Elina Agrawal and Carolyn Campbell, both of Plainsboro, completed their Girl Scout Silver Award project by running a summer camp where they taught children entering kindergarten about safety and what to do in an emergency. They are both freshmen at High School South.
“Safety Town is based on the concept of how to act safely,” says Agrawal. “Each day during camp was a different safety topic, such as fire safety, bus safety, and cyber safety.”
“We got the idea for Safety Town from a fellow Girl Scout, as she did a version of the project for her Gold award,” says Agrawal. “We made the project happen by talking to the mother of the girl who did the project and finding out what were the steps she took first. Then we added our own thoughts on what needed to be done to that list.”
“Safety Town was a very valuable experience as I gained a better understanding for money and time management,” says Agrawal, who has been a Girl Scout for six years. “Also, the entire experience was a blast as I got to work with younger children.”
Many people helped with this project, with friends and family serving as camp counselors.. Volunteers included Anjali Agrawal, Alok Agrawal, Aahan Agrawal, Karen Campbell, Izzy Meiers, Sreeni Viswanathan, Arpun Baines, Tia Mae Frostrom, and Karen Campbell. Their leaders and mentors included Jane Campbell, Sargent Jankowski, and Jan Constantino.
“Safety Town was an amazing experience that helped me develop leadership skills and helped me be more comfortable working with adults,” says Campbell, who has been a Girl Scout for nine years. “And it was so much fun to work with the little kids!”
Oishi Goswami and Rachel Yaffe-Bellany of West Windsor, both 14-year-old Cadette Girl Scouts from Troop 71729, recently completed their Girl Scout Silver Award project. They provided recreational resources to the Hamilton Day Program of Project Freedom, which provides independent living to mentally and physically disabled adults. Among the recreational resources provided were a TV, DVD player, CD player, CDs, DVDs, books, and crafts. These resources will be used by the clients of the Day Program for entertainment during their weekly program.
Pooja Neerumalla and Adithi Mishra, both freshmen at High School South, recently completed their Silver Award project. “Educating the Less Fortunate” focuses on children who attend University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro’s Bristol-Myers Squibb’s pediatric clinic. The scouts collected books and built a bookshelf to help the children choose a book, bought educational toys for the waiting room, and created a video focusing on the basics of reading and vocabulary words.
“This project has taught me that we cannot just sit around and watch others be uneducated, we have to take action and do something about it,” says Neerumalla. “Throughout my journey in this project, I’ve seen how helping others can change there lives completely and I hope that others will be able to help out in their community as well.”
Both members of Troop 71731, their troop leader is Preeti Bajaj and their project mentor was Mary Ellen Finn from Bristol-Myers Squibb clinic.
“This project really changed me as a person because when I saw the light in the children’s eyes, I was reminded that a lot of the time people should put a little effort into thinking about others then only themselves,” says Mishra.
