Eight East Meadow Girl Scouts Awarded Highest Honor

EAST MEADOW, NY (June 30, 2016)— The Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently distributed 101 Gold Awards during a ceremony hosted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Allison Astudillo, Marissa Flaherty, Audrey Heyen, Kristen Kavanagh, Rebekah Louie, Alexandra Michaelis, Juliet Rafanelli and Melina Ramirez of East Meadow were among awardees. Now in its hundredth year, the Gold Award program recognizes the power and dedication shared by an elite group of young women who earn the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Each girl spent more than 80 hours over the past year planning, executing and presenting the results of her project, which aimed to make the world a better place for others as well as herself.

“We are extremely proud to celebrate the achievement of over 100 local young women earning their Girl Scout Gold Award during its 100th year,” said Donna Ceravolo, Executive Director and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “On average, only five percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award, making these individuals part of an exclusive group of women with the tools to become leaders in the 21st century.”

Gold Award projects have positively impacted girls’ lives, their communities and the world for 100 years. Approximately 1 million Girl Scout alumnae have developed Gold Award projects that addressed local or global issues. After identifying an area of interest, a successful Gold Award recipient performs hours of research and prepares a project proposal to be submitted for feedback and approval to the Girl Scouts Council before embarking on her project. The Girl Scout presents her final conclusions as the last step of the journey.

The eight recipients each tackled a project that held a deep significance to them. Their projects are described below:

Allison has a passion for music and felt that there was a lack of music education amongst young children in her community. To address this issue, Allison came up with her project, “Music for the Heart and Soul,” which developed a music curriculum for the Little Sponges Preschool. Allison developed lesson plans, which were interactive and age appropriate, and taught music lessons to children attending the school. In addition, Allison secured donations for musical supplies for the school. At the end of her project, Allison provided the lesson plans and enough supplies for each of the classrooms so that the teachers had everything they needed to continue providing music education in their classrooms.

Marissa knows that bullying is a growing problem and feels that the best way to address the issue is to start teaching kids about being a good friend at a young age and providing positive role models. For her Gold Award project, Marissa created the “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully” mentoring program, which partnered high school students from Clarke High School with kindergarten students from Bowling Green Elementary School. Not only did the mentoring program provide role models for the kindergarten students, but the program included a series of lessons about what bullying is and why it is a problem. Marissa also raised awareness about the issue of bullying in elementary school aged students through presentations and posters. The “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully” mentoring program will continue for years to come with the help of Clarke High School’s Key Club.

Audrey knew that many kids struggle with self-esteem, and she wanted to do something to help. Through her Gold Award project, “A New Perspective,” she created a workshop to teach kids about respecting themselves and others. She partnered with Camps ‘R’ Us and delivered her workshops to their campers.

Kristen’s Gold Award project, “Irreplaceable Interaction,” addresses the issue of anti-socialism prevalent among elementary school children in today’s technology and social media-driven society. Kristen became inspired to educate others on the importance of proper social interaction.

Rebekah’s project, titled “Pet Food Pantry,” aimed to educate the public on proper pet ownership, which includes proper pet care, nutrition and what to do if you cannot afford to feed your pets. Rebekah taught members of her church and youth groups by hosting workshops that concentrated on the topic. She also created a pet food pantry to help those who struggled financially and had difficulty feeding their pets.

Alexandra’s Gold Award project, “Bridging the Gap Between Language and Culture,” aimed to raise awareness of the difficulties the deaf community faces in their daily lives. Alexandra taught children her knowledge of American Sign Language and explained the different ways those who are deaf go about doing daily activities.

Helping young girls realize their self-worth was the foundation of Juliet Love Rafanelli’s Gold Award project, “Quotes for Saving.” She developed workshops which addressed self-esteem and included the creation of positive notecards to pass along to others that may be experiencing low self-esteem. With the support of the health teachers in her community, Juliette created lessons that will be incorporated into the middle and high schools’ health curriculum. Juliette has shared her mission through webcasts and Twitter messaging.

Melina Ramirez, advocated for tolerance through her Gold Award project, “Judaic Cultural Project.” She developed workshops to educate people about diversity in order to help them understand, specifically, that Judaism is a religion and not an ethnicity. People of different ethnicities can be Jewish. Her many varied audiences learned how to avoid stereotyping and embrace people of different cultures and religions. Melina’s project will be sustained by members of the youth committee at her temple.

Lifelong value comes with having earned a Gold Award. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, Gold Award recipients display more positive life outcomes pertaining to sense of self, life, satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service and civic engagement. Recipients of the award who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces may receive advanced rank for their achievements and can receive scholarships or other recognition from most colleges or universities.

Notable Gold Award recipients include Jan Hopkins, CNN financial news anchor, and Betsy Boze, Senior Fellow at American Association of State Colleges and Universities and President at Kent State University Stark.

We’re the Girl Scouts of Nassau County: We’re 23,000 strong – 23,000 girls and adults who believe every girl from Nassau County can change the world. It began over 100 years ago with one woman, Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low, who believed in the power of every girl. Today, we continue her vision of building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place by helping them discover their inner strength, passion and talents. And with programs in Nassau County, across Long Island and throughout the United States, there’s a chance for every girl to do something amazing. We’re the Girl Scouts. To volunteer, reconnect, donate or join, visit www.gsnc.org or contact Donna Rivera-Downey at 516 741-2550.