Melissa increased literacy in children throughout her community with fun interactive stories. She did this by volunteering with local Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scout troops and reading books to them and running writing workshops. They were all exposed to multiple books, writing strategies, and new language skills. They all learned new vocabulary words they can use in their daily lives. She made reading fun by showing them they can use art to express their stories and poems. She also created a book display featuring books to not only promote literacy in her own high school, but to promote the school musical. Melissa also volunteered at her local middle school and educated girls about the importance of writing and reading and using it as a tool for advocacy. Through her Gold Award Project she learned that she can start a project and finish it to success and that she is capable of making positive change in my world and that her voice has an impact on others. Melissa chose this project because she is passionate about education and teaching children new skills. She also chose this project because reading is an important skill everyone needs in their life and reading gives children a strong foundation for success. She wants to give children access to reading and be a role model for supporting reading books.
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2024 GSHH Gold Award Girl Scouts
Melissa Adashko-Rein 
Jillian Arena
Jillian created seminars where she taught children the importance of kindness then had them decorate rocks with encouraging words and gift them to others.
Mackenzie Bailey
Mackenzie’s project aimed to combat pollution. Teaching about pollution and ways to live an eco-friendly life. Focusing on how to properly create eco-bricks to repurpose non-recycleable plastics. These eco-bricks were then used to create a planter to also help clean the air. Earth Day events with pollution information and ways to live eco-friendly lives will be provided yearly, as well as teaching materials on how to make eco-bricks.
Charlotte Blotner
Many schools are cutting arts programming for students, which can hamper creativity, creative thinking, and problem solving. Charlotte’s project supported these issues by donating supplies, teaching students about art, and creating a sustainable resource that students, or anyone else, can use to help them find their own creative outlets. Through teaching weekly classes at the Coachman Center Charlotte provided knowledge about art and art history, and how it relates to the different geographies and time periods that the students learn about during social studies at school. She taught the students about different art mediums, such as pencil, charcoal, water color, and other paint. Charlotte allowed the students to have fun getting messy, and learn how to clean up as a team. Charlotte also created an accessible art journal with different projects for students to use to help create art and foster creativity. The journal can be printed and copied for anyone to use.
Annabelle Bradley
The Pollinator Pathway is a green space located in the Bronx, NY. The garden has the goal of spreading awareness about native plant species in our New York ecosystem that support pollinators such as bees, birds and other insects. All while providing a space for one to connect with nature. Being located in an urban setting, the Pollinator Pathway gives an opportunity for visitors to learn, create, garden, or simply relax, something that they may not have in their everyday lives. Through the partnership of Riverdale Neighborhood House, children of all ages get to experience the garden and learn about the different benefits it brings to pollinators. They are also exposed to the versatility of gardening through the many fruit-bearing species in space that provide food for not only local species but also the visitors. The space is one for all to come together to learn something new and inspire curiosity.
Jillian Brand
With her project, Jillian aimed to address the issue of global warming and the lack of education regarding this issue. She built a greenhouse in her community that is open to the public and reaps vegetables that can be enjoyed by the community. Because of her project, her target audience now knows how to care for plants and what greenhouses do. They also learned about different vegetables and what can grow in certain areas.
Madelena Brill
For her project, Madelena constructed, painted, and promoted two free little libraries at two local parks in her community. She presented her project to the local recreational board, which got approved. She then started fundraising and constructing her little libraries. For her fundraisers, she held a yard sale, a spaghetti dinner and bingo event at her church. Madelena solicited generous donations from Home Depot, Stop and Shop, BJ’s and Adams and used the money to buy the libraries, mounting materials, paints, and food for the spaghetti dinner fundraiser. With help of Girl Scouts and friends, she constructed and painted the libraries and filled them with books. She also held a literacy night for young Girl Scouts in her service unit where they read books, made bookmarks, and created stories, ending with milk and cookies and everyone received alphabet pasta and a Girl Scout patch for attending. The libraries were advertised in the local newspaper and were proven to be successful. After one week, one of the libraries only had four books left which was later restocked. The remainder of her fundraising money was donated to her local library in Hyde Park. Members of the local community have already donated so much for the libraries! The libraries are officially registered as Little Free Libraries.
Claire Colasuonno
To begin her project Claire worked with the Eastchester Middle School guidance department to create a kindness lesson for the students. The lesson included a video she made and a survey with questions. Once the project was completed she sent all of the resources and presentations to the guidance department for future use. She also sent out a Google form to her community where they could send a kindness box to someone they appreciate. Claire handmade and delivered these boxes to spread kindness in her community. Along with creating the lessons for the middle school, she also presented for the Eastchester Town Camp and the ECAP camp.
Jessica Caico
When the time came for Jessica to begin her Gold Award, she immediately had the Veterans of Somers in mind. She remembered fondly the Veterans she met over the years through the Somers Girl Scout Operation Cookie Drop project and felt that the Veterans in her own town were mostly unknown to her and many other children. In other words, she knew their stories needed to be shared. In the fall of 2021, Jessica created and sent out questionnaires to many Veterans within the town of Somers. She was overwhelmed that she received over 100 responses within a few months. Jessica then took the time to read all of these responses and curated them into a book. There is currently a copy in the Somers Public Library as well as the Somers Historical Society. She also sent a PDF version of the completed book to her community advisor with the hopes that she will share it with younger troops so they can learn about the veterans in their home town!
Kaitlinn Campana
Kaitlinn’s Gold Award project, Foster Packs, was focused on the root cause of supporting the youth in foster care throughout her area. Oftentimes, youth in foster care do not have necessities or items that are expressly their own. Her project focused on gathering school supplies to distribute to children in foster care.
Daniella Clarke
Daniella has crafted tables, allowing people to step away from screens, go outside, and enjoy games like tic-tac-toe and checkers. These games are easily accessible through the mailboxes (labeled game boxes) found near the game tables. Her goal was to enhance park aesthetics and establish a sustainable environment for community members of all ages. She chose this project to contribute to the town she grew up in, creating new positive memories for everyone. *The tables are located: - Carroll Park: 202 Kensico Rd, Thornwood, NY 10594 - Bradhurst Park: 63 Bradhurst Ave, Hawthorne, NY 10532 - Mt. Pleasant Pool and Recreation Area: 125 Lozza Dr, Valhalla, NY 10595
Emily Conniff
Emily’s project involved creating an activity/coloring book that educated children on the proper care of animals. These books were handed out to Girl Scout troops plus veterinarian offices and animal shelters. She also held four animal care workshops for children, during which she taught children how to care properly for their pets. In addition, she produced an animal care video which is posted on YouTube for children to view.
Caitlin Decker
For her Girl Scout Gold Award, Caitlin wrote and illustrated a children’s book titled “Rog the Frog.” Her book displays what anxiety looks like and shows helpful strategies youth can utilize to manage these feelings. In the book, Rog embarks on a nerve-racking trip to summer camp. Although his anxiety seems to control his ability to enjoy the experience, he meets a friend, Petunia, who supports and guides him through the trip. By the end of the book, Rog has discovered many strategies that help him manage his anxiety. These tips include writing in a journal, talking to a friend, using a fidget, and taking a warm bath. Caitlin self-published her book on Amazon in order to give children across the globe access to this resource. She led painting and drawing workshops with Girl Scout troops of all levels to emphasize how art can help reduce stress. She also donated copies of her book to her local Women’s Resource Center for the children there to read. Anxiety is a prominent topic for teens, but a concealed one for children. If we teach children about anxiety early on, they can be prepared with the knowledge and coping mechanisms to help themselves and their peers in the future. Caitlin wants children to know that anxiety is universal. Everyone feels it and they are not alone.
Ava Dee
For her project, Ava worked to ensure that all different kinds of children had access to dance classes. First, she worked with a professional Ballet Company called the Ajkun Ballet Theater to organize and teach dance classes for Special Education Students. Ava taught the students various stretches, dance moves, and even taught them a dance that they were able to perform on stage in Ajkun’s professional productions of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. Then, she hosted a free dance class at the New Rochelle Girl Scout House and taught dance classes during some younger troop’s troop meetings. She loved being able to spread the joy of dance to all different kinds of children in her community. Ava believes that everyone deserves a chance to shine on stage.
Taylor Flynn
Taylor’s Gold Award addressed the issue of bullying by creating two different antibullying programs for Brownies and Junior troops. These interactive programs aimed to educate young girls about the various types of bullying and empower them with strategies to combat it. She designed a program that includes five interactive steps. For Brownies, the program focused on identifying different forms of bullying, understanding the signs, and learning what qualities they value in friendships. Through role-playing they learn to recognize and address bullying situations. The Junior program goes deeper into the complexities of bullying emphasizing resolution strategies and the importance of maintaining healthy friendships. It finalizes with a pledge promising to be trustworthy and honest with peers and they receive a specially designed participation patch. She demonstrated leadership by gathering a team of peers to assist in the development/implementation of the program. Taylor led brainstorming sessions to select suitable activities for each program level, ensuring they were engaging and educational. Additionally, she facilitated role-playing exercises to test the effectiveness of the activities. Understanding the importance of community involvement, she then worked with local troops to implement the program and demonstrate the importance of friendship and empathy. The program is available nationwide with patches sold in Girl Scout Shops. It has reached as far as Ohio. Her project addressed the root cause of bullying by empowering young girls with the knowledge and skills to combat it effectively. Taylor successfully developed and implemented anti-bullying programs, fostering a culture of empathy and friendship.
Victoria Foxton
Victoria’s project was about advocating the importance of local farms and spreading awareness of the benefits of herbs. She built a perennial herb garden at Cropsey Community Farm (also called Rockland Farm Alliance). She created and published a website about the significance of local farms, the uses of the herbs in the perennial herb garden, and the steps to building an herb garden. To gain leadership hours, she hosted events on perennials herbs and helped with events at the Rockland Farm Alliance.
Simone Gabriel
Simone Gabriel, an 18-year-old from Putnam Valley and the Heart of the Hudson Council, led the “Period Project: Bridging the Gap in Menstrual Care“ to tackle period poverty in Harlem, New York. The initiative launched on January 1, 2023, and concluded on May 30, 2023, dedicating many, many hours to the initiative. Focusing on providing essential menstrual hygiene products to economically disadvantaged women, the project intersected issues of poverty, civic engagement, and health. Grace Gospel Chapel’s Community Harvest pantry served as the operational hub, optimizing distribution and fostering community involvement. Simone managed a collaborative team, including key members from Grace Gospel Chapel, to oversee distribution and community education. The project was executed from initial research through multiple distribution events, successfully distributing over 200 period poverty relief bags. Simone’s innovative use of Amazon Wishlists and Givelify for collecting donations showcased efficient and sustainable project management. Funded through community donations, Simone ensured transparency and accountability in financial management. Her proactive leadership not only provided immediate relief but also promoted long-term community empowerment through educational efforts about period poverty. Looking forward, the project’s sustainability is secured with plans for continuation by other students and individuals involved with the Community Harvest ensuring its lasting impact. Simone’s initiative demonstrates the significant role of informed and dedicated youth leadership in addressing public health challenges.
Julia Gannon
Seize the Day. It’s more than just a common phrase we have heard throughout our lives. For Julia, it is a reference to her own seizure disorder, and how we must all approach each day and spread Epilepsy Awareness. Her project involved speaking to young Girl Scouts at various events like the Juliette Gordon Low Fair, Community Camping and HERstory Events about her epilepsy and how it affects so many others. These events were set up through her Service Unit but open to our entire Council and hundreds of girls and their parents. She also presented at multiple American Red Cross Blood Drives to reach a totally different population. Julia shared her journey with epilepsy, an unseen chronic illness that will affect one in twenty-six people throughout their lifetime. For the global aspect of her project she created an Epilepsy Awareness poster that is hanging outside each nurses office in the Lakeland Central School District. She also spoke in front her School Board about her Gold Award Project and presented them with a poster to hang in the district office. Julia’s Service Unit Leader told her that there was such a big difference between her proposal and final project presentation. She felt the growth of the project as Julia presented and shared her story of the past year and a half of her project. Julia’s journey with Epilepsy is a lifelong challenge and the skills and knowledge she gained through the Gold Award process will be with her forever.
Kaitlin Gaviola
For her Gold Award Project, Kaitlin focused on the importance of oral hygiene. Throughout this project, she worked at this office nearby called Sachdev Family Orthodontist. There, Kaitlin got to shadow the orthodontist and worked at the front desk. Being there, she had a great experience and developed an idea on how to help the community on knowing the importance on oral hygiene. There was a world health day presentation at the Haverstraw Elementary School where she got to present to many young children and adults the importance of oral hygiene. Kaitlin made a PowerPoint presentation with information and pictures and explained in detail how to have healthy teeth such as what foods to avoid when having braces, the positive effect of having braces, how to properly brush your teeth, and much more. Not only did this benefit her community, but it also benefited Kaitlin and she gained a greater understanding on how our teeth play an important role in our lives.
Olivia Gigante
“All Wrapped Up” is a project that focuses on making and donating blankets to an animal shelter, which is the Hudson Valley Humane Society. Through this project, Olivia met with many young Girl Scout troops to make these blankets. She went through the contents of her project, informing them on the importance of participating in their communities, while making the blankets with them which involved them in a fun and interesting way. Olivia provided them with instructional flyers on how to make them as well, so the girls and their troops can continue to make them and donate them to their local animal shelters beyond her help. Upon receiving donations, $1,123.39 was given to the Hudson Valley Humane Society to go towards Kuranda blankets and beds for all the animals. Kuranda beds are a certain type of bed that the shelter uses often and gets a discount on. She gave them the donation so they could purchase them for less money. Overall, she met eight different Girl Scout troops and met with nineteen different Girl Scout Troop leaders. Olivia taught 88 Girl Scouts in all different levels how to make blankets for the HVHS, and made 25 blankets in total. This project is near and dear to Olivia’s heart, and she is so glad to have impacted the lives of many upon its completion.
Annie Gombiner
Words to the Wise is an intergenerational social group and pen-pal program. Inspired by her close relationship with her elderly neighbor, Annie wanted to give others an opportunity to form intergenerational connections. Annie partnered with DOROT-Westchester and recruited a highly diverse group of twenty-two older adults and teenagers for whom she held monthly social gatherings and facilitated letter writing. In addition to her main social group, Annie also organized social events and performances by high school musicians at local nursing homes. Annie is extremely proud of the connections people made across generations; high schoolers and older adults bonded over immigration stories, religious values, family traditions and love for art. Now, Words to the Wise continues to foster intergenerational friendships as an official program at DOROTWestchester.
Natalie Grace
Natalie noticed a lack of awareness about the harmful impact that plastic has on the environment and the failure to address this problem. Therefore, she decided to help eliminate the waste entering the environment by buying just over ten recycling bins and educating the community about the harmful impacts of plastic on the environment. The bins have been placed in local town parks and the town picks up the recycling in the bins each week
Kallie Greene
Kallie’s been a Girl Scout for seven years and decided to dedicate her Gold Award to inspiring adolescents with mental health issues to share their stories. She gathered information from countless young women and wrote a novel about a teenage girl reflecting on her past as a mental health and suicide survivor. Though a work of fiction, her published novel entitled “Just Finding My Way” aimed to capture the real mental struggles of teen girls going through life. Writing a book took a lot of time and dedication, but seeing the people it has touched, made everything worth it. The main character, who goes unnamed to help with identifiability, looks back on how she responded to the same prompts one year ago. She can process the growth she has made on her journey, and show the reader that although getting help is difficult, it can be done. It incorporates works of poetry, reflection, and of course, mental illness to educate and inspire the reader.
Sophie Greenspan
After participating in a medical health program in the Dominican Republic (DR) with a group of ophthalmologists, Sophie saw first hand the effect of UV damage on the eye. She decided to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our eyes from the sun and from other injuries. She collected sunglasses and made educational materials in Spanish for children and adults when she returned to the DR in 2023 and 2024. In her community back home, she attended community events and meet with other Girl Scout troops to hand out and decorate sunglasses and talk about eye safety. Through posters, pamphlets and presentations, she educated the public about preventing eye diseases that can affect ones vision later in life.
Blathnaid Grenouillon
Blathnaid wanted to educate the public on the importance of staying on trails to preserve nature and the importance of trees for our planet and for us. Walking off trail has always been a major issue at Rye Nature Center as some of the trails are confusing. She worked to put down wood chips on the trails so that they were clearly identified, thus making sure people stay on the trails. In addition, she made a tree nature walk for the community to learn more about the trees by which they are surrounded. Blathnaid installed tree ID walk signs up around the park to make it easy to follow and learn more about. Since laying the wood chips, she has noticed the growth of plants next to the trails where people no longer walk. Since these plants are also animal habitats, this will help to protect them.
Ariana Hammer
Ariana’s Gold Award project focused on mental health and children in elementary school. She went to Bellows Elementary School and painted and cleaned all the benches and wrote positive saying/words. She let the kids tell her some of the words, and added them. The concept of having this in the playground area was that if kids were having a rough day or just needed a little time to breathe or even with a friend, they could go sit on these benches during recess or any time they had free. Being a younger kid understanding the importance of good mental health impacts the way you grow up and live your life. Ariana went to Mrs. Spedafino‘s class and presented them with the idea and gave them a little rundown of why mental health is important and my project. They all shared some ideas, and she engaged them with some questions. Ariana also spoke to several social workers, including in the school, and got a better understanding and view of how students think. She believes mental health has a huge impact on kids, relationships, education, and views throughout the years. These benches are painted in a light blue color to represent Rye Neck and the words and quotes are in different colors just to draw attention.
Sophia Hudson
Sophia Hudson, a senior at Lakeland High School, just completed her Gold Award. She revamped a custodial storage space and made it into a new music classroom. She spent months fundraising, painting, decorating, and setting up work station for the room. She created a green screen, a recording studio, and a classroom space to give the music department more space. This project will allow for more music classes to be taught and will hopefully help the music department to grow!
Nia Kuriakose
Nia’s inspiration for this project sparked as a senior in high school reflecting on her education- she wishes she learned a bit more about feminine hygiene and was less ashamed of her body earlier on. She looked into period stigmatization, and she discovered that examples of it are being scared to speak openly about periods and charging a tax on period products. Nia’s project, “Period Education. Period”, combatted period stigmatization in her community by teaching students the importance of menstrual education and by donating “period kits” to her local food pantry. She spent time learning about the menstrual cycle from Dr. Benesa Baby, MD, and presented her findings in a kid-friendly way to over 80 students, ages 10-16. Simultaneously, she hosted a volleyball tournament where she raised $800 to purchase over 11,000 pads, tampons, party-liners, etc. These products were then organized into “period kits” to be distributed to the clients of People to People, Nanuet, NY. The project ended up creating 633 period kits for the pantry! By creating period kits, Nia wanted to prove that feminine hygiene products should be accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status. She strongly believes that everyone has the right to the products they need and that everyone deserves to feel comfortable in their skin!
Zoe Kyrou
Zoe’s Gold Award Project, “Perfectly Imperfect: Shining the Light on Hidden Disabilities,” was a project to spread awareness and to educate her high school community about Hidden Disabilities. This project had three key parts. The first part of her project was to create The Sunflower Club. The Sunflower is an internationally recognized symbol for Hidden Disabilities. Zoe has personally seen a Sunflower display at a few airports, where quiet spaces are available for travelers with Hidden Disabilities. The Sunflower Club, under her direction, hosted two awareness weeks during the school year: one in October for Hidden Disabilities and one in May for Mental Health. The second part of the project was to create a Safe Area in Zoe’s school for students with Hidden Disabilities. She met with the school psychologist and social worker to establish guidelines for students in need of using this room. For the final part of her project, she spoke at the TEDxGoshen event. Zoe’s Ted Talk centered around her ownstruggles with Hidden Disabilities and how her experience inspired her Gold Award Project. Zoe’s TEDTalk, “The Superhero” is viewable at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ftZuNDrKo4
Meghan Ledley
Backpacks For Fun was aimed to help children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Meghan worked with Friends of Karen in North Salem, NY, by collecting items for summer camp. Families of children with life-threatening diseases have large medical bills and other financial needs, so she alleviated some of those financial pressures in their lives. Meghan collected essential camp supplies so siblings of these children can head off to camp and not worry about paying for the supplies.
Annika Lee
Annika’s project involved creating exciting, multi-generational events throughout Larchmont’s outdoor spaces, bringing all different people from all different walks of life out into nature. Despite numerous rained out events, over 100 people attended her events, including everyone from younger children to older seniors. She also founded the Teen Board of the Larchmont Mamaroneck Native Plant Collective.
Lauren Maresca
After witnessing the impact of her Bronze and Silver awards on her community, Lauren was motivated to help another segment of the population: veterans. This initiative was shaped by her Girl Scout experience, which instilled in her the importance of the United States military. Regrettably, however, many veterans do not receive the recognition or respect they rightly deserve. Hence, for her Gold Award Project, titled “Restoring Respect for Veterans,” Lauren rejuvenated and restored the historic Elmsford Reformed Church Cemetery, dedicated to veterans, within her town. The project showed veterans that the community cares about them. Before, they would drive by the cemetery and see trash, overgrown weeds, and general disarray as the final resting place for Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans. This cemetery was also unsafe to navigate while walking through; many spots contained holes, divots, and severely uneven surfaces. By providing this walkway, it made it easier for people to visit and navigate. Furthermore, the pathway and cleaning of debris enhanced the cemetery’s ambiance. When you drive by the cemetery, there is a visible transformation in the appearance. This improvement facilitates smoother navigation for visitors, offering them a richer insight into our nation’s history. Consequently, those who visit will gain a deeper understanding of our country’s origins and historical significance. With figures such as James Bartless Hammond, a renowned business leader, and Isaac Van Wart, a distinguished Revolutionary War hero, resting in the cemetery, visitors can now pay their respects and delve into the interesting history of these remarkable individuals.
Lacy Matthys
Lacy aimed to address the need for friendships and support groups in the Chronic Illness community for her Gold Award. She set up Zoom meetups for teenagers who have chronic conditions. During these Zooms, everyone discussed awareness and opportunities people can take to fill the gap of loneliness that one may feel when sick. The Zoom meetups allowed others to create long lasting relationships with individuals who understand what they are going through. Lacy also set up a Blog site to have information about the Zooms, where to sign up, journal entry pages, and how to complete Warrior Letters. Warrior Letters are letters filled with words of encouragement and support.
Isabella Matias
For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Isabella founded a “4-H Club 4 Kids” after-school program at the Upper Elementary School in the North Rockland District with the help of many known leaders from 4-H/CCE of Rockland County and North Rockland Schools. 4-H is a national and worldwide program that invests in youth development. 4-H empowers its youth with hands-on learning through engagement with projects in areas like arts and crafts, STEM, health, agriculture, foodinsecurity, service to the community, and skills to lead for a lifetime.
Kyra Montgomery
Kyra’s Gold Award Project was “Your Vote Is Your Voice”. The goal of this project was to increase the civic engagement and voting done by young people. Her project involved several different parts; firstly, she founded a voter registration club at Edgemont High School, and trained members of the club on how to run voter registration drives. In total, they ran six drives during the school year (in New York State, students can pre-register to vote starting at age 16). She also supervised the voter registration club in writing postcards to potential youth voters in other states to encourage them to register and to vote. Another part of her project involved running workshops with Girl Scouts in younger troops to talk to them about how the women’s suffrage movement eventually led to women getting the right to vote in 1920 and about how the election process works. As part of the workshops, Kyra ran mock elections in which the girls filled out ballots to vote for their favorite candy, and they made posters advocating for their favorite candidate (candy-date). At the end of each workshop, they counted the votes in the ballot box, and gave each girl a small package of whichever candy won the election. Through this simulation, they learned more about how elections work. Also, she worked with some younger Girl Scouts during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, where she helped them write letters to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin to advocate for same-day voter registration.
Jahnvi Mundra
The “Poetry for Mental Wellness” Gold Award project delved into the heart of the teen mental health crisis. The primary objective was to teach teenagers how to use poetry for mental wellness as an alternative technology-free outlet for mental well-being. Jahnvi provided online and in-person workshops on poetry writing to teens at schools and Girl Scout events in the US and India. The workshops received an overwhelmingly positive response from the participants. For instance, a Girl Scout Teen Leadership Conference participant wrote, “This workshop made me feel calm and peaceful, and it’s usually pretty hard to feel that way for me.” Similarly, a student from a school in India wrote, “It was wonderful to open up my mind through poetry.” To take the project’s message to a broader audience, Jahnvi also created a podcast, featuring basic poetry exercises and interviews with experts discussing poetry’s mental health benefits. Additionally, Jahnvi compiled poems for a chapbook, adding a personal touch to the project. Jahnvi also took her message to the United Nations as a Girl Activist Speaker on the International Day of the Girl. During her speech, Jahnvi asserted the need for mental health resources for girls worldwide and shared a spoken-word poem on girls’ gender-based experiences. By providing workshops and a podcast, this project empowered teens with the creative tool of poetry writing to nurture their mental well-being. Moreover, the project fostered a global connection by reaching students in India and promoting the importance of mental health resources for girls worldwide.
Mary Naughton
Addressing the lack of self-esteem and positive self-image amongst high school-aged girls and boys was the main issue Mary addressed for her Gold Award. She decided to combine her love of art and painting with her drive to reach as many people as possible to come up with her project Inspirational Mural Paintings. Mary painted a series of inspirational murals and quotes on the walls inside the girls and boys locker rooms at Clarkstown High School South.
Chaeli Nelson
Cozy Companions is a project that serves children in need. The issue that her project tries to address is feelings of insecurity, fear, anxiety and sadness that come with the hardship of being homeless or sick. It is an uncertain and scary time. Chaeli handmade more than 200 sock bunnies with an encouraging message attached and delivered them to children in three organizations in Westchester County - Lifting Up Westchester, Maria Ferrari Children’s Hospital and Ossining Children’s Center. Her hope is that these handmade sock bunnies will provide a source comfort and a little bit of encouragement for them during these difficult times.
Nora Nowicki
Spending time outside can be really beneficial for children, and many children live in families were their parent’s do not have the time or resources to plan fun adventures for their children outdoors or are unfamiliar with the outdoors themselves. So, for her project, Nora created “Adventure Packs” that families could check out of our local library to explore the outdoors. They included activities that were fun and educational to help families be more comfortable exploring. She then shared how to bring these packs to libraries throughout her county.
Alicia Ouchterloney
Alicia created a butterfly garden at a local park.
Melania Petriccione
Melania’s Gold Award encompassed two school-wide events, one targeted toward all 6th grade students in the middle school and the other targeted toward 7th and 8th grade girls. During the 6th grade event, students were given the opportunity to learn in STEAM workshops, given by professionals in their field, and participate in activities run by herself and volunteers. There was a total of 16 workshops offered and students were able to participate in the two that most interested them. The event for the 7th and 8th grade girls was run by Melania and volunteers, specifically in using Sphero and Makey Makey technology. For context, Sphero is a program that utilizes block coding to program small, spherical robots and Makey Makey is a program that focuses on electrical conductivity, allowed students to “play” digital instruments through the use of materials like bananas. This event, for only the 7th and 8th grade girls, ran multiple times throughout the year, each time focusing on a different activity.
Kate Pogge
Kate’s project aimed to encourage and inform girls to pursue STEM fields. With this, she ran badge workshops for younger girls focusing on STEM careers and computer science, STEM Panels for High School staff and students with women in STEM professions, and STEM awareness events such as CS Unplugged with her high schools Computer Science Honors Society Chapter, which she helped to create. To learn more about her project, visit https://sites.google.com/view/poggegold/home.
Chloe Putter
As a Girl Scout, Chloe was taught the importance of leadership, and making an impact on her community. Despite being born in 2006, from a very young age Chloe was taught the importance of 9/11. Her father had worked at 4 World Trade, and she knew that 22 years later the tragic loss of many Americans’ lives must be remembered. When discussing the Girl Scout Gold Award with her troop leader, the perfect idea sparked. Just behind my old middle school was a 9/11 memorial that was in need of revitalization. Especially as years go on, many tend to forget what happened in the past. It was seeing the memorial in deterioration that revealed the neglect and inspired her to turn it around. With the support of her troop, family, and the middle school principal, Chloe knew she could make this happen. After approval by the Girl Scout Committee, she was able to begin. With her role as a Girl Scout Gold Award Candidate, she was able to dedicate over eighty combined hours (herself and volunteers) of work to this project, which included research, outreach to vendors, meetings with the school principal and property grounds manager, cleanup/preparation for planting, and the planting of shrubs. The revitalization of the memorial will ensure that this tragedy is remembered and those that died will continue to be honored at the Westlake Middle/High School campus and the surrounding community.
Gabriella Rado
Gabriella Rado created Sew Kind as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. After organizing a local effort to sew hundreds of masks for healthcare and frontline works, Gabriella, then just 13, decided that once the need for masks subsided, she would sew only for charity and to teach others to do the same. Recognizing that many children do not have the opportunity to learn as she did, Gabriella began teaching at the Boys and Girls Club in Newburgh during its STAR drop-in program, designed to keep kids off the streets. She utilized a team of local sewers to teach and help create items that fill a local need, such as blankets for chemotherapy patients and scent hearts for premature infants. Her sewing classes soon spread to a second location in Poughkeepsie, and, to date, she has taught over 100 children how to use a sewing machine. To establish an on-going sewing program in both places, she has also collected at least 8 donated machines and provided four of them to deserving students who would not be able to afford one otherwise, and they continue to teach others. Gabriella has received calls of interest and donations from as far away as New Jersey and sees the potential for this program to spread to each of the more than 5,000 Boys and Girls Clubs in the U.S. and around the world. Eventually, she hopes to make Sew Kind an official non-profit and to copyright its name. For more information, visit SewKind.org
Kaylynn Rhodes
For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Kaylynn renovated the Harriman VFW/American Legion. Before she came up with the idea for this project, Kaylynn noticed the bathroom was not handicapped accessible as well as the main hall where the veterans would gather. She noticed all of these aspects when she would come with her mother and father as they played games with the other veterans. Planning the project was fairly easy as the VFW Commanders were planning on renovating the upstairs unit, but never had the time or money, so Kaylynn decided to step in and help. Funding for the project was a bit of a challenge because she had to apply for multiple grants and figure out different ways to fund if that went wrong. After being granted $2,000 by Daughters of the United States Army (DUSA), she was able to gather all the necessary equipment to renovate the upstairs to be more accessible for the handicapped veterans. After over a 120 hours of taking down everything on the walls, spackling all of the holes, sanding, priming, and painting the walls, she finally completed the most prestigious award, the Girl Scout Gold Award.
Elena (Laini) Riggio
Lyme disease is a prevalent problem in our community. Little is known about prevention and important facts about ticks and tick bites. With her project, Elena partnered with Smart Outdoors Inc. and the Northern Westchester and Bronx River bike trails. She placed a QR code on emergency trail markers that link to a presentation that provides the necessary measures to protect citizens and pets from ticks, and what to do if they are bitten by one. Elena’s grandpa passed away from Neurological Lyme disease, so she made it her mission to prevent other families from suffering the way hers did.
Naila Romero-Alston
By educating younger Girl Scouts and other members of my community about the importance of sustainability relating to the fashion industry, it will positively influence the effects we have on our environment. Naila is very passionate about sustainability in the fashion industry as she is very environmentally conscious and worried about the ongoing climate crisis. Naila’s Gold Award, Sustainability in our Community, provided all Montgomery Blair High School seniors with access to free second hand prom attire. Her goal was to spread more information about the effects of fast fashion and to teach people how to shop sustainably as an alternative.
Trinity Rosado
Dance has always been a part of Trinity’s life, so she knew she wanted to do something with her Gold Award involving dance. She spoke with her old gym teachers to help incorporate dance classes to the gym curriculum at her elementary school and she worked with her dance teacher to help come up with a lesson plan to teach to the kids. Her dance teacher came to teach dance lessons at the elementary school, but that plan was hard to continue. Her dance teacher is a busy person so it would have been hard to continue to have her visit the elementary school and teach the kids for several days a week. This is why Trinity decided to create her own lesson plan in order to create an easy way for the gym teachers to teach the kids a dance class. She met with her dance teacher to create an easy dance lesson that would be appropriate to teach the kids during gym class. She also met with a gym teacher that taught at the school to go over the lesson plan that she created to make sure that they could teach it to the kids. Another dilemma that came up was how to make sure that this can last for many years to come. Trinity decided to record several videos of her teaching the dance lesson so that the gym teacher can show the videos to the kids and gym teachers in the future can use those videos.
Natalie Sepulveda
With help from her mentor, Natalie was able to build and set up free lending libraries in her neighborhood and at her village hall. The idea for this project sparked due to the issue of the public library not being close enough for young children to walk to. By setting up the free libraries in the neighborhood and at the village hall In my town, she made book lending accessible to anyone that is not able to drive to the town library. It is also helpful for anyone that is not able to get a library card to access reading material that is appropriate for all age levels. Every so often, the books are swapped and replaced to make sure the same books are not sitting there for a long period of time.
Meghan Simon
Meghan’s Gold Award project involved the refurbishment of the St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Pantry at Sacred Heart Church, along with community outreach, food drive managing, signage creation, and overall publicity increasing for the pantry.
Alexa Spar
Alexa is the Co-President of a nonprofit organization called Project Bell. After her mom received radiation treatment for her brain tumor when Alexa was 10, her sister created a charity organization. They donate bells to radiation, cancer, and transplant centers around the world. The bells signify the end of their treatment, inspire hope, and a start to a new post-treatment life. Alexa has always been involved with Project Bell, but four years ago she became Co-President, helping to expand the project in many ways. Together they have donated over 130 bells globally. Additionally, two years ago she expanded the nonprofit by starting Project Bell Transplant- providing bells for patients who are involved with solid organ transplants. Alexa worked closely with the Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin for almost a year for organ donation centers to provide two different types of bells. One is for organ recipients to ring upon taking their first lap around the hospital hallway and the other is for live donors to ring on their way into the operating room, signifying their great contribution to giving the gift of life while also bringing awareness to the need for live organ donation. This year Alexa traveled to bell ceremonies, met altruistic donors and organ donor recipients, brought ambassadors onto the team, spoken to news stations, and even presented the project to the town council. Over 120,000 people ring one of their bells each year. http://www.projectbell.org/
Meghan Tarantino
For her Gold Award Project, Meghan beautified the front of her local American Legion - Post 859 in Suffern, New York. She weeded and cleared weeds in the front of the building. We then planted new bushes and flowers that are perennial’s and will rebloom year after year. She scrubbed and power washed the front memorial bricks so that the names were again legible. Meghan also placed a bench and two big planters filled with flowers by the flagpole. Lastly, she replaced the sign (which was generously donated) and sanded and restrained the wood frame that the sign hangs from. She would like to thank all the donors and volunteers for helping her to make this project a success.
Jasmine Taylor
For her Gold Award project, Jasmine created a fitness trail with various mazes and paths for children to run or walk through. It incorporates the alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes to encourage learning while playing.
Alexandra Turner
For her Gold Award Project, Alexandra assembled a team to build and install a “Blessing Box” at a local church. A Blessing Box is a large wooden cabinet with shelves and a swinging door, where people can drop off non-perishable food donation items for those in need to come and take. In recent years, the amount of people struggling to make ends meet has dramatically increased. As a result, people and their families live under extreme conditions where they do not have enough food, and oftentimes no access to a food supply. She addressed the issue by creating an outlet for people to access food in times of need. The Blessing Box provides a way for people to access food in an easy and anonymous way, without having to ask for help. The Blessing Box provides a way for people to access food 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to sustain themselves and their families. She worked with her volunteer team to create a blueprint and building materials list, then she was able to get the materials donated from local stores. Alexandra organized the team of volunteers to build it, acquired material donations from various sponsors, planned and organized a food drive event for younger Girl Scouts, and spoke publicly and addressed the local church congregation where they placed the Blessing Box. Her project was successful due to the overwhelming support from her community and her volunteers. She couldn’t be more proud of her project and it’s outcome.
Samantha Vilkelis
With her Gold Award project, Because, People Change People, Samantha helped students at Pequenakonck Elementary School by bringing educational and fun activities to the YMCA. When she discovered that the kids had no place to hang up any of the art work they make at the YMCA, she received approval from the principal to utilize two bulletin boards. She curated a space where students would be able to display their artwork. Samantha also created a high school YMCA volunteer program to help sustain her project. Through her program, students gained special bonds, social skills, beautiful artwork memories, and new volunteers for next year.
Skye Volpicella
For her Gold Award project, Skye assisted a local community organization with the creation of a pocket park on a 7-acre property owned by the Town of Lewisboro. She helped with the first phase of the park creation, including initial cleanup of the property, and for the Gold Award portion of the project, she transformed a neglected, run-down area of the property into a pollinator garden. The pollinator garden is a link to the “Pollinator Pathway” - a series of continuous corridors that have been created in her local area since 2017 (some through the Lewisboro Garden Club), and which have been established in over 200 towns in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and now reach as far west as Oregon and Washington, and as far north as Ontario, Canada and beyond. Pollinator Pathways connect and create crucial corridors for pollinating insects and wildlife. Skye’s project raised awareness in her community about the importance of pollinators to the environment. She presented the project to the Town Planning Board for approval of a wetland permit because the pollinator garden is located in a wetland buffer. She also coordinated the participation of many people in the community, including a local landscape architect, residents and local business owners who donated labor and materials. Skye solicited and received donations for all materials for the project, investing nearly $3,000 in the property. The beautiful pollinator garden has been a catalyst for the remaining phases of the creation of the park.
Joslyn Walsh
Joslyn’s Gold Award project, “Racing to the Rescue” was designed to educate and inform the public about the horse racing industry, while providing support for the ex-racehorses. This project involved designing a 5k that provided runners with a course that took them throughout the rescue farm. That way, people could meet the horses firsthand and connect with the cause that she was promoting. All the horses on the farm were ex-racehorses. Most of them were abused, neglected, or seriously injured, putting them out of work. Joslyn talked with the manager of the Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue Farm and planned out her goals and what she wanted to accomplish. She explained that she wanted to raise awareness and funds by combining her favorite things, horses and running. Pamphlets and posters with QR codes were distributed locally, explaining her goals and providing background of the farm. She also visited her town businesses to raise donations for raffle baskets. As race day came closer, Joslyn walked her course and planned the logistics of her tasks. She organized a list of businesses that donated. Her club, the Eastern Dutchess Road Runners, helped her create awards to give out to the race participants. She also designed a kid’s fun run. On race day, she got everything prepared, the food, the awards, and the raffles. Her project was a success. Not only did she raise awareness for the farm, but she also raised $2,000 to buy supplies that the horses desperately needed.
Micaela Waterston
Micaela’s Gold Award project, inspired by anthropology and oral history projects, aimed to address the inequalities women face – and particularly women from immigrant families– when it comes to opportunities and obstacles to success in the United States, specifically in Westchester County, where she lives. Her project addressed this issue when she interviewed and recorded the oral histories of three immigrant and first-generation women leaders in business, education, and politics in Westchester County. She developed graphic and literary narratives of their lives through a self-published storybook, also titled Women Becoming in a New World. She hosted book reading and discussions with various Girl Scout troops. Printed copies of her book are available at the New Rochelle Public Library and the New Rochelle Girl Scout House book collection. Her book is available in print from Amazon or downloadfrom her website: https://womenbecomingproject.com/.
Arianna Weinberg
For Arianna’s project, she decided to take on the challenge of learning how to build a rock wall from scratch. A park at the entrance of her town, Sugar Loaf, had been destroyed by extreme weather conditions and the town was looking for someone to make it as good as new. After multiple attempts at finding help from bigger organizations, the news got to her and she decided that was what she was going to do to create a lasting impact on her community.
Ginger Whitney
The issue that Ginger’s Gold Award aims to address, is body issues and how people see themselves. She hopes to use words that people see with their own eyes to inspire others and look at themselves not with sadness but happiness. She painted the bathroom walls with inspiring words in elementary schools to stop the problem in its younger years.
Hillary Williams
The Fishkill United Methodist Church wanted another way to reach out to the community. Community hunger has been problematic in Hillary’s area. Together with the Church, they became excited about the prospect of creating an alternative to her village’s free public food services. For her project, she built a Little Free Pantry. It was installed in October of 2023, and has immediately been providing outreach for the Church. After, the Church and Hillary worked to promote the pantry. They were able to host food drives, promote volunteerism of collections and donations, and feed and provide basic hygiene products for those in need. The Pantry sits cheerfully behind the Fishkill United Methodist Church on Broad Street in the Village of Fishkill.
Courtney Williams
Courtney dedicated her time and leadership skills to the Ronald McDonald House. She crafted check-out bags for families knowing they’d need support once they were no longer in the embrace of the house. Contained within it, a pamphlet she created which contained information regarding resource locations and phone numbers for five counties
Noe Winter-Hamaoui
Every year, 500,000 to 1 million tons of monofilament fishing line is discarded in the ocean. Monofilament fishing line is not biodegradable and takes 500 years to decompose. If it ends up in the ocean, marine life can become entangled in it, causing starvation and death. Noe installed four monofilament fishing line recycling containers at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck. She also installed signs that explained the issue next to the containers. She also painted and assembled the containers, installed them in the community, educated the community, and made a video about her project. The collected monofilament fishing line will be mailed to a company to be recycled into other items.
Veronica Yu
console.log(“Hello world!”); This line of code is the first that many programmers learn to write and it inspired the name of Veronica’s project because she found it representative of helping young women say “hello” to the world for the first time as computer scientists. Due to harmful stereotypes, women experience a lack of empowerment and representation in computer science. To address this, she developed a curriculum to teach young women coding over two sessions: one integrated into the Young Engineers School camp and the second as an online session. Veronica created the program based on three pillars: experience, community, and vision. For experience, students learned how to code in JavaScript and create their own projects; for community, students connected with other women computer scientists and learned to collaborate; and for vision, students built the confidence and curiosity to build their own creative projects as well as imagine a future where they could be computer scientists. To finalize the program, she hosted a celebration to present about my project and acknowledge all that her students accomplished. With her primary goal being to give students exposure to coding and expand any potential interest, she was excited to see that many expressed a desire to continue learning computer science. While she does not expect her students to all become computer scientists, she hopes the knowledge they gained will show them there is potential for a career in computer science.
Elizabeth Zefi
Elizabeth’s Girl Scout Gold Award “The History of Walden” consists of a historical display located at the heart of the Village of Walden. The display consists of two parts: the real mantle from the home of Colonel Bradley surrounded by framed, primary documents and two display cases consisting of blueprints from buildings still standing today and primary artifacts. Just some of the framed documents include items such as an election poster from 1928, and blueprints to the house of Colonel Bradley, the Oak Street Bridge, and the building of the Josephine-Louise Library where the project display is located. In addition, the display cases consist of artifacts such as an old calculator used by village office workers and a rifle base. These amazing items were hidden in storage and hadn’t seen the light of day in decades. She is honored to have been able to work with a wonderful team who helped her to look through the village storage and refurbish these artifacts to be included in her project. Citizens of the Village of Walden and Town of Montgomery can now learn and appreciate these important parts of their community’s history.
