#b#Crichton Earns Gold Award for Homefront Work#/b#
Brianna Crichton, above, of West Windsor worked with Homefront, a nonprofit organization for the homeless in New Jersey, to create reading and writing workshops for young students at the Family Preservation Center, a shelter for homeless women. Crichton was inspired by her previous volunteer work as a tutor for underprivileged children in Trenton through the Kids for Kids Club at High School North.
“While interacting with the kids, I noticed a huge lack of enthusiasm for their schoolwork, especially in the areas of reading and writing,” says Crichton. “I wanted to take steps to encourage reading and writing, and to show it in a different, more fun, interactive light than they’ve previously experienced.”
In addition to creating an after-school curriculum that focused on biographies, poetry, and short stories, Crichton also collected hundreds of children’s books and donated them to the shelter’s library, as well as refurbishing the library’s preschool area with a wall mural, hand-sewn pillow covers, and other decorations.
Crichton is in Troop 70676, led by Lynn Mahmood and Angie Crichton. Crichton was a cheerleader at Cheer University All-Stars and was a junior cheerleading coach for the WW-P Wildcats. She was also president of North’s Kids for Kids Club, a member of national honors society, and worked at the Little Gym of West Windsor.
Crichton, a June graduate, will attend Bucknell University. Though she knows she will not be a lifetime scout, she says, “I know that in the future I will be putting my children into scouting, as it has brought me many wonderful experiences, as well as some of my best friends.”
#b#Silver Award for ‘Craft-Cart’#/b#
Young children at the West Windsor Arts Center will be able to stay busy in the lobby with the “Craft-Cart” created by Girl Scout Cadette Nicole Didenko, 14, as part of her Silver Award project. She recently completed eighth grade at Community Middle School.
Activities, which include coloring materials and stamps, magnetic shapes (Magformers), Lincoln Logs, and Lego Duplos, as well as a variety of open-ended art prompts, hand-made I-Spy Jars, and puzzle blocks, focus on developing creativity in kids early on.
“I chose this as my Silver Award because of my love for the arts,” says Didenko. “Through this craft-cart, younger kids can begin to develop that same passion.”
Each activity in the cart introduces the idea of thinking outside the box, giving children the freedom to interpret the projects their own way. One example is an art-prompt, which replaces the popular but straight-forward coloring page. These art-prompts present a simple instruction and a starting element of a picture, such as “draw a hairstyle for the lady,” with the face of the woman already drawn. Children have no limits as to what they imagine the hair-do to be. Didenko created and drew these art-prompts herself.
“We were concerned by the number of parents resorting to entertaining their children with electronics while waiting in our lobby,” says Corinna Bisgaier, director of education at the arts center. “The craft-cart provides a wide variety of hands-on play that involves children in more engaging activities, usually right along with their parents.”
The Craft-Cart project also involves getting feedback from the kids who use the cart for further improvements. Children are asked to sign in by filling out basic information about themselves, as well as what activities they used, and any comments/suggestions they have.
“In the short time that the craft-cart has been in the lobby, we’ve seen many kids come into the building excited to work on a project,” says Bisgaier. “We are thrilled that Nicole was able to improve children’s experience in our building and tie into our mission with such an elegant solution.”
