Christina Rancan, a rising freshman at High School South, has earned her Girl Scout Silver Award for her project, “Spreading the Excitement of Basketball, Near and Far.” She focused on giving kids both the materials and skills to play the sport. Throughout this award project, Rancan collaborated with Anne Clifton, a Girl Scout volunteer, and Debbie Baker, a former youth minister at St. David the King Catholic Church.
Rancan did two separate programs to complete the project. First she collected new and used basketballs from families in the area and shipped nearly 70 basketballs to St. Anne’s Mission on the Navajo Reservation in St. Michael, Arizona. “I’m very thankful to all of the families that donated their basketballs; they have been put to good use,” says Rancan. “And I know that the children in Arizona are very thankful, too.”
In addition to the basketball collecting, Rancan and Reagan Ritterbush, a fellow Girl Scout, organized and held a sports clinic for 80 children in the GetSET and HomeFront programs near Trenton last summer. Though their emphasis was mostly on basketball, the event also included whiffle ball, a hike in the woods, a beach party, volleyball, and a water balloon fight.
“We enjoyed putting the clinic together and would like to thank all the fellow Girl Scouts who volunteered to make the day a great success,” says Rancan. To finance her Silver Award project, Rancan mowed lawns and accepted donations. Her troop leaders are Tracey Walters, Puja Mittal, and Helen Rancan.
Three years ago, Rancan earned her Bronze Award by collecting acorns over two autumn seasons and donating them to the State Forest Nursery in Jackson. The troop project, “500 Trees Grow in West Windsor,” culminated in scouts distributing 500 two-year saplings to third grade students in West Windsor.
Rancan continues to be an active member of the award-winning Girl Scouts Robotics Team that traveled in April to St. Louis for the FIRST Lego Robotics World Festival. The team of 10 West Windsor-Plainsboro girl scouts competed against 80 teams from around the world. Her robotics coaches are Jan Cardinale, Andrea Mandel, Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman, and Helen Rancan.
This summer, Rancan traveled with Girl Scout leaders Kate Henkel and Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman on a tropical adventure to Costa Rica, where she climbed a steaming volcano and zip-lined through a rain forest. Rancan joined Girl Scouts when she was in first grade and plans to continue her scouting adventures throughout her years at South.
