Children Club (created as a result of her project).
She is also very involved in her church, participating in the leadership community called 24.7. She is a member of the California
Scholarship Federation and National Honor Society.
Ruth enjoys writing, reading, talking on the phone, debating, and meeting new people. She would
like to become a detective or a lawyer after graduation.
She would like to thank her supportive family, Gold Award advisor, troop and leaders
for supporting her vision and everyone who believes that one person can make a difference.
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Christiana “Camp Wahine” is the ambitious Gold Award project Christiana completed along
with five friends from Troop 155.
The project involved creating and running an overnight camp for 36 Brownies. Christiana was in charge of fundraising
and donations and by writing letters to businesses and community members, she raised the funds needed to get the project underway.
Next came public relations to get the word out about Camp Wahine, budgeting, and food planning for the
two days. She also worked on the Dancercize Try-It, and taught basic dance moves to the campers.
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Christiana has been very active in high school sports. Running cross country, she was
League Champion twice and was a four-year leading member of her team. She also spent two years as a CV cheerleader as well
as played softball and soccer with her team outside of school.
In addition to sports, Christiana works on fundraisers and projects as the Treasurer
for both the National Honor Society and the Girl’s League. She participates in her school’s Baking for Benefits
Club and the Falcon Christian Athletes Club. Christiana is also a member of her school’s Science and Medicine Academy.
Christiana has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, a few of which
she continued as the sole member of her troop. Her future goals include going to a four-year university to become a pediatric
nurse, raising a family and continuing her hobby of baking.
Christiana would like to thank her friends and family for dealing with her sometimes hectic lifestyle. She
would also like to thank the girls of Troop 155 and Leaders Silvana and Robin for taking her in for her last few years of
Girl Scouting. In addition, she’d like to thank her mom for being her leader throughout the 13 years, and supporting
and inspiring her through it all.
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Andrea For Andrea’s Gold Award project, “Deck the Halls With Healing Hands,” the
older section of Methodist Hospital in Arcadia was decorated for the holidays with the collaborative effort of young troops
from around the San Gabriel Valley area.
After
collecting donations from craft supply stores and holiday wreath companies, Andrea organized troops from Brownie to Cadette
levels, and met with them individually to create uniquely-decorated wreaths and stars for the Methodist Hospital halls, which
were recently reopened and lacking in Christmas cheer.
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Her experience as a tutor and babysitter was useful in interacting with the younger troops
and helping them create their “masterpieces.” She found that the project was rewarding not only for the hospital
staff and patients, but also for the participating Girl Scouts, who loved having an art project where the only requirement
was to be creative.
A high school junior, Andrea has yet
to choose a potential career, but she knows the skills she has learned in Girl Scouting and at San Marino High School will
help her in whatever field she enters.
Currently, Andrea
is Vice President of Cosmopolites Club, and is involved in the California Scholarship Federation, Omegas Service Club, and
dance and drama productions at the high school as a member of the Thespians Club.
As a National Charity League member, Andrea enjoys volunteering at the Pasadena Museum of History
and at the San Marino Library, where she helps with the annual summer program and catches up on her reading. She also
participates in junior varsity soccer, in addition to balancing schoolwork and spending time with friends.
Andrea wishes to thank the hospital staff for their help and support,
her troop leader, Ann Brazil, for eight years of Girl Scouting memories and, of course, her mom for endless patience.
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Katherine
Katherine helped the Pasadena Ronald McDonald House for her Gold Award project. Ronald McDonald House provides
a “home away from home” for the families and parents of children hospitalized in local hospitals.
For her project, Katherine raised money and purchased much needed items from Ronald McDonald House’s “wish list.”
To raise the money, she held two very successful bake sales at her parish church, St. Bede’s, and then was then able
to donate a DVD player, DVDs in both English and Spanish for the children, food, and household items. |
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Katherine
is currently a junior at La Canada High School. She has earned both her Bronze and Silver Awards. Katherine is a member
of the Palpitating Panthers Jump Rope Team .With the team, she has been in five National AAU Junior Olympics competitions
and has won gold, silver, and bronze medals in both individual and team events.
At school, Katherine is a member
of La Canada High School Concert Choir. While on choir tour in New York City, she sang in the Honors Choir at the Festival
of Gold. Katherine also has an interest in medicine. She was nominated by her teachers to attend the National Youth
Leadership Forum on Medicine last summer held at UCLA School of Medicine.
Katherine would like to thank Holly Rundberg and Marchelle L. Sellers at the Pasadena Ronald
McDonald House for helping with her project. She would also like to thank Dorothy Holm and John Olsen for their help with
the bake sales, her Girl Scout leaders, Mrs. deBrauwere and Mrs. Gartside, her parents, and those who gave monetary donations
toward the project during the bake sales.
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Adrienne
Adrienne is a 17-year-old
junior at the Westridge School in Pasadena. Her Gold Award project, “The Eatable Garden,” is an edible garden
she planted at a local preschool, Celebration Kids, with the help of the 5-year-old students.
The garden was planted in the front of the school where a messy plot of weeds and rocks coexisted.
In order to begin planting, Adrienne first had to clear the rocks and weeds and start fresh. After the land was cleared she
spent a week soaking and preparing the soil so that it would be both easy to work with and an ideal place for plants to grow.
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Meanwhile, she also had to decide what kinds of plants (e.g. fruits, vegetables, herbs, and/or edible flowers)
she would put in the garden. She met with the children twice a week, planting new seeds and monitoring the progress of the
garden.
At the conclusion of the project, Adrienne gave the children a journal so that they could continue to track
the progress of the plants. She taught them how to take care of the plants so that they will continue to exist forever.
In addition to gardening, Adrienne enjoys running and is an avid member of her school’s Cross Country Team.
She has been a member of the team since her sophomore year and they have competed all the way to the CIF finals. This year
they hope to qualify for the State Championship. Adrienne belongs to many clubs in school as well. She is a co-leader of the
French Culture Club, and an active member of both the Art Club and the Amnesty International Club.
In addition
to her Gold Award, Adrienne has received her Silver Award and has been a member of Girl Scouts since 1998. Adrienne would
like to thank Celebration Kids, Sara Gurley, Dayle Rosa Tom, Brooke Balcom, and her parents. |
Samara
For her Gold Award project, Samara taught a dance class to the children of Sycamores, an organization dedicated
to improving the lives of underprivileged children. Samara incorporated her dance class into the after school care and tutoring
center.
Once a week for a couple of hours, she held a class for about twenty students. They began with stretches
and dance moves and ended with short games such as freeze dance. It was sometimes a challenge because there were often different
children, so a lot of time was spent during each lesson reviewing what others had already learned. |
No Photo Available |
At the end of the class, the children performed during
the fifth grade’s graduation ceremony. It was very successful, and many of the children have discovered a new love for
dance.
Samara is a junior at Mayfield Senior School. She has been in Girl Scouts with Troop 95/134 since the sixth
grade. She has also been a member of Mayfield’s Dance Conservatory for two and a half years, an after school program
that is considered a class and has several shows throughout the year. Samara is a member of the California Scholarship Foundation
and writes for the school newspaper. She enjoys art, graphic design, playing the piano, music, reading, shopping, photography,
and traveling. In college, she hopes to study advertising, magazine journalism, architecture, or other types of design.
Samara wishes to thank her Girl Scout leaders, Cindy and Drew, for all their guidance and encouragement throughout
the years. She would also like to thank her mother, Tania, for being her project advisor and coming every week to help out.
And finally, she would like to thank Ramon Bañuelos of Hathaway-Sycamores, Arianne, the class’ teacher, and her
students for all their enthusiasm and hard work.
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Amanda
Amanda has been a part of Girl Scouts for the last 13 years, completing her Gold Award in May, 2006. For her project, Amanda
and her troop members hosted an over-night camp, “Camp Wahine,” for 35 Brownie Girl Scouts. The objective was
to provide an environment for younger Scouts to mingle with Cadettes and Senior Girl Scouts while earning four Try-Its.
Her troop worked for two years planning, preparing and executing their camp. Camp Wahine was designed as a corporation
with each girl taking on a leadership position such as CEO, Financial Officer, Nutritionist, Director of Safety, and Public
Relations Officer. |
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As a Senior Girl Scout, Amanda believes it is important to be a role model for younger girls,
encouraging their self-confidence and promoting the positive experiences of Girl Scouting.
Amanda is currently
a senior at Alverno High School in Sierra Madre and will be attending the University of California, Riverside in the fall.
During her time in high school, Amanda participated in student government for four years, was on the school Soccer Team, is
currently Editor for the school yearbook, and is a member of the National Honor Society.
She has played for 12
years in AYSO and has been chosen as an All-Star player on many teams throughout the years. She is an active member of St.
James the Less Catholic Church, teaching religion to younger children.
Amanda is looking forward to her future
in college. She plans to major in Global Studies. Her passion is to travel, since she has visited countries on all but one
of the continents. She wants to someday be able to go around the world to take pictures as a hobby.
Amanda wishes
to thank her family for every advantage she may have. She knows that no matter how far life may take her, home will always
be there to love and reenergize her so she can meet the challenges of tomorrow.
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Emillie
For her Gold Award project, Emillie was part of the five-member team that created “Camp Wahine.”
This project resulted in an exciting overnight camping experience for Brownies, which included the opportunity for them to
earn four Try-Its.
Emillie was elected to be the Financial
Officer for the small corporation, with each member having equal importance and working independently to create the Camp Wahine
experience. Another goal was to give girls of various scouting levels an opportunity to interact and for the older girls to
be role models for the younger girls. |
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Emillie is a junior at Alverno High School. She has been a member of student government for
three years, is a member of the National Honor Society, has played high school softball for three years and is Treasurer of
her Drama Club.
Emillie has accumulated a very impressive acting resume, taking
the lead role in two of the four plays in which she has appeared. Emillie has also been an enthusiastic and active Girl Scout
for 11 years.
In the future, Emillie plans to attend college and realize her lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian.
Her aptitude for science and math are second only to the love of her puppy, Saldi.
Emillie is thankful to her father
for his brains, her mother for her energy, her brother for his resourcefulness, and her sister for her compassion. She knows
that whatever she does or wherever she goes, her family will love her and always be there to give her a huge hug.
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Charlotte
For her Gold Award project, Charlotte collected books and backpacks from the
local community and donated them to kindergartners and first graders attending CORAL Afterschool Programs in Pasadena and
Altadena, a nonprofit organization working to promote child literacy and development.
Overall, Charlotte collected
over 1,100 books and 50 backpacks. She had originally planned to fill each pack with three to four books, but ended with nine
books in each backpack for the children to take home, as well as over 300 more books for the classrooms of the organization. |
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Charlotte used the resources of library book sales as well as a very generous church congregation
to collect much of the donated material. She also received support from recycling money collected from the 2006 LCHS Band
Carnival.
Charlotte is a senior at La Cañada High School, where she is President of her school’s S.M.I.L.E.
CLUB as well as a member of the Green Club. She has been a member of the Varsity Track Team and the Volleyball Team for four
years, earning an All-Tournament Player Award and three MVP awards for her dedication to volleyball. Charlotte has also participated
in Club Volleyball with the San Gabriel Volleyball Club and the Arroyo Volleyball Club for the past five years. She has been
a member of the Varsity Track Team and the Volleyball Team for four years, earning an All-Tournament Player Award and three
MVP awards for her dedication to volleyball. Charlotte has also participated in Club Volleyball with the San Gabriel Volleyball
Club and the Arroyo Volleyball Club for the past five years. She is also a leading member of her church’s youth program
and works with the adult leaders as a liaison between the youth and staff.
Charlotte would like to thank Hollywood
Independent United Church of Christ for their generous contribution to her project as well as Ms. Rosemary Hook from the La
Cañada Flintridge Library for her cooperation and support. She would also like to thank her parents, Judy and John,
as well as Mrs. Shaull and Mrs. Clairday, for their continued motivation and support.
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Angela
Angela’s Gold Award project is titled “Making Healthy Food Choices.” For her project, she
created a pamphlet for teen girls with facts about weight issues and problems in our society and what can be done about them.
The pamphlet included
information on the Body Mass Index as well as a BMI Chart, a summary of the different types of eating disorders and their
symptoms, a quiz with statistics, a definition of metabolism and how it works, and a listing of healthy fast food choices.
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During high school, Angela served as an editor on her yearbook staff, a volunteer at Glendale
Memorial Hospital, and was part of a program, Science and Health Career Academy, for students seeking careers in the health
field.
Last fall, she began attending community college
and joined the Psychology Club and the Peer to Peer Club. Her goal is to transfer to a UC school, earn a degree in Biopsychology,
and pursue a career in the health field.
For five years,
Angela decorated floats for the Rose Parade and this year she fulfilled her dream of marching in the Rose Parade as a member
of the 2007 Tournament Troop.
Angela is very proud to
have reached this level in Girl Scouting and will cherish the memories that came along with it. She could not have done it
if not for her Troop Leader Jossalyn, her mother Rose, her father Reuben who critiqued part of the pamphlet, and everyone
else who helped her along the way. She thanks them all. |
Megan
For her Gold Award project, “Classroom Library at Toland Way Elementary School,” Megan constructed
and donated a wooden bookcase for a third grade classroom located in the Eagle Rock area.
From family and friends, she collected over 350 elementary-age reading books of various
reading levels. She also received donations of wood and other building materials from several local businesses.
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Her goal was to provide the children
with their own classroom library to encourage more reading. At the end of the project the children wrote letters expressing
their gratitude and excitement for their new books.
Megan
has been a Girl Scout since the first grade and is a member of Troop #98. She is currently a senior at La Cañada High
School where she has been actively involved with Girls’ Varsity Cross Country, Track and Field, and the Freshman/Sophomore
Basketball programs.
She is a member of the California Scholarship Federation and National Honor Society. She has also been active in a
number of organizations such as being the Publicity Chair for PTSA, and a member of the Mu Alpha Theta as part of her Math,
Key, Art, and Spanish Clubs. Last year she was selected to march in the Rose Parade as a member of the 2007 Tournament Troop.
Megan enjoys running
and this year she ran the Los Angeles Marathon for the first time. She also enjoys playing the piano and has participated
in the National Piano Guild program. She has attained her Piano Certificate of Merit – Level 8. Megan plans to attend a four-year college and study business.
Megan would like
to thank everyone who contributed to the success of her Gold Award project, especially her family and troop leaders, Donna
and Dianne. She appreciates everyone’s support and encouragement.
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Click here to continue reading about Gold Award Recipients featured on the Homepage in past weeks.
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