Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards
Girls Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey recently honored 37 girl scouts from West Windsor and Plainsboro who have demonstrated exemplary leadership abilities and project management skills.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn and it represents research, project development, and implementation, as well as leadership skills.
Gold awards were received by Diana M. Befi, Julie Bradley, Lauren Louie, Diana Mayorga, and Ananya Yalamanchi. They are members of Troop 71287, a senior group led by Diane Herte and Stephanie Bradley.
Befi’s project “Vocal Opportunity in the Community” served school-aged children in the community. She taught the fundamentals of singing to children from pre-K to fifth grade in the West Windsor Recreation Camp last summer. The skills included pitch matching, pitch memory, rhythm, and singing as a group.
Bradley’s project, “Making Music Memories,” included organizing and running a music camp for children ages five to ten last August at the Plainsboro Public Library. She developed lesson plans to help teach the participants about composers, music symbols, and terms; gave instrument demonstrations; and created a music activities booklet for children in the community.
Louie’s project, “The World of Music,” was focused on children at the Cherry Tree Club. Utilizing pictures and hands-on activities, the children learned how different musical instruments were played and then participated in a performance using instruments they had made.
Mayorga’s project, “Healthy Cooking in English,” focuses on teaching 10 English classes to the ESL students in Princeton. She exposed the students to new vocabulary words and a better understanding of healthy alternatives to traditional recipes.
Yalamanchi’s project, “Touch Therapy for Patients at Princeton HealthCare System,” implemented a new program at the Medical Center at Princeton that focused on Touch Therapy. She trained volunteers to give hand massages to long-term elderly patients.
Gold awards were also earned by Jenna Modi and Casey Schoenholz of Troop 71525, led by Kathy Modi and Diane Schoenholtz.
Modi organized “Second Hand Used Sports,” a second hand sports equipment drive throughout West Windsor to benefit recreational teams in Trenton. She was also an assistant coach in their fall ball league, teaching basic skills in softball.
Schoenholtz’s project, “Simply Self Defense,” served women in the community by organizing and presenting information about self-defense. She utilized the skills of professional defense instructors to present self-defense skills and strategies for the safety of women.
“Tag Alongs @ Cub Scout Day Camp” was a Gold Award project developed by Jennifer Dowling, which included organizing the Tag-Along program for the younger siblings of cub scouts attending camp. This provided daycare for adults who would otherwise be unable to volunteer with Boy Scouts. Dowling is an independent scout.
The Silver award is earned by middle school girl scouts who lead community service projects with the assistance of family members and other scouts. This season’s recipients represent four troops that implemented projects that serve the West Windsor and Plainsboro communities.
Girls from Troop 70600, led by Kate Henkel and Lorraine Camaratta, implemented five projects. Silver awards went to RaeLynn Chapman and Danielle Henkel for “Jewelry Badge for Juniors;” Izzy daCosta and Natasha Hanstveit for “Backyard Sleepover for Younger Girl Scouts;” “Improving the Hiking Trails in WWP” by Rachel Karp; Aana Bansal and Rebecca Schwartz for “Geocaching Badge for Juniors;” and Amani Sayed for “Teaching English to Younger Students in Abu Dhabi.”
Alexis Bruno of Troop 70677 earned her Silver award with a project titled “Benefits of Books.” Her troop leaders are Louisa Ho and Alka Chodhari.
Girls from Troop 71490, led by Becky Grant and Diane Hasling, implemented “Learn to Read, Read to Learn: Book Drive for Those in Need” by Neha Kulkarni; and “Building Character in Community Middle School Mural” by Melinda Sibilia.
Girls from Troop 71612, led by Rebecca Farmer Huselid and Jessica Harris, implemented “Exploring Light” by Elizabeth Bellotti; “Exploring Science Detective Work” by Anna Brosowsky; “A Groovy Girl Scout Talent Show” by Jessica Z. Harris and Rachel Huselid; and “Homefront Informational Video” by Amanda Lane.
Independent (Juliette) Girl Scout Victoria Hernandez implemented an independent Silver award project titled “Unlike Allergies, Awareness is Contagious.”
The Bronze award is the highest honor awarded to Junior Girl Scouts, those girls in upper elementary grades. They represent a teamwork approach to a troop-wide project. This season’s recipients are from two troops.
Apoorva Balaji, Rahael George, Kendall Ku, Madeline Lee, Ananya Mukherjee, Dharaa Rathi, Ashlyn Rogers, Caroline Sabin, Cathy Tao, and Robyn Wright from Troop 70580 implemented “Helping SAVE Animal Shelter.” Their leaders include Allison Lee, Kristin Rogers, Mita Mukherjee, and Suzannah Sabin.
Sheetal Mohanty and Shivangi Sogani from Troop 70866, led by Arti Khatri and Betsy Wallace-Saunders, implemented their project titled “Animal Shelter Project.”
In addition to the official awards, presented by Mary Connell, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey, each scout received citations from local, county, state, and federal governmental offices. Dignitaries in attendance for this ceremony included West Windsor Township Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and Plainsboro Committee Member Michael Weaver.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro service unit is co-managed by Louisa Ho and Wendy Kramer. For information about joining Girl Scouts in West Windsor or Plainsboro, as a girl or as an adult volunteer, E-mail girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
Cub Scout News
Webelos Cub Scouts from Pack 66 Den 12, (the Shark Den) held a food drive in both West Windsor and Plainsboro. They gave fliers to 112 houses in the two towns requesting donations of food for the Plainsboro Food Pantry for the holiday season. They asked that food be left near mailboxes on Saturday and Sunday, November 20 and 21. When they brought all of the food to be sorted they discovered that they had 502 pounds of food, and 30 boxes and bags.
Scouts include Ari Bailey, Logan Reilly, Chris Bluni, Daniel Lusdyk, Sam Gartenberg, Jesse Smith, Michael Riehl, Gordy Hesterberg, and Jon Wolfe. The boys were working on their citizenship pin with the help of their leader, Cynthia Hesterberg.
“We were all excited when we heard that we had collected 502 pounds of food for people who needed food during the holiday season,” says Ari Bailey. “We knew because of us 36 families in the West Windsor-Plainsboro area would have food for the holidays. We all felt great because we did something great.”
Boy Scout Eagles
Matthew P. Meers, a graduate of High School South; and Brian A. Reil and Alexander S. Rohrbach, both seniors at High School South, earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank awarded by The Boy Scouts of America. The award was presented to them at a Court of Honor held by West Windsor Troop 40 at High School South on January 29.
Scott Needham of Princeton Air Conditioning presented Princeton Corridor Rotary Club’s certificate of achievement at the event. He said “The Eagle Scout rank is the highest rank awarded by the Boy Scouts of America. Attaining this rank is a significant achievement in a boy’s life. Having been an active West Windsor Scout myself I am aware of the commitment that goes into a project such as this. These young men should be quite proud of their accomplishment. Hats off to their parents as well as the entire Troop. We recognize that a team effort is the magic ingredient in getting big things done.”
Scouts and Robots
Girl Scouts Caroline Cardinale, Christina Rancan, Sarah Gillars, Sanjna Ravichandar, Anisha Amurthur, Ria Mital, Elizabeth Herelle, and Reagan Ritterbush from the West Windsor and Plainsboro service unit’s FIRST Lego League (FLL) Team 11297, rallied with their robot, affectionately named Miss S’more Smasher, to compete at the First State Lego League Regional Championship at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center on January 22. The team, titled “The Green Machine,” is sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey and funded with a grant from Motorola.
After three rounds of tactical competition with their Lego Mindstormer robot and individual judging in core values, technical ability, and research, this first-year-all-girl team won the most inspirational award from a field of 36 teams from several states. The team was also recognized with the Most Spirited Award.
During the FLL championship, teams of up to 10 students ages 8 to 14 compete in a series of challenges by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field. This year’s theme was biomedical engineering and the challenge was called “Body Forward.”
The eight Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts of Team 11297 rocked the Bob Carpenter Center when they took the field with their robot for the first of three rounds. The girls applauded their fellow teams and led a rousing chant of “Green Machine” that was eventually taken up by the standing room only crowd.
This is not the first time these girls have won an award. During the December qualifying rounds at the Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, the Green Machine won the first place trophy in team work. Sporting t-shirts that read “We’re not just about cookies anymore,” the eight girl scouts of the Green Machine presented judges with their research on how to prevent head and neck injuries in football. Their system was based on research presented to the girls by engineers Peter Cripton and Bill Bussone.
When asked whether they thought it was unusual that girls would research football injuries, team member Christina Rancan replied that “anyone could be hurt playing sports and it’s better to prevent injuries like these.” The team also wrote a letter to the coach of Rutgers football and injured player Eric LeGrand to wish them both well and tell them about the neck injury prevention system that they had created with their player-prototypes.
When judges asked the girls whether they thought they were special because they were Girl Scouts, Reagan Ritterbush responded, “Yes we are special because we are Girl Scouts, but we are a team — just like all those others out there.”
Girl Scout Leaders, and now coaches, are Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman, Jan Cardinale, Helen Rancan, and Andrea Mandel. Advice was received from Marcia Fleres, volunteer advisor of High School North and South MidKnight Inventors Robotics Team, FLL 1923, a team that creates and competes with 150-pound metal robots in FIRST high school competitions. Two high school team captains, Kelsey Stevens and Libby Kamen, worked with the Green Machine, and Senior Scouts Krishna Trivedi and Minal Mody mentored the girls.
During the brief season from October thru January, the MidKnight Inventors hosted the girls at local robotics competitions, taught them about the core values of the FIRST organization, and shared the fun of playing with Legos and programming robots.
In order to share their experiences with FLL, the Green Machine is sponsoring a technical fair for West Windsor-Plainsboro Girl Scouts in early March. Several of the robotic teams that competed in Delaware will be involved in this event which will expose more than 200 scouts to the excitement of Legos and robotics in the short term and science and engineering in the long term.
Musical Notes
Wenlan Jackson, 8, was winner of the State Certificate of Excellence in New Jersey for both Preparatory A and B, Piano for the 2009-2010 academic year. A third grade student at Maurice Hawk Elementary School, she studies piano with Linda Fields of Music in the Making. Her parents are Kevin and Zhenni Jackson.
Presented by the Royal Conservatory of Music National Music Certification Program, the state certificates of excellence are given to the candidates who obtain the highest marks in their grade and subject, from Preparatory A and B through to Grade 10, in each state.
Wenlan performed “The Wild Rider” by Robert Schumann at the Tri-State Certificate of Excellence Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Saturday, February 5.
Dance Theater
Marie Alonzo, founder and artistic director of Tangerine/Marie Alonzo Dance Projects, will premiere a new dance theater duet titled “One’s Upon Times” on Sunday, February 27, at 5 p.m. at the Underbar, W Hotel, New York City.
With original choreography and text by Alonzo, this new work will be performed by Henri Velandia, founder of HotSalsaHot, who has been dancing with Alonzo since 2005, and Abdiel Cedric Jacobsen, from Martha Graham II Dance Company, who has been dancing with Alonzo since 2010. The duet will explore issues of love, American immigration laws, and equal rights that face bi-national same-sex married couples as they fight against the cruel impact of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), a federal ruling. Both Alonzo and Velandia are West Windsor residents.
“Love and Citizenship” will be addressed through performance, dance, and theater. These presentations have been developed together with Hybrid Theatre Works to bring a new blend of immediate action and theatre. The performance is followed by discussion with artists, dancing, and drink specials. Free. Register by E-mail to hybridtheatreworks@gmail.com.
