Toms River Girl Scout Earns $10K Gold Award Scholarship

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Vivianna Onofrietti loves to read. She loves the peace it can bring, the laughter, and the surprise that can be packed into a good book.

"I believe reading truly enhances a person’s life," Vivianna said, after learning she had earned a $10,000 scholarship honoring her work in bringing books to children who are homeless or in domestic violence shelters.

Vivianna, a Toms River resident, recently completed her Girl Scout Gold Award project, earning the highest honor in Girl Scouts for her project to build book stations made from wood to hold more than 1,250 multi-level donated books for those children, a project titled "Better with Books."

She was one of 24 Girl Scouts who are members of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore council who earned their Gold Award recently, the council announced.

To earn the award, the Girl Scouts spend a minimum of 80 hours over one to two years working on a project, from identifying the root cause of a problem to planning and implementing the solution, along with leading a team of people to complete it.

"This year’s Gold Award Girl Scouts invested more than 2,000 hours and tackled prominent issues faced by their communities by establishing designated mental health spaces for students on high school campuses, creating STEAM education opportunities for young women, creating accessibility to golf and tennis in underserved communities, and fighting domestic violence," the Jersey Shore council said in a news release.

Vivianna's project earned her the Gold Award Scholarship, a national award honoring her work.

"Vivianna demonstrated extraordinary leadership, measurable and sustainable impact, and addressed an issue of national significance," said Heather Coburn, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, adding "Gold Award Girl Scouts are visionary leaders."

The inspiration for Vivianna's project came from the contact she had with shelters and seeing the increase in the number of children within them. Her project aimed to alleviate the lack of reading and educational books for children in shelters.

After interviewing administrators in shelters and doing research, Vivianna spent six months collecting new and used books, gathering more than 1,000. She cleaned the used books, sorted the books by age and reading levels, made flyers and advertised the book collection on social media outlets, and cold-called donors for book station supplies.

She then nailed, drilled, glued, painted, and personalized each book station out of wood. The shelters have agreed to continue collecting books from the community so the bookcases will be filled for years to come, creating sustainable book stations for children in the shelters, the council said.

"One of my greatest passions is reading," Vivianna said, noting that research shows reading improves brain function and memory. "This is exactly why I completed my Gold Award project on providing multi-level books for children in family shelters, and domestic violence shelters, because I couldn’t imagine denying a child the benefits of reading."

"Earning the Gold Award will unlock great opportunities for Vivianna," Coburn said. "She and her fellow Gold Award Girl Scouts are on their way to becoming our next generation of business leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs and policymakers."

"I am an advocate of the life gifts that Girl Scouts brings of teaching greater confidence and serving others to make the world a better place," Vivianna said. "I am truly honored to have received a gold award national scholarship for my dedication and intense work for these children who deserve the same opportunities as us all."

To learn more about the Gold Award Girl Scouts, to join Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, to volunteer, or to donate to support the mission of Girl Scouts, visit www.GSFun.org or call 800-785-2090.