Six ELLM Association Girl Scouts Awarded Highest Honor

ELLM, 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. Taylor Aloisio, Janine Baron, Emma Barrett, Nora Louw, Meagan Ochtera and Serena Sundeberg of the ELLM Association 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 six recipients each tackled a project that held a deep significance to them. Their projects are described below:

Taylor’s Gold Award Project, “Lunch Buddy Group/Teen Talk,” aimed to address the separation between special needs and mainstream students. Special needs students gained social skills and general education students gained a new perspective on life. She wanted each to step outside of their regular circle of classroom friends and meet new people. Her project will be continued by a staff member in her school and a general education student.

For her Gold Award project, “Table of Plenty,” Janine Baron established a vegetable garden to supply fresh produce to her parish’s food pantry. The food pantry provided its patrons with staple food items such as rice, potatoes, beans, cereal and other non-perishable food, many of which were high in starch. She was inspired by her dad who recently changed his diet to incorporate a healthier eating program. Janine located a site, gathered expert information and utilized an Eagle Scout’s building project to help launch a local vegetable garden. She reached out to the local library’s garden program to sustain this program and teach young people the skills needed to grow fresh produce.

Emma Barrett loves swimming and she wanted to share that love with her community through her Gold Award project, “Lifelong Benefits of Swimming.” Emma hoped to teach people about the physical, mental and emotional benefits of swimming with presentations to adults, teens and children. She created a blog and website to sustain her project for anyone that wanted to learn about the benefits of swimming and locate swimming lessons in the community.

Nora’s Gold Award project, titled “Preserving Local History at the East Rockaway Grist Mill Museum,” aimed to engage visitors by organizing artifacts into rotating themed displays. Nora trained volunteers of the museum to preserve the collection and categorize new donations.

Sustainability and engineering were the foundation of Meagan’s project, “Sustainable Microfarming.” Meagan helped to expand and extend a community school’s garden and growing season by creating a small, unique greenhouse made of recycled water bottles. Meagan repaired the current flower beds which will allow future classes to grow food, too. She educated different student groups about the importance of sustainability and how to achieve it through her project.

Serena addressed the causes of childhood obesity and ways to combat the nationwide problem in her Gold Award project, “Living Healthy and Happy.” Aware that obesity has increased at an alarming rate, Serena made it her goal to inform children and preteens on how to live a healthier life style. She teamed up with the Lynbrook Summer Playground where she shared daily, healthy eating and exercise habits with girls in 5th to 8th grade. The girls were given a presentation on what childhood obesity is and they made some simple healthy snacks from the step-by-step recipe book Serena created. Serena encouraged the girls and their parents to visit her blog, healthhappyblog@tumblr.com, which is updated frequently for more ideas on healthy recipes and inspirations on leading a happy and healthier lifestyle.

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.