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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
On Saturday afternoon at St. Edward’s Church, Medfield Girl Scouts honored seven of its own members for reaching the highest recognition in scouting, the Gold Award.
In addition, Medfield Girl Scouts celebrated 17 Ambassador Scouts (nine of which had received National Leadership Awards) who completed 13 years of scouting and bridged into Adult Girl Scouts, as well as recognizing the organization’s 100th anniversary.
It was a day to celebrate the best of Girl Scouts, as Medfield saw nearly 40 percent of its 12th graders receive Gold Awards, well above the national average of five percent.
The seven Gold Award recipients were Katherine Lyons, Emily Piersiak, Elizabeth Raine, Zoe Smith, Grace Sowyrda, Julia Steeger, and Olivia Taylor.
The following information about each scout and her project, written in her own words, was provided by Medfield Girl Scouts:
Katherine Lyons - My project addressed the issue surrounding the lack of knowledge of how poverty affects kids living on Cape Cod. Before beginning my project, even I was unaware of the severe poverty that affects many people living on the Cape and my goal was to make as many people aware of the issue in my hometown and surrounding areas as possible. I hope the awareness raised through my project benefits not only those who are living in poverty, hopefully through increased donations and support, but by raising awareness to the fact that not all poverty is right before our eyes. I was able to put together 30 new backpacks filled with brand new school supplies and a few hundred books with bookmarks made by the kids at the Medfield Afterschool Program that were delivered over the summer and in the fall to Chatham Elementary School. My project also involved organizing the Cradles to Crayons ‘Give Back with an Outfit Pack’ drive within Medfield Girl Scouts. We were able to create 27 complete packs, five partially filled packs, two bags of additional items and had a total impact of 37 kids.
Emily Piersiak - My project addressed the issue of the absence of safe crossing at the end of Baker Pond in Medfield, and the lack of encouragement for young women in the STEM fields. With the help of Girl Scout Troop 74900 and other members of the community, I constructed a bridge to span the runoff at Baker Pond. The project also included a class I taught at the Medfield Public Library, in which I was able to share my interest and knowledge in structural engineering and bridges. I am very pleased with the outcome of my project, especially the completed bridge and the information I imparted on all of the children who attended my classes. I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete this project, whether it was by donating materials or by physically helping to build it. I appreciate all of the help from my wonderful community, and I hope people enjoy all aspects of my project for years to come.
Elizabeth Raine - For Gold Award Project, Bats for a Cause, I addressed the decline of the local bat population due to human impact. I specifically designed this project not only to attempt to bolster the bat population for the purpose of offsetting human impact on the bats’ local environment, but also to educate the public to the benefits of helping bats. I posted four bat boxes at the Trustees of Reservations as a refuge for migrating bats which would serve as nurseries for their newborn pups. My hope was that a growing bat population could help to regulate the recent overpopulation of mosquitoes, which may transmit harmful viruses to humans, like Triple E. Since the bats would stop the mosquitoes from transmitting those viruses, helping the bat population would ultimately benefit human healthcare. I also decided to educate the public about bats from around the world in order to dispel human fear of bats. I planned and executed presentations to various audiences in the community during Medfield Day, at MAP at Wheelock and Dale Street Schools, free time at Medfield’s Council on Aging, and at Stony Brook’s Earth Day Celebration.
Zoe Smith - Volunteering is something I value. It is a big part of my life. Fortunately, I had a program like Girl Scouts to start me on an early path of volunteerism. However, not everyone has this type of opportunity. My goal for my Gold Award was to share my passion for volunteering in order to better my community. With this goal in mind, I chose to work with middle school students in my town to offer them different opportunities to give back to the community in hopes of instilling in them a passion to volunteer. I acted as a liaison, connecting students with local volunteer organizations. Strong relationships formed quickly. Many students are now volunteering regularly. Lastly, in order to receive their deserved recognition, students will have the chance to earn a President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA). The PVSA recognizes citizens for bettering the country by volunteering. By working with middle school students, I was able to establish a genuine passion for volunteering which they can continue to pursue throughout their lives.
Grace Sowyrda - My Gold Award project addressed the issue of the lack of poetry programs and creative outlets in school, particularly in my town of Medfield. Poetry is a positive vehicle for connecting with others through raw emotion. It has universal themes that inspire others in the message that we are not alone in our feelings. I saw a need to provide this type of creative outlet. I addressed this issue by creating an after school poetry program at Blake Middle School to provide a safe and fun place for teens to connect and learn about poetry. I also created a poetry hour program at the library where I read poetry to the children and did a creative craft. To connect the town, I led an all age poetry reading at the Medfield Public Library and also led a poetry reading at the Senior Center. To support my efforts, I created a poetry website with easy ways for teachers to incorporate poetry into their curriculums. With each event, I was amazed to see poetry work its magic in connecting all the participants. Poetry is a very important part of my life and I am so lucky to have had the privilege to share its beauty and power with so many wonderful people.
Julia Steeger - My project, “Connecting Kids Who Have with Kids Who Need”, addressed the issue of poverty and the many ways poverty affects children. It was the 50th anniversary of the “War on Poverty” launched by President Johnson that gave me the idea. Even with 50 years of effort, 15 percent of our state’s children continue to live in poverty. I created my Gold Award project to educate kids in Medfield about how poverty affects kids who live in it and what we could do together as a community to help improve their circumstances. I wanted kids here in Medfield to know there was something they could do to help kids who live in poverty and that by passing along their gently used clothing, books and toys, they could help kids in need. With the help of the school administration, I was able to have a Cradles to Crayons collection unit placed at the Wheelock School. I also ran several assemblies at the schools to educate kids about the affects of poverty on kids who live in it, and established several town-wide collections: an annual “Stuff the Truck” event for clothing, books and toys as well as a food drive for Medfield Food Cupboard.
Olivia Taylor - Previously, there had been no prominent tutoring service in Medfield for children in grades K-5. My project was to create a tutoring program that connected high school students with elementary school students. It is aimed to improve core academic skills, as well as create a bridge between older and younger children. I ran a six-week program at the three elementary schools in Medfield for students in grades K-5, with 15 tutors and 36 participants across the three programs. The objective was to supplement what the kids were learning in class in a way that didn’t feel like school, and to help the kids with a new perspective. I also created a website to share my project, with an online sign-up to connect high school and elementary school students for one-on-one tutoring. In the end, I hope my project provided a new service for the children and their parents, and a leadership opportunity for the high school students.
Congratulations to each of the scouts on their achievement.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
