Girl Scout's Gold Project Aims To Boost Manchester School Pride

MANCHESTER, NJ —As a high school cheerleader, Rory Dunckley is used to firing up the spectators at Manchester Township High School sporting events to show their school pride with cheers and chants.

Now, the junior is taking her efforts to spark school pride to a different level. Dunckley, a Girl Scout in the Jersey Shore Council, has made school pride the focus of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, titled Hawks Pride.

"We need more pride in our school," she told the Manchester Township Board of Education at its April 17 meeting.

Her project aims to make updates to the high school's football stadium area, with pavers and landscaping.

She also hopes to get the high school's street address legally changed, from South Colonial Drive to Hawks Way.

"As a MTHS Hawks cheerleader, I travel to many local high schools for games and I am amazed at how nice their field and athletic facilities are and how they show the pride that the school has in their teams. I want that for Manchester Township High School," she writes in a sponsorship letter.

The beautification project would include:

• Constructing a landscaped garden inside the athletic field that contains a statue of the Hawk mascot
• Creating a Hawk mascot paver walkway that players will use to enter the field and graduates will walk across on Commencement Day
• Constructing a concrete pad for the snack shack
• Building vendor tables in the school's colors that will be used by Manchester Township High School Clubs during games.

She has been fundraising for the project, which she estimates will cost $9,000, and told the school board she has already raised $4,000, a post on the school district's website said. She is now selling sponsor signs for local businesses that will be placed around the field. (Read how you can get involved here.)

Dunckley, who has been coordinating with Manchester Township athletic director Keith Lister, said she must finish the project before she graduates in 2020, but anticipates getting the majority of the work done this summer, in time for the start of school in September. For the street name change, she said she is well into the process of getting the necessary township approvals.

"We are excited about the project and looking forward to the end result," Lister said. "We are also looking at whatever we can do to help."

If you would like to help, contact Dunckley at hawkspride@outlook.com.

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