Girl Scout News
Four 13-year-old Girl Scout Cadettes, Alisha Kanitkar, Sanjana Saksena, Mansi Panse, and Rutvi Ravani conducted a successful summer camp for girls and boys ages 7 to 11 for their Silver Award project. This camp educated and encouraged the participating kids to go green and spread awareness to the community around them, so they could start conserving the Earth. The campers explored different outdoor locations such as Morris Davison Park, the Plainsboro Preserve trails, and the Plainsboro Public Library.
In the four days of each session, they ran through activities that expanded knowledge about current global problems and solutions. Activities included using recycled paper to make new paper, making bird feeders and hanging them up, learning about and making fossils, educating them on alternative energy, understanding the way animals survive in the wild and what they depend on, making crafts such as wind turbines, planting saplings at the local library, and treasure hunting to learn about the planet.
Feedback from campers showed that their favorite activity was catching and observing pond organisms — and all 34 kids want to return to Go Green Adventure Camp. Their project advisor, Louisa Ho, supported them through the entire project, and parents suggested ideas to move along the project and supervise them. The girls are already making plans to hold another camp next summer.
If you are interested in joining Girl Scouts in West Windsor-Plainsboro as a girl or an adult volunteer, E-mail girlscoutswwp@verizon.net or call Ho at 609-371-2119.
Kelly Scanlan, a senior Girl Scout in West Windsor is pursuing a Gold Award Project — the highest honor a girl scout can receive. She is a senior at High School South.
Her project is a series of workshops to inform students about suicide. She has received approval to implement this as her Gold Award Project. Although she has been preparing this for more than a year, Scanlan now intends to tie Brian Welsh into her project in some form because many of the students at South have been greatly affected by his recent death.
“I’m planning on holding a series of workshops aimed at attacking the root causes of suicide,” says Scanlan. “The workshops I am planning are aimed at coping with stress, relationships, bullying, and depression.” She is also planning a concert to raise awareness for suicide prevention by having various speakers on the topic between acts.
For now she needs donations of “stuff” to sell at the High School South Flea Market on Saturday, October 9. She is seeing gently used clothes, toys, and books, and anything else that may be a treasure to someone. She cannot accept monetary donations (it is one of the rules for earning this award).
“I plan to use the money I raise to help fund all aspects of my project including advertising, insurance, programs, printing, food, and everything that is needed to run successful workshops as well as a successful concert,” she says. Contact Scanlan by E-mail at melody14@comcast.net.
Summer Winner
Varun Nathan of West Windsor, a third grade student at Maurice Hawk, has won an entire 10-book autographed set of Scholastic’s best-selling children’s series “The 39 Clues” and a 39 Clues backpack. There were 767 entries at Barnes & Noble.
Varun and his brothers, twins Rahul and Naveen, fifth grade students at Millstone River School, each earned a free book this summer by reading eight books and turning in a completed journal sheet through the summer program running through September 6. “Varun was the lucky one,” says Debra Lampert-Rudman, community relations manager. “Varun’s mother (Subha Nathan) thought I said that Rahul had won so now the boys will all be sharing the books while Varun wears the backpack.”
The 39 Clues series is based on history, teaching readers about famous historical figures including Benjamin Franklin, Amelia Earhart, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Dancing With the Latin Stars
Henri Velandia of West Windsor is performing on Univision’s Latin reality dance show, Mira Quien Baila, every sunday through November. He is a performer, choreographer, and the founder of HotSalsaHot, a salsa school based in Plainsboro. A native of Venezuela, his formal dance training is in classical ballet, jazz, modern dance, and international Latin.
Velandia performed a romantic adagio with TV weather anchor Jackie Guerrido on Sunday, September 12. That episode reached 8.8 million viewers, beating CBS and ABC. MQB will be aired every Sunday at 8 p.m. on (WUVP) UNIVISION (Channel, 15, 18, 23, 68; closed caption setting CC3).
Velandia will be performing with other Latin stars including singer Rosa Gloria Chagoyan; entertainer Niurka Marcos; actress Scarlett Ortiz; and singer Diana Reyes. The dancing competition partners 10 celebrities and 10 dancers to raise money for charity.
“Henri is the creator of a unique salsa style: a fusion of hip-urban street roots with formal ballroom technique, ballet precision, and the freedom of modern dance,” says Marie Alonzo-Snyder, a dancer and West Windsor resident who has worked with him. “Incorporating expressive body styling and footwork, these forms are seamlessly blended into a unique and fresh approach to salsa dancing infused with Henri’s stylish grace and sensual ease.” For more information visit www.hotsalsahot.com.
