Alexandra Baylson and Nicole Goldstein have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. Both West Windsor residents, Baylson is a member of Troop 1575 and attends High School North. Goldstein, a member of Troop 1110, attended High School South, and now studies at Mercer County College.##M:[more]##
The Gold award requirements include badge work and community service, 40 hours dedicated to career exploration, and 30 hours in a leadership role, followed by an independent project approved by the Girl Scout Council.
Goldstein’s project, “A Wall of Remembrance: Adopted Angels of Angel’s Wings,” focused on adopted children through Angel’s Wings, an emergency placement shelter for children in Trenton. She decorated the administrative office hallway with paint and wallpaper and created collages of the adopted children. The collages serve to honor each adopted child as an individual, praise each adoptive family, and inspire future foster and adoptive parents. She has been a Girl Scout for 13 years. Her leaders are Wendy Emerman and Carol Murphy.
Baylson’s project “Frowns turned Upside Down,” focused on pediatric patients at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She made more than 39 T-shirts and visors for children on the national transplant list. She has been a Girl Scout for 12 years and wants to continue to be involved with scouting after high school. Her leaders are Patricia Mallozzi and Priscilla Purnick.
The awards were presented at a Court of Awards ceremony in October attended by West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh; Mercer County Freeholder Lucylle Walter; Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein; Dominic DeGregory, chief of staff for Senator Peter Inverso; and Michele Tuck-Ponder, CEO of Girl Scouts of Delaware Raritan. Also at the ceremony, three troops were awarded Silver Awards, and five troops received Bronze Awards.
Scouts earning their Silver Awards include Cassie McClellan from Troop 299; Danielle Kelly, Marissa Kelly, Jashvina Shah, Vrinda Varia, and Shruti Varma of Troop 1098; and Rebecca Barclay, Michelle Emerman, Kristin Finnegan, Stephanie Gati, Taylor Goode, Nicolette Kelley, Katie Murphy, Ally Nesci, Courtney Philbin, and Victoria Reuter of Troop 1659.
Bronze Award recipients include Melissa Bergman, Emily Carlson, Kaitlyn Gran, Jennifer Ibanez, Amy Lee, Kristina Leung, Shanya Ranasinghe, and Lauren Savage of Troop 1836; Alison Aimers, Nikita Barde, Priyanka Chodhari, Amy Laresch, Elsie Ling, Katie May, Priyanka Nischal, Shilvi Shah, Kelsey Townsend, Megan Donnelly, Nikita Gupta, Kimberly Kullmann, Abby Stern, Lauren Kullmann, Rebecca Van Dyke, and Rachel Heyse of Troop 677.
Also receiving Bronze Awards were Marlena Bhame, Alison Burns, Tiffany Ge, Caroline Godofsky, Ashley Hasling, Nicole Hornsby, Erin McElwee, Hannah Murphy, Cassandra Perez, Elena Rossano, Melinda Sibilia, and Victoria Szewczyk of Troop 1490; Molly Fisch-Friedman and Nishitha Kumar of Troop 1985; and Alyssa Avino, Alana Bhatla, Anne Corbett, Nicole Crossey, Kathleen Mackenzie, Irina Matos, Emma McGregor, Caitlin Petty, Cori Ryklin, Amy Slothower, and Kathryn Wembacher of Troop 1987.
If you have a daughter interested in joining a West Windsor-Plainsboro Girl Scout Troop, or if you are interested in leading a Girl Scout Troop, call Pat Helck at 609-897-0529 or send an E-mail to girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
