Girl Scouts from West Windsor and Plainsboro were recently honored for demonstrating project management skills as they earned Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards. Leadership development is the core of the Girl Scout movement and is the thread that is woven through everything a girl experiences in Girl Scouts.
Six Seniors earned the Gold award; while 28 Cadettes earned Silver awards; and 95 Juniors earned Bronze awards. Linda R. Greenstein, state senator and a resident of Plainsboro; Daniel R. Benson, state assemblyman; and Shing Fu Hsueh, mayor of West Windsor, joined the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey in honoring these girls.
#b#Gold Awards#/b#
The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. The culmination of this award is a project that exemplifies courage, confidence, and character and represents several years of research, project development, and implementation. Girls pursuing Gold awards work individually.
Alana Bhatla, a member of Troop 71987, received a Gold award for “The Power of Friendship Bracelets.” Her project’s goal was to brighten the days of the children who stay long-term in the PSE&G Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick by teaching them how to make friendship bracelets. She also made a “how to” booklet and donated supplies to the hospital to sustain the project. Her advisor was Gerry Mackenzie.
Kathleen Marie Mackenzie’s project, “Christmas in July,” focused on running a mission project at her church’s vacation Bible camp for children ages 5 to 12 to educate them about poverty in other countries, especially among children. She also collected toys, wrapped them, and sent them to impoverished children through Operation Christmas Child. Mackenzie is a member of Troop 71987. Her advisor for this project was Christen Foell and her mentor was Nancy Olsson.
Kathryn Wembacher’s project, “Horses, Horses, Horses” involved educating members in the community about horses and horse safety. Also, with the donations to the Heads Up Special Riders program at Hasty Acres Riding Club, the program has been able to remain free. Wembacher is a member of Troop 71987 and her advisor for this project was Elizabeth Higgins.
Nicole Crossey’s project, “Summer Splash/Water Safety,” focused on her passion for swimming and teaching children. To share her love of swimming she gave swimming lessons to neighborhood children so that they would become confident and safe swimmers. Crossey is a member of Troop 71987 and her advisor and mentor for this project was Wendy Trockenbrod.
Amy Slothower’s project was “Vacation Bible School Storytelling Theater.” She created and taught a drama class at Bible school for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, culminating in a play at the end of the week. She planned the curriculum, taught the classes, created costumes, and created a plan and costume box for future classes. Slothower is a member of Troop 71987. Her advisor for this project was Gerry Mackenzie, and her mentor was Megan Peterson.
Krishna Trivedi, a member of Troop 70672, mentored an all Girl Scout Lego robotic team and produced a robotics technology fair, which featured robotics demonstrations and a first Lego league scrimmage match. Close to 300 people were exposed to the field of competitive robotics. Her advisor for this project was Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman and her mentor was Helen Rancan.
#b#Silver Awards#/b#
The Silver Award is the highest award for Girl Scout Cadettes (grades 6 to 8), and the recipients have successfully completed projects that demonstrated that they are leaders who are organized, determined, and dedicated to improving their communities. Girls may work individually or with a team.
Troop 70245: Leaders are Amira Scurato and Alice Beene. Awardees include Elizabeth Allen, “Effective Methods of Encouraging Reading in Children”; Oishi Bhattacharya, “Helping 5 Year Olds Learn to Write”; Tsipora Nicole Hacker, “Fighting Childhood Obesity: Introducing Nutrition and Fitness for Kids”; Katherine Scurato, “Building Self-Confidence in Homeless Children through Therapeutic Art.”
Troop 70600: Leaders Kate Henkel and Lorraine Camaratta. Silver awards were received by Allison Camaratta, “Eating Right, the Power of Food”; and Ashika Ganesh, “Girl Scout Silver Award Introduction.”
Troop 71480: Leaders Jan Costantino and Dale L’Insalata. Rachel Costantino, “Start Small,” received an award.
Troop 71603: Leaders are Debbie Cohen and Gina Finnie. Award recipient is Anjali Jothi for “Adopt a Troop.”
Troop 71607: Leaders are Louisa Ho, Padmaja Kondeti, Praveena Saksena, and Shashi Ganjoo. Awardees include Smriti Ganjoo, “Marvelous Math”; Mathangi Ganesh, “Reading Workshops for Sri Saraswati Vidyalaya Elementary School”; Alisha Kanitkar, Sanjana Saksena, Mansi Panse, and Rutvi Ravani, “Go Green Camp”; Sarmishta Govindhan, Sreeja Kondeti, Eileen Sun, and Jenny Oh. “Rockbrook: Kids Night In”; Kriti Amardeep and Keeta Santhakumar, “Organizing Backyard Campouts”; and Shweta Mohite, Vidhatri Raturi, and Maunika Atmakuri, “Girl Scout Talent Show.”
Troop 71613: Leaders are Kathy Slothower, Linda Dowling, and Mona Gawroniak. Awards were received by Lindsay Patla, “Trenton Summer Baking Camp”; Robin Slothower and Justine Dowling, “Camping at Camp Sacajawea”; and Jaclyn Leon, “Kosher For Passover.”
An award was also received by Sophia Rachel Goldberg for “The Fine Art of Reading.” A Juliette (independent scout), her advisor is Andrea Mandel.
#b#Bronze Awards#/b#
The Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest award a Junior Girl Scout (grades 4 to 5) can earn, requires her to learn the leadership and planning skills necessary to follow through on a project that makes a positive impact on her community. The Junior Girls Scouts work in teams.
Troop 70165: Leaders are Julia Lee and Sharon Rajarao. Project: “Babysitting at Leaders’ Meetings.” Awardees are Amy Kuriakose, Audry Lee, Elise Manzari, Hannah Rajarao, Harshini Raman, Shambhavi Mishra, Thanmayee Maddipati, Varnita Prakash, and Victoria Francois.
Troop 70680: Leaders are Wendy Kramer, Lori Musmanno, and Lisa McElroy. Project: “Working with SAVE Animal Shelter.” Recipients include Phyllis Delk, Nicole Didenko, Mia Ferri, Megan Foley, Scarlett Hanks, Catherine Kenney, Kelsey Kobus, Megan Kramer, Casey McElroy, Kyra Musmanno, Anindita Rajesh, Eshita Sangal, and Amanda Slater.
Troop 70684: Leaders are Satya Badeti and Rajini Raghavan. Project: “Help the Animal Shelter-SAVE.” Awardees include Anjali Badeti, Anuja Badeti, Tess F. Kowalski, Lea Goldhammer, Anjali Mundayat, Shreya Ragavan, Selena Sai Reddymeka, and Bhargavi Sahu.
Troop 70695: Leaders are Mickie Jarecki, Limy John, and Jacqueline Fernandes. Project: “Baking Birthday Cakes for Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.” Awardees are Shalu Bhardwaj, Tina Arun Dalaya, Kayla Ann Goggins, Ritika Jain, Ann Liz John, Emiko V. Kobayashi, Kira Sung, Anu Vellore, Anika Vincent, Theresa Williams, and Katherine J. Zhang.
Troop 71604: Leaders are Pam Singer and Jane Campbell. Project: “Helping the Cherry Tree Club Preschool.” Recipients include Carolyn Campbell, Rithika Ganesh, Riya Kohli, Avni Kulshrestha, Kelly Letson, Pranavi Linga, Simran Mahant, Rachel Martin, Sonika Mudiyala, Pranathi Pothukanuri, Sanjna Ravichandar, Natasha Singer, Samantha Schonberger, Sanjana Thaper, and Chelsea Thomas.
Troop 71614: Leaders are Alpa Montoya and Mari-Celeste Massaro. Project: “Holidays with TASK.” Awardees include Neha Aluwalia, Ruchi Aluwalia, Asmita Baskar, Susmitha Duvapu, Alaina Montoya, Adithi Mishra, Sampoojya Nyalakonda, Pooja Neerumalla, and Trinity Stewart. Also, project: “Ronald McDonald House.” Elina Agrawal, Olivia Rose Jurcisin, Michelle Liu, Victoria Ng, and Anna Sherman.
Troop 71615: Leaders are Kim Garron, Andrea Crossey, Tephanie Meiers, and Sue Hannah. Project: “SAVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals Volunteer Program.” Award recipients include Emily Garron, Isabelle Meiers, Lauren Crossey, Samantha Hasan, Ali Hannah, Jacelyn Tarn, and Camille Redmond.
Troop 71729: Leaders are Shari Rexroad and Elaine Drager. Project: “Helping the Hungry and Homeless.” Recipients include Elena Boal, Oishi Goswami, Isabella Jacobson, Simran Patel, Christine Rexroad, Corinne Delaney Smith, Shannon Cassidy Smith, Carolyn Vaca, and Rachel Yaffe-Bellany.
Troop 71731: Leaders are Preeti Bajaj, Alicia Herelle, and Dina Laresch. Project: “Helping the Hungry and Homeless.” Recipients are Katie Laresch, Nilofer Saeed Tehrani, Taylor Madison, Simran Korpal, Elizabeth Jean Jacques, and Sruthi Katakam. Also, project: “Helping Hands for Animal Shelter.” Awardees include Meghana Reddy, Alyssa Usab, and Lianna Huang.
If you are interested in joining Girl Scouts (as a girl or adult volunteer) in West Windsor or Plainsboro, E-mail girlscoutswwp@verizon.net, or call Louisa Ho at 609-371-2119.
