Deesha Sarma, a senior Girl Scout with Troop 1098 in Plainsboro, presented an environmental awareness fair on Saturday, August 9, part of her Gold Award. It was held at the Plainsboro Municipal Building.##M:[more]##
“The purpose of the fair is to increase awareness in the community about how to better lead environmentally-friendly lives,” she says.
A rising senior at High School North, Sarma has been a Girl Scout since second grade. Although she began with Troop 638 in Hillsborough, she joined Troop 1098 when she moved to Plainsboro in 2004. Her leaders are Edie Kelly and Smita Varia.
Her Bronze Award focused on a stuffed animal drive at Sunnymead Elementary School. The collection was donated to the Sishu Kalyan creche in Sarma’s home state of Assam, India. Since her first visit there in 2000, Sarmma has donated art supplies, water filters, stand fans, and a sewing machine, with the support of the Assam State Branch of the Indian Council for Child Welfare.
For her Silver Award, she organized a sports equipment lending bank with Troop 638. “We thought of the idea as an opportunity for the children in our town to try new sports without having to purchase new equipment,” she says.
When Sarma began thinking of a theme for her Gold Award, she spent a lot of time watching the news, reading newspapers, and listening to people. She noticed that environmental concerns focused on global warming, green products, organic foods, and reusable shopping bags.
“My idea for the fair started out of a desire to take all the information about living a green life and organize it in a way so that people in the community can make positive changes in their lifestyle,” she says.
Speakers included Paul Loikith, Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers; Thomas J. McGeachen, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab; and representatives from the Home Depot, NJ Board of Public Utilities, and Lawrence Toyota. Sponsors included Wegmans, Ace Hardware of Plainsboro, Advanced Solar Products, and the NJ Chapter of the US Green Building Council.
