#b#Bee Impressed: Sahu Earns Gold Award#/b#
Ayushi Sahu of Plainsboro has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award that Girl Scouts can achieve. She created a spelling bee and geography bee program for the Habitat for Humanity summer and afterschool program in East Trenton. A sophomore at High School North, she tutors and plays tennis outside of school.
A Girl Scout for three years, she is a member of Troop 71607, led by Louisa Ho, Padmaja Kondeti, Praveena Saksena, and Shashi Ganjoo. She finished two journeys, Sow What? and Mission Sisterhood, which allowed her to qualify for the Gold Award.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with kids,” she says. “I helped a friend as she did some activities with kids, and we both enjoyed it, so I started looking for a way to incorporate children into my Gold Award project.”
Working with advisor Ho, mentor Kiya Green, and Ganjoo, Sahu designed a project based on the subjects of geography and spelling. Ganjoo helped her identify the needs of the program and provided guidance in planning her project. Sahu designed and ran geography workshops to educate the students more about the United States. She also designed and ran spelling workshops to teach students more about sight words and other words that students their age are expected to know.
Working with a group of second and third graders, Sahu executed the workshops, providing games such as Memory and Bingo to create a fun learning environment. At the end of the workshops she held a geography bee and a spelling bee for students to test their knowledge and memory.
“The children seemed to have a blast with every game they played, but what may have gone unnoticed by the children was that their knowledge of the states was slowly but surely expanding, lesson by lesson,” says Sahu. “I hope that the overall impact of this project is here to stay, and encourages students to continue with their academics, showing that learning can be enjoyable given the right methods.”
For information about joining Girl Scouts in West Windsor or Plainsboro as a girl or an adult volunteer, E-mail girlscoutswwp@verizon.net or call Louisa Ho at 609-371-2119.
#b#Students’ Family Stories Published#/b#
Two students from Grover Middle School will be honored by the Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration with the publication of their historical family stories. Participating students write a story from their family history based on information they gather by interviewing an older relative. Authors are also invited to submit illustrations with their stories.
West Windsor authors whose stories will be published in Grannie Annie, Volume 8, in May, are Melina Huang and Julia Hu.
Huang, a sixth grade student, is the daughter of Connie and Bill Huang. Her story is titled “Living with the Enemy.”
Hu, an eighth grade student, is the daughter of Wenli Li and Jian Hu. Her story is titled “The One-Ticket Escape.”
Visit www.TheGrannieAnnie.org for more information about the project or to order a book.
#b#In College#/b#
Johns Hopkins University: Piyush Poddar, a graduate of High School South, is on the dean’s list. A biomedical engineering major, Poddar will graduate in May.
