Gold Award

Rebecca Aguayo

Freehold

Feminine Freedom

Rebecca's Gold Award was to help as many people as possible and educate as many people in her community as she could about the drastic effect menstrual hygiene can have on daily life. She managed schedules, organized kits and managed funds and was able to create 75 kits to be distributed to people in local communities that needed them. She also created a website for people to continue donating to create more kits and included reusable aspects like washcloths, bags, and pads that people who receive them can use for years to come.

Mahathi Chitti

Englishtown

Rejuvenating an Herb Garden

Mahathi’s Gold Award was initially inspired to execute the “Herb Garden,” over the pandemic. With all of her newfound free time, she felt compelled to explore the outdoors more. She decided to do her project in the Marlboro Community Garden, where she has been volunteering since she was a freshman. She transferred the herb garden and built a new bed! She feels that she has made a positive impact on her community.

Victoria Cicero

Jackson

Packs of Sunshine

Victoria’s Gold Award project, “Packs of Sunshine,” was designed to provide educational and fun opportunities for children in hospitals. These patients in hospitals generally cannot attend preschool and sometimes fall behind children who are healthy of the same age. “Packs of Sunshine,” was a project to help kids feel like they are in school and have fun learning, while also providing a distraction from the stress of the hospitals. The packs include coloring pages, educational worksheets, and learning activities that coordinated with videos Victoria created to teach and practice skills such as numbers, letters, and more.

Anna Connelly

Freehold

Increasing STEM Education for Girls

Anna’s Gold Award was focused on teaching middle school girls about the different fields of STEM, and what STEM is. She did this virtually through a program that taught about different STEM topics and provided activities for the girls to do. She was able to work with her team and advisor to brainstorm the entire project and was eventually able to find many different experienced speakers to be involved with the project. She had lots of self-improvements through her project, while she was helping her community and encourages other Girl Scouts to do the same!

Colleen Dickenson

Spring Lake Heights

Bike Safety at the Shore

Colleen's Gold Award Project, "Bike Safety at the Shore", addressed bicycle safety in her community. Colleen created free educational resources regarding the dangers of bicycle riding. She filmed a video that displayed the rules that both cyclists and drivers should follow and wrote blog posts about additional bike safety topics, which are both located on the website that she designed. She then shared her website with local bike shops and police stations. Upon completing her project, Colleen received positive feedback about local children needing this resource and facilitated the bike safety conversation in her community!

Julia Ferrara

Point Pleasant

Panther Wall of Honor

Julia's Gold Award project, “Panther Wall of Honor,” created a virtual wall of honor for the alumni of her high school that went on to serve in our country's military. The wall holds a permanent place on the district's website and includes the name, branch of service and year of graduation for every alum that wishes to be a part of it. Julia's project has generated more recognition for local service members and has brought awareness to the opportunities within joining the Armed Forces.

Jean Gilbride

Morganville

Togetherness with Creativity

For Jean's Gold Award she noticed the mental health among the residents at the local Assisted Living Facility was in desperate need of social interaction. After meeting with the Medical Director, they concluded the residents needed uplifting and positivity. After realizing medical personnel and staff at Spring Hills, visitations were prohibited, she addressed this issue by implementing art and color to boost mental health, working with their hands to craft (occupational therapy), increasing imagination, and boosting creative ability. Therefore, helping inactivity among the residents.

Aliya Grinberg

Matawan

Wired Seniors

Because of rapidly developing technology in recent years, Seniors have fallen behind. Especially during lockdown, Seniors struggled to keep up with the rapid switch to virtual systems. Additionally, they have become the prime targets for online scams. With so many seniors in my community and around the world struggling with using technology and a recent close relative falling victim to an online scam, Aliya’s Gold Award Project, “Wired Seniors,” was born. Aliya led a team of incredible high school students to develop technology-themed lessons directed toward seniors. At local nursing homes and senior centers, Aliya and her team taught lessons ranging from online safety to navigating devices.

Elsa Joseph

Manalapan

Connecting a Community

Elsa’s Gold Award project, “Connecting a Community,” aimed to address the lack of consolidated information about activities in her Church. She designed and built a website for her church that integrated all the crucial information needed and be used to view events, make payments, respond to forms, view live mass, and much more. Her team consisted of high school volunteers and members from her church. Elsa is passionate about her project because she wants to be able to give back to her church community. This project is sustained by a group of high school volunteers in Elsa’s church who will maintain the site.

Olivia Krukowski

Beachwood

Better Prepare Eighth Graders For The First Day of High School

Olivia’s Gold Award project, “Better Prepare Eighth Graders for The First Day of High School,” was centered around reducing stress in incoming freshman. This was created to help with the transition from eighth grade to freshman year of high school in the Toms River school district, specifically at High School South. A blog was created where incoming students could submit questions anonymously and the students on the project would respond accordingly, since each student had a different area that they could answer questions in (academics, sports, etc.). A video was also created showing each coach or club advisor speaking about their respective sport or club so the new students could match a face to their advisor prior to entering high school. For those who did not submit a video, a description was written by one of the team members in its place which is linked on a document on the Toms River district’s website.

Michaela M.

Hydrant GPM bands

Michaela noticed in her community that there weren’t markings on the fire hydrants making for quick access to information such as GPM or “hydrant gallon per minute.” She addressed the root cause of this issue through her Gold Award project by installing reflective hydrant bands on every fire hydrant in her town that were color coordinated to the correct GPM. This helped her town’s fire department by visualizing the hydrants gallons per minute with a reflective band, allowing firefighters to cut time with hooking, which is beneficial during an emergency. After her project, other local towns found the same interest in making this beneficial addition to their town.

Emma McPolin

Locust

A Novel Idea: Zoom book club for people with Turner Syndrome

Emma’s Gold Award was to create a Zoom book club for people with Turner Syndrome. As a person with TS, Emma had often struggled with social skills, and she thought that a book club would initiate conversations with similarly situated peers around the country and world. The club was run in partnership with the Turner Syndrome Society of America and met monthly for approximately two years to talk about the book for that month. The book club will continue past Emma’s involvement.

Julia Moran

Spring Lake

STEAM Summer Camp/ Enrichment Program

Julia developed and executed a summer camp for girls ages 8 to 10 that focused on STEAM, to encourage young girls to develop an interest in STEAM. Activities and experiments included weight distribution using paper shoes, crayon melting, and construction with constraints. Feedback was collected for use in development of a sustainable enrichment program. She developed activity sheets, along with corresponding curricula and put together boxes filled with required materials, for use at her local elementary school. The school plans to use the “STEAM Enrichment program” as it rolls out enrichment programs in a variety of subjects.

Eileen Morrison

Jackson

The Steps to Self

Eileen Morrison developed her Gold Award project titled, “The Steps to Self,” as a way to create resources to help children develop the necessary skills to have a positive self-image and good mental health. Using social media, Eileen created videos and edited pictures and donated them to her local school district and the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore to ensure children will continue to use her resources.

Deeya Nevatia

Marlboro

Memory Rehabilitiation

Deeya’s Gold Award project “Memory Rehabilitation,” focuses on just that. Many senior citizens suffer from diseases like dementia, which need to be further taught about. The severity can be decreased through brain exercises. While it is important for others to learn about this condition, one needs to keep stretching their brain through activities such as crosswords or puzzles to keep the brain active. Visiting a senior living center was essential for this project since it allowed new insight into different viewpoints from those who suffered from the disease and those who had someone, they know suffer from it.

Orianna Nolan

Highlands

Time to Talk Pollution

Orianna addressed issues of littering in her community and youth being uniformed of the wonderful benefits of recycling through her Gold Award Project, “Time to Tal Pollution.” She made a coloring and activity book with a story inside. The book's title is, “The Adventures of Highlands Helper: Time to Talk Pollution.” Orianna collected recycled crayons, melted them into molds, and sold them. She used this money to print the books. She presented the books to the second grade at Highlands Elementary School. Before and after reading the book, the students took the survey she made, and they had a 30% positive increase in their knowledge on recycling and pollution.

Sharvani Nune

Manalapan

Sewing a Better Future

Sharvani's Gold Award project titled, “Sewing a Better Future”, included the work of four teen individuals and their efforts to make clothes of bad condition into something new that could be given to those individuals who needed clothing. Clothes that would have otherwise gone in the garbage and caused more and more textile waste were collected and made into something new. This project not only helped those around the world who are in need but also helped the environment in what little way it could.

Julietta Onofrietti

Toms River

Doghouse Peace

For Julietta’s Gold Award she addressed an animal shelter issue, specifically dog shelter protection during outside active time individually or with other dogs versus being isolated in a cage inside at the Toms River Animal Shelter. Dogs that do not have a home, family, or routine caregivers most of the time due to various reasons, may have a poor living habitat or one they are not used to or one that is uncomfortable. She addressed this issue by constructing a doghouse for the animal shelter to place in their outdoor yard. The doghouse has an open front door and a side door for more ventilation in the summer that lifts with a hinge and chain. The doghouse also has a side ramp for any size dog to run up to jump on top of the roof to lay in the sun. There is an overhang roof in the front to provide a small dog porch area off the ground. The entire roof and inside of the doghouse and porch I covered by artificial turf. It is painted with outdoor paint and roof paper to shield it from the weather to be sustainable for at least a decade or more.

Elina Patel

Holmdel

Eating Clean for Teens

Elina’s Gold Award project, “Eating Clean For Teens,” addressed the issue of healthy eating for teens as she realized that many teens were not getting the proper nutrition they needed. She created a social media account, a website, informational materials, and led zoom calls to teach how to cook easy healthy recipes that would allow teenagers not just the benefits of healthy food but also the ability to try out these recipes and share them. She also ran a food drive focused on collecting healthy food donations for the homeless and food banks in her community.

Marley Petti

Manchester

Service Dogs 101

Marley’s Gold Award project is called” Service Dogs 101.” When Marley first got her service dog Ember, she realized that most people don’t know the basics about service dogs and how to behave around them. By giving speeches, creating a fun patch program, writing a coloring book, and maintaining an Instagram account, she was able to educate people about the jobs service dogs perform, how they differ from Emotional Support Animals, and how people should behave around service dogs and their handlers. Another big aspect of her project was to highlight the fact that not all disabilities are visible as many people question why you have a service dog if you don’t have an obvious physical disability.

Most importantly, she wanted people to understand that a service animal should be considered as a piece of adaptive equipment just as you would a wheelchair or hearing aids. They are there to help a disabled person go about their day and lead a normal life.

Callie Rommel

Toms River

Sew What? An extensive sensory experience.

For Callie’s Gold Award project, “Sew What? A Sensory Experience,” she focused on the sensory needs of special needs, pre-kindergarten students. Callie researched and consulted with several professionals to learn about the sensory deficits experienced by children. She researched how textures, colors, sounds and manipulatives help teach children how to self-calm and focus. She then designed 26 sensory “fidget” quilts, 33 fleece tie-blankets, 30 bean bags, four weighted lap blankets, and various sensory toys that her team then helped her sew and construct. Callie also created four “Go Bags” filled with various sensory materials that teachers can use when they leave the classroom.

Sophia Schindel

Millstone Twp

Senior Sanctuary for Community

Sophia’s Gold Award project, “Senior Sanctuary for Community,” brought to attention the lack of interest in her town to provide senior citizens with a stable and safe outdoor space. The local community center is used by the senior citizens, but the outdoor space was neglected and not senior citizen friendly. Sophia created a sanctuary that would be easily accessible and a retreat. She led her team to build benches and plant flowers to create the sanctuary. The purpose of the sanctuary is to be beneficial to the mental and physical health of senior citizens in the community.

Christianna Simon

Colts Neck

Caregiver Connections

For Christianna’s Gold Award project, she successfully passed seven volunteers through the Safe Sitter's training course. These girls are now better able to care for children, elderly, and their environment. More importantly, they are now better able to care for themselves and become more independent. These skills allow the girls to better their community by filling the need for sitters if they choose to do so. Some skills the girls learned are how to address children in distress, what are age-appropriate toys, what questions to ask potential employers, and when to call parents or 911, among many other concepts. They also learned how to treat children when they are not acting appropriately. Christianna’s Gold Award will be sustained beyond her involvement by the charitable organizations within her community who will continue these services.

Olivia Skvarenina

Jackson

Be Happy with Positive Thinking!

Olivia's Gold Award Project, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, addressed the need of learning how to think positively in times of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She created a program for Girl Scouts to meet virtually on Zoom to learn how positive thinking affects our mental, social, and physical health, and created activities that scouts could complete together at home. She coded a video game for them to play and learn, and furthermore produced a short film that was published on YouTube and shared on the internet for all to view to expand her audience outside of Scouts.

Jessica Soucy

Beachwood

Underage Drinking Awareness

Jessica’s Gold Award project, “Underage Drinking Awareness” focused on addressing the issue of underage drinking in her town. To spread awareness of this issue, she made presentation boards, videos, handouts, a game with questions about alcohol, and put stickers on pizza boxes. Awareness of this issue will continue to be spread for years to come.

Maeve Spang

Manasquan

Warrior Welcome

Maeve attends Manasquan High School, where she began her own club, "Welcome Warriors"! Maeve wanted to find a way to help the new freshman, so she reached out to the MHS head of guidance, Mrs. Kenney and teacher Mrs. Eldridge, and "Welcome Warriors,'' her Gold Award project began! “Welcome Warriors” is a student ambassador program where current students serve as the "friendly faces of MHS" for incoming, 8th grade, ESL, and transfer students, as well as alumni. Welcome Warriors will continue on as a legacy in Manasquan, and Maeve is forever grateful to Girl Scouts for giving her this opportunity to create this program and make a difference in her school community.

Alexis Terracciano

Manasquan

Bike to the Future

Lexi Terracciano’s Gold Award Project “Bike to the Future” aimed to educate her community of Wall Township on the benefits of biking and promote the use of Wall’s bike paths in the hopes of lessening her town’s carbon footprint. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lexi worked alongside Wall’s Environmental Committee and town administrators to have a bike repair station installed along the municipal bike path. Additionally, Lexi created a presentation on the benefits and accessibility of biking in Wall that was sent to members of her community, from whom she received an outpour of support and engagement.

Reagan Volk

Rumson

Mission Milkweed

Reagan Volk’s Gold Award Project, “Mission Milkweed,” addressed the issue of the monarch butterfly population rapidly declining by providing her community with brochures about monarch conservation and handing out 416 free milkweed and butterfly bush seed packets. She placed brochures, each with planting instructions, at four local parks—Victory Park, Riverside Park, Meadow Ridge Park, and Fair Haven Fields as well as outside of her house. To spread more awareness, she handed out more brochures on Halloween night, created an infographic display for Sickles Market and surrounded it with monarch-friendly plants that shoppers could purchase, ending with $1,166 of the monarch-friendly plants being purchased. Last but not least, she hand-painted a butterfly bench for Riverside Park that she surrounded with milkweed plants and created an Instagram account where her community could keep up-to-date with monarch conservation news, post success pictures of their own milkweed plants, enter giveaways with monarch-themed prizes to raise awareness of the account, and ask questions on the planned Instagram Live Q&A sessions.

Abigail Willmot

Point Pleasant

Pollinator Gardens

Abigail’s Gold Award project, “Pollinator Gardens,” addressed the declining bee population and how it affects our agriculture world-wide. The population decline is being caused by intensive farming practices, mono-cropping, excessive use of chemicals and higher temperatures from climate change, affecting crop yields and nutrition. This all affects our food supply. Pollinator gardens were created to help the bees survive and grow. It helps accelerate the pollination process and promote fruit and vegetable growth. A badge program helped educate brownies about this issue using the Bees Badge as the catalyst. Activities for the badge requirements were related directly to bees and not other bugs.

Alina Zaman

Freehold

Mindful of Mental Health

For Alina's Gold Award project she concentrated on students who focus all their time and energy on the numerous responsibilities and never have time for themselves. Teens nowadays handle severe amounts of pressure and focus so little attention on themselves. Alina addressed this issue by teaching a group of peers about mental health issues and sharing her knowledge with her community so they will all be educated on the topic and can help themselves and others. Through her project she was able to educate and middle and high school teens on how to help others during a panic/anxiety attack, different coping mechanisms, and much more. She created a club that allowed teens to take the time to de-stress and relax. She also used her research and coded a website which is shared with her high school district and middle school 8th graders and will be sustained by the school to continue educating kids.