#b#Eagle Scout#/b#
Bhavish Yalamanchi, a senior at High School North, is Troop 759’s newest Eagle Scout. He led the planning and building of a fitness station, including pull up bars and parallel bars, at the Duck Pond Park soccer fields. The station was designed to help the West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association by attracting more visitors to the field. Yalamanchi has been a part of the WWPSA for several years, and this project is a means of giving back to the organization.
“I can confidently say that the township has been very pleased with the process and result of this project,” said Dan Dobromilsky, the landscape architect for West Windsor. “Bhavish’s perception of the need for this station, leadership to bring this project to fruition, and ability to adapt his concept to the requirements of implementing such a station in a public park has been exemplary. We are grateful for Bhavish’s efforts and the work of his project contributors.”
Yalamanchi, the son of Durga and Rupavani Yalamanchi of Plainsboro, began his scouting career as a first grader with Cub Scout Pack 759 in Plainsboro, and bridged to Boy Scout Troop 759 in March, 2007. Yalamanchi has held several leadership positions including patrol leader, webmaster, and troop guide. At North Yalamanchi has been active with the High School FIRST Robotics team and is co-captain for the 2013-’14 season. He hopes to lead his squad to a third consecutive trip to the world championships in St. Louis.
Troop 759 is chartered through Queenship of Mary Church in Plainsboro and meets most Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Visit www.troop759nj.org for information.
Cub Scouts
West Windsor’s Cub Scout Pack 66’s Webelos 1 scouts recently completely the Cub Scout water safety training program “Aquanauts.” The scouts earned a merit badge by demonstrating basic swimming and survival floating skills, and learning the four methods of water rescue.
“The skills they learned today may one day save someone’s life,” said Cub Master Sean Sheerin. “And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Gold’s Gym for the use of their pool and life guard, Eagle Scout Ken Allen, as well Princeton Canoe & Kayak Rental, which lent us the life preservers.”
Visit www.westwindsor66.mypack.us for information.
#b#Silver Awards#/b#
Nikita Shankar and Shehara Ranasinghe completed their Girl Scout Silver award project, “Literature for Kids,” by creating puppet shows for children at Cherry Tree Club, a preschool at Prince of Peace Church for homeless children. Both scouts are 14 and freshmen at High School North.
“We started this journey off not knowing what to expect and how difficult the project actually is,” says Shankar, a member of Troop 70694 with leader Lucinda Cochrane. Ranasinghe is in Troop 71017 with Michele Farrell.
“Statistics show that kids who are homeless are only at a 20 percent reading level profiency compared to 45 percent across America,” Shankar says. “After reading a story to the students, we had them create puppets. The following day we had a few students at a time present a show of a few pages to the rest of the class. This allowed the students to practice their public speaking skills, as well as their comprehension skills of the novel.
“I learned through the teachers that the students felt empowered when their puppets were behind the stage, and many of them gained an interest in their characters and the plot of the story,” says Shankar. “The overall project was a success, because our objective was for the students to develop a passion for reading, so in the future they could continue to want to strive for success.”
Visit Facebook: Literature For Kids.
Vashvi Shah, a West Windsor resident for 13 years, completed her silver award with her project, “Art for Kids.” She taught art at El Centro Catholic Charities and the Cherry Tree Club. A member of Troop 71017, her troop leader is Michele Farrell. She plays field hockey for High School South.
“I have volunteered at the West Windsor Arts Council for the last two years and that gave me the idea to teach art classes to people who may have not been able to afford art classes,” says Shah. Her mentor, Maria Duarte, helped her coordinate the dates and times to teach classes at El Centro. Wendy Schutzer helped her coordinate the art classes at the Cherry Tree Club.
