Sixty-five Girl Scouts, all from West Windsor and Plainsboro, earned bronze, silver, and gold awards. They were honored by Girls Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey for their leadership and project management skills.
The Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, represents several years of research, project development, implementation, and the use of leadership skills to enlist the help of others to make the project successful. The award was received by Allison Shook, Troop 71014; Kimberly Clifton, Troop 71018; and Emily Straley, an independent scout.
Shook’s community service project, “Games Galore,” included her creation of a game book reference that is currently being used by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Community Education Extended Day Program. She gathered ideas for indoor and outdoor activities, which targeted both small and large groups of school children. Her troop leaders are Nancy Olsson and Ilene Janofsky.
In Clifton’s community service project, “HomeFront Waiting Room Makeover,” she renovated the family waiting room at HomeFront, a nonprofit agency that provides services for the poor and homeless in Mercer County. She built a child-size table and puppet theater, painted a mural at the HomeFront Family Preservation Center, and organized a toy drive to benefit HomeFront. Her troop leaders are Anne Clifton and Ana Dhulekar. Her advisor was Joan Ruddiman.
Straley’s community service project, “Healthy Eating for a Healthy Heart Health Fair,” focused on school-aged children in West Windsor and Plainsboro. She organized a health fair with the University Medical Center at Princeton, Jazzercise, and the American Heart Association.
Silver Awards were presented to girls from five troops.
Girls from Troop 70677, led by Louisa Ho, Lisa Heyse, Rochelle Stern, and Alka Chodhari, implemented eight projects. The following scouts earned their Silver Awards: Nikita Barde and Abigail Stern for “Foster Kids Holiday Party;” Lauren Kullmann and Rebecca Van Dyke for “Birthday Cakes for the Underprivileged;” Priyanka Chodhari, Nikita Gupta and Shilvi Shah for “Backyard Campouts for Younger Scouts;” Alison Aimers for “Wheelchairs Around the World;” Megan Donnelly and Kimberly Kullmann for “Cool Cupcake Creations for Camp;” Priyanka Nischal for “Looking Your Best Badge;” Amy Laresch for “Angel’s Wings;” and Katie May for “Martin House Summer Soccer Program.”
Troop 71480 Girl Scouts, led by Jan Costantino and Dale L’Insalata, implemented four community service projects. Alexa L’Insalata and Natalie Sarchiapone for “Let Us Entertain You;” Riddhima Kapoor for “Helping Hands;” Halley Costantino and Karin Sugeno for “A Taste of the Eight Basic Skills;” and Lauren Palena from Troop 71836, for “Biscuit Baking for Homeless Pups.”
Two girls from Troop 71490, led by Becky Grant and Diane Hasling, implemented two projects to serve girl scouts at the annual camping event in May. These projects are “Badge Workshops at Service Unit Camping” by Cassandra Perez and “Badge Workshops at Service Unit Camping” by Marlena Bhame.
Leaders Wendy Kramer and Elizabeth Carnevale of Troop 71500 advised five scouts for their Silver Awards. These projects were “History of Girl Scouting” by Rebecca Finnie; “Hunger in Our Community” by Pooja Kondeti and Carly Purus; and “Leading a Brownie Troop” by Emily Carnevale and Emily Kramer.
The Bronze Award is the highest honor awarded to Junior Girl Scouts with a teamwork approach. This season’s recipients represent three troops.
From Troop 70145, led by Shipra Mitra and Catherine Hughes, two projects were completed. “Cherry Tree Club Lunches” by Anushree Ashley Desai, Madison Hughes, Natalie Migliore, Nikita Nangia, and Saloni Sharma; and “Fundraising for Cherry Tree Club Lunches” by Michelle Hughes and Pia Mitra Pal.
Scouts from Troop 70216, led by Kate Henkel and Sandra Madison, earn Bronze Awards for four projects. Chloe Berger, Katrina Beske, Allie Dignan, Anna Henkel, and Aashna Tilve for “Cherry Tree Club Hot Meals;” Kacy Lane, Julia Laresch, Chloe Madison, and Shivani Patel for “TASK Cake Baking;” Radhika Gupta, Kate McManus, Reagan Ritterbush, and Ritu Vyas for “SAVE Toy Creations & Donations;” and “Learn to Scrapbook” by Emma Kothari.
The scouts of Troop 70619, worked as a team on their project titled “Preserving Zaitz Preserve.” Girl Scouts Gillian Adair, Penelope Benkard, Lauren Gronich, Caroline Hoge, Taylor Hoogsteden, Shannon Lerner, Marisa Loury, Erin O’Brien, Taylor Pacelli, and Muskaan Rastogi planted and mulched 11 shade trees and five ornamental bushes at the Zaitz Preserve on Southfield Road. Work was completed with the assistance of Dan Dobromilsky, West Windsor’s landscape architect. This troop’s leaders are Pat Hoge and Teresa Adair.
For more information about joining Girl Scouts in West Windsor and Plainsboro, as a girl or an adult volunteer, E-mail Louisa.ho@verizon.net.
