Girl Scouts from West Windsor and Plainsboro were recently honored by state and local dignitaries for demonstrating exemplary leadership abilities and project management skills. Congressman Rush Holt, State Senator Linda Greenstein, State Assemblyman Daniel R. Benson, West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, Plainsboro Committeeman David Bander, and Natasha Southerland, chief communications officer of GSCSNJ, joined the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey in honoring these girls.
The girls’ leadership experience has enabled them to earn scouting’s highest awards, including gold awards for Senior and Ambassador scouts, silver awards for Cadette scouts, and bronze awards for Junior scouts. Three Ambassador scouts achieved the gold award; 25 Cadettes earned silver awards and 36 Juniors earned bronze awards.
Gold Awards
Aana Bansal coordinated two robotics camps at the Trenton Public Library last summer. Her goal was to inspire middle school students to explore STEM fields through fun and hands-on activities. Bansal is captain of the robotics team at Stuart Country Day School robotics team and a member of Troop 70600. Her advisor was Kate Henkel and her mentor was Shinae Park.
Danielle Henkel created a holiday sale event at a school for communication-impaired and multiple-disabled children. The children, ranging from preschool through 16 years of age, were able to reinforce independence through communication, money exchange, and purchasing choices. Henkel is a member of Troop 70600. Her advisor was Lorraine Camaratta and her mentor was Mary Caterson. Henkel was also awarded the Distinguished Girl Scout Service Award for her service to support Girl Scouts in the community.
Sneha Salgam, a member of Troop 70700, created and taught basic lessons to develop better peer relationships to students of the Better Beginnings School in Hightstown. Her advisor was Gina Ochs and her mentor was Luz N. Horta.
Silver Awards:
Troop 70694 with leaders Lucinda Cochrane and Arti Khatri. Scouts and their projects include Delaney Cochrane and Ishneet Sachar, “Worm Composting: Quick and Easy”; Rhea Khatri, “Linking Art to the World Around Us”; Anu Kandasamy, Teja Kondeti, and Priya Kothari, “Games Around the World”; Sheetal Mohanty, “A Right Turn In a Wrong Road: What to do When Domestic Violence Occurs”; Sanjna Nandal, “Healthy Foods for Life”; Veena Pasupuleti, “Cleaning Up Trolley Line Trail”; and Shehara Ranasinghe (Troop 71017) and Nikita Shankar, “Literature for Kids.”
Troop 70699 with leaders Melanie Hudak Koepp and Cyndy Hesterberg. Scouts and their projects include Alexandra Hesterberg and Kayla Tulloch, “Building a Better Library for EDP Students at Two WW-P Elementary Schools.”
Troop 70891 with leaders Lin Baumann and Betsy Saunders. Scouts and their projects include Shrusti Ghone and Poonam Kulkarni, “Raising Awareness for the Plainsboro Food Pantry”; Patricia Wallace Saunders, “Think Before You Get a Pet”; and Shivangi Sogani, “Musical Therapy at Rehabilitation Centers: The Magic of Music.”
Troop 71016 with leaders Jan Cardinale and Theresa Gillars. Scouts and their projects include Caroline Cardinale and Sarah Gillars, “Introducing Robotics to Underprivileged Communities: a Team for Habitat for Humanity Afterschool Program”; Julia Hu, “Building a Library for Urban Promise at Trenton”; Isabelle Engel, “Toiletry Bags for Loaves and Fishes”; Veda Donthireddy and Lauren Hausheer, “The Pet Food Pantry”; Larissa Wojtenko, “Rise Food Pantry Recipe Book”; and Clare Ree Clancey, “Warm-up Exercises for Special Olympic Athletes.”
Bronze Awards:
Troop 70935 with leaders Kathleen Moriarty, Jill Raday, and Wendy Adams. Scouts Abigail Adams, Jillian Dowling, Alexis Hausheer, Maya Olcsvary, Michelle O’Leary, Jeanette Smith, and Madeleine Zullow for “Helping at SAVE Animal Shelter.”
Troop 70964 with leaders Mickie Jarecki and Karen Sue. Scouts Drishti Devnani, Kimi Kobayashi, Atiriya Kollipara, Elsa Moroney, Renuka Ravinder, Shivani Srivastava, and Khushi Varshney for “Restoring the Butterfly Garden at Maurice Hawk School.”
Troop 71110 with leaders Debi Vivona and Rebecca Capuano. Scouts Isabella Capuano, Vicky Lieu, Nitya Narayanan, Isabella Pacheco, Amy Torres, and Vaishnavi Tunungunila for “Birthday Cakes for TASK.” Also, Rosina Anath, Anisha Chakraborty, Sara Furtak, Maddalena Vivona, and Diane Yoon for “Brownie Badge Workshops.”
Troop 71915 with leaders Tiffanie Pfaltzgraff and Andrea Shannon. Scouts Briana Eckerl, Samiha Hasan, Savera Hunsberger, Kate Kelly, Sejal Madan, Srujana Mallem, Aditi Parekh, Aubrianna Pfaltzgraff, Kosha Ravani, Meaghan Shannon, and Mitali Shroff for “Give Back to Girl Scouts.”
Hunter Elizabeth Rendleman, 17, recently completed her Girl Scout Gold award. An ambassador Girl Scout in West Windsor, she studied multigenerational values concerning media literacy and body image in women.
“I chose to introduce my platform of body image and media literacy by conducting a survey to explore perceptions of power and body image among 100 females,” says Rendleman. She hosted a screening and discussion of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s film “Miss Representation” at the West Windsor Arts Council.
“As a result of my research I found that 81.2 percent of the girls and women in my survey respondents reported that they were self-conscious about their shape while in the company of others; nearly two-thirds, or 55.9 percent, of girls and women in my survey try to look like the girls and women they see on television at least some of the time; and 70 percent of those asked thought that magazines rarely portray women accurately,” she says.
A senior at High School North, she is varsity captain of the diving team and president and head writer for the film club. She is also involved in National Honors Society. Currently applying to colleges, she is looking to study history, English, or economics to pursue television production, writing, or marketing in the future.
Born in Walnut Creek, California, the family moved to West Windsor in 2006. Her parents, Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman and Charles Rendleman, are scientists in drug research. Her brother, David Joseph, recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and is a computer programmer in Seattle.
Her project mentor was former West Windsor councilwoman Diane Ciccone and her Girl Scout adviser was Shweta Kedia. She is a member of Girl Scout Troop 70672.
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.
