2021 Gold Award Ceremony Booklet by Girl Scouts of Central & Southern NJ

2021

Gold Award Ceremony

Sunday, May 23 | 11:30AM

Welcome

to our virtual Gold Award ceremony! We’re sorry we can’t be together in person for the ceremony, but we hope it is still special.

Congratulations to all recipients!

Mission Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

Promise On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The Girl Scout Law I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout. 3

GSCSNJ Board of Directors Board Chair, Rachel Holland Vice Chair, Lauren Beetle Vice Chair, Shelley Sylva

Secretary, Michelle Perry-Thompson Treasurer, Bob Pantaliano CEO, Ginny Hill

Directors Fatema Basrai James Carl Grace Chow Patricia Claybrook Beth Davies Danielle Esser

Erick Ford Leslie Fehrenbach Valarie Gilbert Nicole Gillespie Amy Gopshes Kim Kleasen

Gina LaPlaca Cathleen Lewis Marla Meyers Christine Millaway Stephen Persche Anne Williams

Girl Representatives of the Board Ria Bajaj 4

Rihi Jain

Holly Mastromonica

Keynote Speaker Lipica Shah, Actor (Stage, Screen, and Voiceover)

Lipica is an accomplished actor (stage, screen, and voiceover) with a passion for new script development. Over more than a decade, she has built a reputation as an eager and generous collaborator and has worked consistently Off-Broadway, in New York City, and in regional theatre, as well as in the English dub market for voiceovers. Visit www.LipicaShah.com for a full list of credits. She is a proud union member (Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA) and co-founder of 1497, an initiative to support and uplift talent of South Asian descent to challenge their underrepresentation in the American film and television industry. The name 1497 refers to the year before western colonization began in the eight countries collectively known today as South Asia. Lipica holds a BFA with Honors in Theatre from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied at Playwrights Horizons Theater School and Stonestreet Screen Acting Studios. She also studied classical singing technique at Westminster Conservatory for ten years. A lifetime member, Lipica has been involved with Girl Scouts since she was a Daisy. She was a girl delegate representing her council at the 2002 National Convention and was selected to join the inaugural By Girls, For Girls National Advisory Committee shortly thereafter. She earned her Silver Award and in 2005 was named one of GSUSA’s Young Women of Distinction (now National Gold Award Girl Scout) for her Gold Award project. In 2021 she was appointed to GSUSA’s Young Alum and Lifetime Membership Advisory Committee. She looks forward to being a part of Girl Scouts’ evolution and future there and as a member of the NVP Growing Strategies for DEI/RJ Team. In her spare time, Lipica enjoys running, cooking (and eating), traveling, being outside in any capacity (but preferably camping), and doing crossword puzzles in ink. 5

The Girl Scout Gold Award The Girl Scout Gold Award is highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. Gold Award Girl Scouts commit 80 (or more) service hours to making a sustainable change in their community. By choosing an issue and taking action, these girls establish themselves as the Go-getters, Innovators, Risk-takers, and Leaders within the Girl Scout Movement.

Sarah Adams Forever United Through Sarah’s Gold Award project, ‘Forever United Through Girl Scouting’, encouraged younger members to continue their journeys with Girl Scouts. Many girls drop out of the organization in middle school, but Sarah wanted to highlight the older members who stick with the program and the benefits they gain by using her own troop as an example. Sarah created a video which centers around the fifteen members of her troop as they explain why they love Girl Scouts and why they’ve continued with the program throughout the years.

Pari Agarwal Quarantine Fun Pari’s Gold Award project, Quarantine Fun, aimed to improve children’s mental and physical wellness through fun activities. She led kids aged 5 to 11 through game days, craft sessions, no-stove cooking days, talent shows, holiday-themed events, and dance sessions. Pari gained more than 300 followers who learned how to communicate, explore their own interests, develop their personalities, and learn new skills all while having a blast!

Noor Ahmad Let’s Move An obsessive amount of screen time use is detrimental for one’s health, so for Noor’s Gold Award project, she inspired children to let go of technology. She held interactive workshops where she helped them find new ways to have fun and get moving!

Elizabeth Grace Banas The Future’s Bright in Exploring Science Elizabeth’s Gold Award project, the Future is Bright in Exploring Science, was focused on bringing more STEM opportunities to underprivileged children in Trenton, New Jersey. First, to raise money for the program supplies, she conducted a road clean-up in her community. Then, she led an eight-week program where she paired STEM lessons with a hands-on experiment. She also created an online website that explained the different experiments, including the physics of popsicle stick catapults, the chemistry of t-shirt chromatography, and Germ Glow biology When the last few sessions were canceled due to COVID-19, Elizabeth changed her plans using the rest of her funds to make over two hundred science kits for kids at home which she donated to the Children’s Homes Society.

Ahana Banerjee Musicians Duet Better! Ahana’s Gold Award addressed the lack of formal musical education for students in underprivileged communities. Families in these communities may also not have the financial resources to purchase instruments in order for their children to pursue their musical interest. Ahana addressed this by offering 10 online classes under the “Musicians Duet Better” program at the Hightstown Library. These classes focused on 5 different categories of instruments (percussion, voice, woodwinds, keyboard, string) to expose younger students to the creativity and knowledge that comes with music. 7

Avleen Baring Teenage Anxiety Avleen educated young teenagers about anxiety through holding workshops, including its negative effects on mental health and coping strategies. To sustain this education, she also created a website, brochure, and presentation that was shared with a mental health clinic.

Gillian Bartels-Quansah Coding For Kids: Around the World As a young, black woman pursuing Computer Science (CS), Gillian has experienced first hand the gender and racial disparities in STEM. Because of limited resources, awareness and encouragement, many underrepresented students do not have the means to pursue STEM. With her experience in CS and as a Girl Scout, she focused her Gold Award project on closing the racial and gender gap in STEM to help combat the global issue. She taught Java, Python and Cybersecurity to students at the Trenton Boys and Girl Club, Mfantisman Secondary Girl School in Ghana (virtually), and the Princeton Public Library (virtually). She provided free education and resources as well as encouragement for over 90 students. She stepped up as the mentor she wished she had as a little girl, and helped inspire more kids who look like her to pursue STEM.

Sarah Beitel Dr. Still Tribute Sarah’s Gold Award increased awareness of the historic legacy of Dr. James Still, a prominent African American doctor who due to racism throughout his life is relatively unknown. Sarah’s project focused on the aesthetics of the Dr. James Still Historic Office and Education Site. She created a sitting area with a butterfly house and bushes, a bench, new signs for their herb gardens, and an informational sign for visitors to learn about Dr. Still. Her Gold Award project establishes a welcoming environment in the name of Dr. Still to spread knowledge of his legacy. 8

Riya Bemby Need For Read For Riya’s Gold Award project, she addressed improving reading skills in children ages 3-5 from underserved communities. Through her storytime videos, “Detective’s Doubts” questions, scavenger hunts, and quizzes, the children were able to improve their reading comprehension skills. Furthermore, they improved their logic and reasoning skills when answering open-ended questions about why a character behaved a certain way. Riya distributed all of the resources she created to Head Start Schools across the nation. Visit her website to check them out! https://readinguniverse.wixsite.com/readinguniverse

Noor Bhatia Project Beehive As industrialization grows, the bee population is rapidly decreasing. This can have drastic effects on the ecosystem and is a major threat to our food supply chain. To target this issue, Noor built native bee hotels and installed them in the Cranbury Preserve along with an infographic explaining their purpose. While doing this, Noor set up her own hive to educate herself further on bees and recorded her progress on a Facebook page. Noor also educated her community on the issue by helping run a stand at her town fair where she distributed seedling bon bon kits that encourage wild flower growth for pollinators. Lastly, Noor created a lesson plan and taught kindergartens the importance of pollination and how they could help attract pollinators to their gardens at home.

Larissa Bodnar Helping Others Lasts a Lifetime Larissa’s Gold Award project assisted children with learning disabilities. She created boards filled with different textured items that helped the children to use their sensory skills. Larissa also created whisper phones which allowed the children to understand what they are saying as they read out loud.

Devshree Botwe Enrichment Expedition The goal of Devshree’s Gold Award project, was to improve students’ math skills by providing one-on-one attention. Devshree identified that students put in a large classroom setting are frequently not provided the full attention they might require, especially if they are hesitant to ask questions. To ensure that each student was heard, Devshree worked with two groups of RISE summer camp scholars who were able to embrace their potential by participating in interactive math exercises.

Samantha Michelle Brown Williamstown Organic Community Garden Labyrinth For Samantha’s Gold Award Project, she addressed the issues of depression, anxiety, suicide, drug overdoses, etc., through finding peace within oneself by building a Labyrinth (meditation walking path). Her goal was to provide a positive alternative way of dealing with social/emotional issues, both acute and chronic. Her Labyrinth was built with peace, love, hope, and prayers by herself and members of her community. With over 190 hours in her project, Samantha and the community love how her Labyrinth turned out.

Kathryn Bsales Native Species Garden at DeMasi School Kathryn planted a native species garden at DeMasi Elementary School, promoting biodiversity and combatting the endangerment of these native plants due to non-native invasive plants and deforestation. Kathryn’s garden will also serve as a learning tool for the elementary students and is accompanied by a project guide for future Girl Scouts and students to plant similar gardens.

Shachi Chemburkar The Sondek Park Trail Shachi identified a trail in Sondek Park that needed to be renovated and cleared to be safely used for hiking or dog walking. Shachi cleared the trail, painted new trail markers, added a bench, and made the entrance look more attractive. She worked with South Brunswick Township to promote the newly renovated trail as open for more people to use.

Manya Chopra Early Environmental Education Manya’s Gold Award project focused on providing early environmental education to upper elementary level students. She created virtual environmental science workshops to add to the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County’s virtual library so students of all backgrounds could learn at their own pace.

Jessica Cruz What One Can Do Not What They Can’t Jessica highlighted the skills of children and adults on the autism spectrum through photography. Her project’s main objective was to demonstrate that people on the spectrum can accomplish anything a person society deems “normal” can. We stereotypically see each other as having many differences, but through her project and photos you can see there is little difference. We all have a curiosity for adventure and the determination to make our dreams possible.

Tanya Das INSPIRIT (Innovation and Natural Scientific Pursuit of Independent Research In Technology) Tanya’s Gold Award project - INSPIRIT (Innovation and Natural Scientific Pursuit of Independent Research In Technology) empowered underserved students to innovate solutions to clean marine debris through an experiential curriculum for ocean science and underwater robotics. Tanya piloted this concept in an international workshop attended by 450+ students. The students successfully used their remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to remove debris from the river and now actively advocate against single-use plastics. This workshop started a wave of attitudinal change in youth, and in the future she hopes the wave becomes a tsunami of change, catalyzing transformation in society. Her curriculum is now incorporated in schools across Odisha, India, and students built many more ROVs to clean marine debris from the 11 rivers in the state.

Brianna Diaferia The Preemie Project Brianna’s Girl Scout Gold Award, the Preemie Project, addressed the lack of hats and similar items in hospitals’ NICUs. Hospitals rely on their community for these supplies, but many people aren’t aware that these items are handmade. Brianna increased awareness around the crucial need to have these items for babies in the NICU by holding workshops that taught participants how to crochet baby hats and donating a total of 124 handmade hats to local hospitals.

Cassandra Diaferia Colors of Acceptance Many kids going to school today do not feel welcomed by others or have a hard time fitting in, but having someone or something that makes them feel accepted is what everyone needs to get through tough days. Through Cassandra’s Gold Award, she addressed this issue by painting a mural and kindness rocks that helped kids and members of the community feel welcomed and comfortable in their own skin.

Vinnie Eccelston Golden Sense Vinnie created sensory blankets and boxes for her Gold Award project to assist the elderly suffering from memory loss. These sensory tools were crafted to help those with memory loss exercise their minds and cognitive thinking. She hosted a virtual workshop to educate others in her community in ways they too could help.

Cherie Fernandes STEM 4 Starters Cherie identified the lack of STEM-related education available to children in underserved communities and a level of closed-mindedness surrounding education. For her Gold Award Project, Cherie created a Guidebook designed as a “Challenge,” giving the learners outlined materials and key questions before challenging them to develop their own solutions.

Ryanne Fisher National Youth Leadership Shed Ryanne’s Gold Award project was to create a toolkit to house the supplies and presentation materials for the National Youth Leadership Training program. During Ryanne’s project, she also developed a process that gave future youth leaders an organized area to store and use materials for upcoming courses.

Madeleine Freundlich Women in Conservation Madeleine’s project addressed the erasure of women from the conservation narrative locally and nationally. To combat this erasure, she conducted a research project on women integral to the conservation movement and used that information to create an artistic installation and GPS-based audio tour featuring fifteen women. In addition to this research, Madeleine led a team of volunteers to rehabilitate preserved land by removing invasives and planting native flora to encourage the return of native fauna. She was able to use the land as a learning opportunity whilst fulfilling the narrative of women’s conservation.

Vennela Gangasani One Tree At a Time For Vennela’s Gold Award project, she worked with Mastergarderners at the Davidson Mill Pond Park to prevent global warming and save wildlife. Knowing trees and plants balance the climate and reverse global warming, Vennela reached out to hundreds of nurseries to collect trees and plants. She then worked with other Girl Scout volunteers to place the donated plants in the park to provide animals with an adequate habitat and provide humans with a healthy environment.

Shreya Gavarapattu Fooducation with Shreya Shreya addressed the issue of unhealthy eating habits in 5th – 8th graders as these habits can affect their nutrient intake and cause a lack of awareness. For her Gold Award project, Shreya conducted virtual workshops helping kids identify healthy food choices and prepare their own dishes. She then compiled all the recipes and provided them to all attendees, encouraging them to collaborate and share their new skills.

Gianna M Genovesi Reading is Fundamental Reading is an essential part of a child’s development, and Gianna wanted to find a place to give troubled children access to books and a fun place to read. For her Gold Award project, Gianna identified a local organization that needed an enhanced children’s area that the kids are often left while their parents are in support groups. The children now have a colorful and inviting area that will encourage them to pick up a book and read.

Shailee Goradia Technology in Education Shailee’s Gold Award project, Technology in Education, stemmed from the technological gap between public schools in America and India. She conducted a three day workshop in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India in which she taught them the basics of how to peerage a computer and introduced the students to Google Drive. Over the three days, the students worked on creating brochures about a county of their choosing. This project also taught them basic skills, including how to insert an image and manipulate fonts. She also created a series of video tutorials in the native language Gujarati, and a Google Classroom with all materials uploaded for future students.

Lydia Elizabeth Griebell Healing in Harmony Lydia’s Gold Award project, “Healing in Harmony,” is a music therapy program that focuses on bringing comfort, peace, and delight to seniors residing in nursing homes, hospitals, and retirement communities. Music has been proven to aid in memory, pain management, anxiety, sleep, and mood regulation. “Healing in Harmony” focuses on people living with dementia, but the program can be applied to any therapeutic setting. Lydia played her harp primarily for Artis Senior Living in Princeton Junction and brought other harpists into the program. She expanded the program to include many types of musicians and singers. Lydia found it so fulfilling to see the residents’ spirits lifting while singing along to popular oldies!

Anna Kristen Hoegler Operation Basic Care In 2018, the US Census Bureau stated there were 38.1 million people living in poverty, which Anna addressed in her local community for her Gold Award project. Working with her high school, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Anna worked to add a yearly collection program for personal care products to be donated to a soup kitchen to help those who are less fortunate. The students were very enthusiastic and were able to collect enough supplies for 24 large family packs for up to 4 people, 44 individual packs, and a large box full of feminine hygiene products.

Maddie Holtz COVID-19 Public Health Protection COVID-19 has provided unique challenges that no one could have anticipated. In the early months of the pandemic, personal protective equipment in the form of masks was almost nowhere to be found. The elderly, unprivileged, and migrant members of our community were hit hardest. Madison’s Gold Award addressed this issue head on by making and delivering over 300 hundred masks throughout her community, as well as sharing information about proper hygiene behavior.

Jessica Michelle Hoschek Girls in Aviation Jessica’s Gold Award project addressed the shortage of women in the aviation field. To increase awareness and interest in this field, she created a booklet and hosted a virtual Girls in Aviation Day with guest speakers. Her booklet has many resources for leaders and girls to find activities and opportunities in the aviation field.

Sofia Keir Pay It Forward Poverty is a cruel and ubiquitous problem in our country, and donating things instead of throwing them away can cause a ripple effect of good. For Sofia’s Gold Award project, she built a weather proof and secure donation box to be the gift that keeps on giving in her community.

Kira Kook Cuddly Cats Kira realized that adopting a cat from a shelter is challenging because the cats do not feel comfortable in their steel cages. Therefore the cats’ true personalities are not shown, making finding the right forever home more difficult. After researching this topic, Kira focused her Gold Award on making blanket beds for cats to have in their cages to take to their forever home because the familiar scent is calming to cats which eases the transition.

Sanjana Korpal Easy for Easel Sanjana’s Gold Award project was created to encourage people to adopt animals in need of a home and stop them from being euthanized due to overpopulated shelters. To do this, she created adoption kits using customized reusable bags that included homemade pet treats, coupons to local retail stores, and contact information for various types of pet care. These kits were created to make the transition easier for those planning to add a new member to their family and encourage more people to adopt.

Eleanora Grace Kreike-Martin Advancing TNR in the Princeton Area/Mercer County After volunteering at her local animal shelter and fostering semi-feral cats, Nora knew she wanted to focus her Gold Award Project on stray cat populations. A proposed solution for this problem is TNR, or Trap-Neuter-Release, which humanely decreases stray cat populations over time. Nora’s project raised awareness of this issue by creating an information sheet detailing how community members can start TNR programs, as well as developing an internal protocol with Animal Control Officers in her community.

Savana La Rocca Childhood Obesity With the ever-growing problem of childhood obesity in our country, Savana decided to educate her community on this issue. She presented to her high school and the community about childhood obesity causes, prevention, and management options including healthy meal planning. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Savana held a webinar for fellow Girl Scout troops about maintaining healthy eating and exercise habits during isolation.

Paige Leszcynski Bark in the Park For Paige’s Gold Award project, Bark in the Park, she worked with her community dog park. Paige refurbished and renovated existing structures, created four new agility projects for the dogs, and added leash hangers for dogs and owners to enjoy!

Bridget Lobo tech_Table Bridget’s Gold Award project was to educate students in her community about internet safety. She held workshops, created a website, and designed handbooks to teach students and parents about potential threats on the internet and how to deal with them. Bridget’s project was even more useful amidst the pandemic because of the increased online activity which opens doors for cyber attacks.

Ankitha Mallekav Comically Captured: The Mental Health Project For Ankitha’s Gold Award she created Comically Captured: The South Asian Mental Health Project. To address the lack of communication and awareness on mental health issues in the South Asian community, she authored and illustrated a graphic novel on the topic. The graphic novel can be used by anyone in the South Asian Community, therapists, and mental health organizations.

Srujana Mallem Relax Srujana’ s Gold Award aimed to educate high school and college students about the different types of stress and the negative impacts it can have. She held online lessons and workshops to educate students where she taught them different ways to relieve their stress, and also created a website to house all of the information online.

Kaitlyn J Maloney Greater Awareness for Guide Dogs For Kaitlyn’s Girl Scout Gold Award, she had the honor of raising a guide dog named Rosalee. With this, Kaitlyn also created a patch for Girl Scouts to learn about the Seeing Eye program, the different types of guide dogs, and how to appropriately approach them in order to not be a distraction.

Dhrithi Manjunath Nourish and Lift Dhrithi’s Gold Award project taught children how to cope with stress in healthy ways and take time for mental and physical self-care to promote a healthy lifestyle. Knowing that the influence of toxic surroundings and the inability to manage stress can negatively impact students, Dhrithi held interactive workshops on the benefits of exercise on mental health and created a booklet to promote healthy eating.

Lauren McCarthy MLMC Field of Dreams Marketing and Wall of Fame Lauren’s Gold Award project focused on the inclusion of disabled athletes in organized sports. She worked with Miracle League of Mercer County to raise awareness, expand the league’s presence, and help improve community partnership and understanding. During her project, the league had a 55% increase in player registration, individual volunteers increased by 29%, and she recruited 22 new teams to volunteer on game days. In addition, Lauren established a partnership with her employer as a league sponsor and assisted with 16 other new league sponsors.

Sarah McLean Butterfly Garden Sarah’s Gold Award project addressed the issue of the declining butterfly population due to a lack of host and nectar plants for the butterflies to feed on. She made butterfly gardens at the Plainsboro Preserve and West Windsor Certified Wildlife Habitat by planting perennial flowers and plants that attract butterflies, as well as Milkweed for caterpillars. She then created a presentation for other local Girl Scouts explaining the importance of pollinators and what people can do to help preserve their population.

Amanda McNally Project Pieces of Light Project Pieces of Light worked to tackle grief and teach others how to become a light in someone’s darkness. For Amanda’s Gold Award, she worked with Samaritan Hospice to provide grief support bags to patient families and make clay hearts with the community as a memoriam for those who have passed. During the Clay Hearts Day event, in addition to learning how to make the hearts, it was also an opportunity for the community to learn more about the grieving process and coping techniques.

Suhani Mehra Staying Fit with Healthy Habits Suhani noticed the rising numbers of childhood obesity and obesity-related health problems in the world and for her Gold Award project wanted to work on a solution. She has been dancing for over 10 years and decided to incorporate dance into her project by conducting classes for the NJ RISE virtual summer program. In these classes, she taught kids how to dance, and showed them how to form healthy habits in fun ways.

Melyana Miranda Bee Aware of the Bees! Melyana’s Gold Award Project addressed the importance of honey bees in the ecosystem and brought attention to their declining population. Melyana executed her project by creating an informational makeover to a Title I elementary school’s courtyard by planting bee-friendly flowers and sanding and repainting the picnic tables. Melyana invited the students to contribute by having them paint a brick to place in their new courtyard, and provided a fun and informative presentation to get them invested in the importance of the project.

Mazie Mulford Hive Homes For Mazie’s Gold Award project, she identified the issue of decreasing numbers of pollinators in the world. By creating a safe habitat for pollinators to thrive, Mazie shared her research and educated her community about the importance of pollinators and how to co-exist with them.

Manal Mustafa Mask ON Manal created the #maskON project for her Gold Award project to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by raising awareness and explaining proper safety procedures. maskON, a YouTube channel, covered topics from mental health to wearing a mask in special circumstances, and was shared on two charity websites. To spread awareness, #maskON was created for people to share pictures practicing proper safety measures. Additionally, pamphlets were created and placed in hospitals and flyers were put in local community centers. Manal also hosted webinars in which COVID-19 procedures were explained and community leaders were taught how to spread awareness in their own areas. 23

Natasha Nangia Kits for Kids Due to the lack of financial resources in underserved communities, many schools are unable to incorporate a STEM or robotics education into their curriculum, which limits the opportunity for students to get involved in the STEM field. Natasha’ s Gold Award project addressed this by providing a group of students in 3rd-5th grades with a new STEM activity every week for the course of 6 weeks. Natasha held virtual sessions once a week, where she interacted with them and guided them through fun and educational crafts and games. By the end of Natasha’s project, the kids had a collection of educational board games, crafts, and fun recipes that they can continue to use at home.

Kaitlin Napoli Mighty Medal Kaitlin created a community organization known as Mighty Medals for her Girl Scout Gold Award. Mighty Medals collects donated race medals and gives them new life by delivering them to hospital facilities across the East coast as a way to motivate patients and provide support as they work through the unimaginable struggles they face. Thus far, Mighty Medals has delivered 300 packages to patients in 6 different states. When Covid-19 struck, Kaitlin shifted the purpose of Mighty Medals to express gratitude toward the healthcare workers and first responders in her surrounding community. To date, over 500 medals have been delivered to Hospital Staff and Police Officers during the Pandemic.

Parthavi Nerurkar Inspiring STEM Careers for Girls with Computer Aided Design Girls often don’t have access to STEM enrichment experiences and, even when they are offered, girls can be intimidated to participate in them. Parthavi addressed this in her Gold Award project by running all-girl Computer Aided Design classes, making STEM experiences more accessible to girls. First, she conducted five introductory workshops for girls interested in CAD. Girls who ended up loving the workshop, signed up for her longer 12-session in depth lessons. In these classes, she taught them the CAD software Onshape, they got to print several of their designs, and learned the basics about operating a 3D printer. Parthavi also collaborated with Rutgers 4H and conducted a 3-series CAD workshop for girls in the Mercer County Girls and Boys Club. Her project was able to reach over 85 girls in over 10 states!

Emily Orlowski Rags to Bags Emily’s Gold Award project, Rags to Bags, addressed the need for reusable bags at the Burlington Township Food Pantry. Due to the large volume of residents who utilize the facility, the food pantry is no longer able to supply bags to take food, and many people do not have their own bags to use. Emily addressed this by making reusable bags out of donated t-shirts, and holding classes with community organizations to teach others how to make bags. Over 180 bags were made and donated, along with a display wall at the pantry for the bags

Marlena Panichelli Benches and Mile Makers Marlena’s Gold Award project consisted of making six cement benches and mile markers for her local park along the walking trail on the upper rim and lower trail at Frank Donio Memorial Park in Winslow Township, New Jersey. She incorporated her passion for art through the stone etchings she designed and painted with glow paint on the benches and cement pads. She decided on this project because the lack of benches and mile markers made it hard for people who were walking or running on the trail to either sit down and take a breather or keep track of how far they had gone. Marlena’s project was extremely beneficial for the community, especially with COVID-19 leading more people to take advantage of outdoor activities.

Elisabeth Pasake Reusable Birthday Bags Elisabeth’s Gold Award project addressed the lack of bags at the food pantry for families to gather and transport their food. She educated her community about how they can help the food pantry by donating food, making reusable bags, or volunteering their time. Elisabeth also donated reusable bags filled with birthday supplies to brighten the days of the families who use the food pantry.

Malak Patel Smaller Footprint, Larger Sustainability Malak’s Gold Award aims to enhance environmental sustainability in the world by raising awareness through activities with local kids at a virtual summer camp. She taught them about reducing the usage of fossil fuel, combating pollution, and the three R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) while also providing the campers with specific ways they could save the environment. 26

Isabella Pereira Creative Common Room Isabella’s Gold Award project, Creative Common Room, aimed to make the common room at a local assisted living shelter more positive and inviting because an individual’s environment and surroundings can impact their health and emotions. She raised the funds to renovate and beautify the common room by holding a lemonade stand and soliciting for donations from local businesses. She repainted the room, added comfy chairs, a TV and TV stand, floor lamps, a bookshelf, and stimulating books and games to the room. To see all that Isabella accomplished through her project, visit her project’s website at mygoldawardcreativecommonroom.weebly.com

Bianca Polycarpe Tech Fun In Haiti For her Gold Award project, Bianca delved into the issue of the lack of access to technology for children in developing countries. She recognizes that in today’s society, learning the basics of how to operate technology is a crucial skill for everyone to know so she shared the knowledge she was taught and passed it on to children in Haiti.

Avani Prakash Composting in West Windsor Many West Windsor residents weren’t educated about the positive effects of composting, an effective and efficient way to reduce food waste and protect our environment. For Avani’s Gold Award project, she ran multiple Zoom sessions for over 120 people, where she addressed the environmental benefits of composting and taught them how to compost, including how to make their own compost bin. She also created compost bins by drilling holes in tote bins and adding a layer of soil and leaves, which were available for purchase. With the money generated from the bin sales, Avani purchased large compost tumblers for HomeFront and TASK. 27

Sia Pyati Pads for a Cause The root cause that Sia’s Gold Award project addressed is that many young girls in India do not have access to sanitary napkins during menstruation. With this, they are likely to face health and hygiene issues and typically have to stay home from school during their period. She addressed this issue by connecting with a nonprofit organization called Karma Junction which connects with girls in rural communities who do not have access to sanitary napkins. Together, they gathered the funds necessary to support each girl in a given school for an extended period of time and were able to purchase sanitary pads for the girls. They then arranged for female teachers and gynecologists to teach them how to use their sanitary napkins and how to maintain good hygiene during menstruation.

Sahana Ranganathan CareforChildren - A recreational center for special needs children Sahana’s Gold Award project focused the effects of Stay At Home Orders on special needs children during this global pandemic. The root cause of the issue is that there are not many music programs for children with special needs and on the Autism Spectrum to join, limiting the amount of “normal” childhood activities they have. Sahana created the music lessons online, providing kids an opportunity to get used to virtual interactions and participate in an engaging activity at home. She also provided volunteers and caregivers additional insight into teaching and engaging children with special needs in other activities.

Emma M Redman Neural Network For Emma’s Gold Award project, she created The Neural Network, an online collection of local and global resources for people with brain injuries and other disabilities. It also includes a podcast featuring both Emma’s own story and interviews with a variety of guests and an Instagram page to spread awareness. The Neural Network has connected with many people on social media including doctors and concussion organizations, and Hopewell Valley High School to spread the resources. You can connect with The Neural Network at tinyurl.com/neuralnetworkhv, or @neuralnetworkgold

Haley Resta Raise N’ Run for EDS Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is a rare connective tissue disorder that affects the bones, skin, and joints with limited research and treatments. To address the lack of awareness, Haley held a color run and plank-a-thon, maintained an educational Instagram page, and distributed informational pamphlets and flyers to local businesses to increase awareness about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Jessica Ridge Marty’s Place Wall of Remembrance and Community Outreach Jessica’s Gold Award project, Marty’s Place: Wall of Remembrance, raised awareness through community festivals and enhanced the appearance of Marty’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary. Jessica built two cabinets for Marty’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary that displayed clay paws of dogs that have since passed away. In addition, Jessica expanded upon a “Seniors for Seniors” program, in which senior citizens from local facilities met and interacted with our senior dogs from Marty’s Place. 29

Melanie Rottkamp Decrease Stress to Achieve Success Melanie found that teenagers deal with a large amount of stress, but lack the proper tools to manage it. For her Gold Award project, she created and distributed posters and flyers to various organizations, in addition to creating a Facebook page to educate her peers on stress management.Melanie also facilitated four virtual workshops for children and teens to normalize the discussion around stress by talking about the root causes of stress and stress management techniques.

Trisha Saldanha Solving Squad For her Gold Award project, Trisha created the Solving Squad Camp to give kids a virtual learning experience to enrich their math skills during the summer. Students from underserved schools often do not have access to academic enrichment summer programs, so Trisha developed and filmed math lessons for these students that can be accessed through the Boys and Girls Club. These videos were educational and provided practice for the students, giving them more academic resources.

Mahiyah Sampson A Flaw in Chemistry Not in Character Mahiyah addressed the stigma of mental health and the negative effects it has on teen girls in our society. For her Gold Award project, Mahiyah hosted an event for teen girls which provided them the opportunity to highlight concerns and help end the stigma associated with mental health.

Rhythm Satav There’s More to a Plastic Bag Plastic bags are the most common single-use plastic products contributing greatly to pollution. To combat this, Rhythm held 7 virtual workshops to teach people how to repurpose their plastic bags into crafts so they wouldn’t go to waste. She held plastic bag drives to collect people’s plastic bags to repurpose them into “plarn” (plastic yarn) that would be included in kits for her workshop attendees. These workshops taught attendees how to make durable baskets, coasters, and bracelets using only plastic bags.

Arabella Scelza Stories at Home Arabella learned that due to language barriers, a large percentage of families in her community cannot read English, and so the children are not able to practice their reading with assistance. To support these families, she recorded herself and others reading books from the current curriculum for Kindergarten through 2nd graders, allowing the kids to hear and read along to these books at home. The teachers in Wilson School and Hamilton Township School District will be able to use these videos with their students.

Nicole Seeburger Slackwood Learning Garden For Nicole’s Gold Award, she refurbished a garden at Slackwood Elementary School. She enlisted peers, family, and friends to help plant the garden and make it a learning experience for the students.

Shailee Shah Transparency in Beauty Throughout the world, there is an abundance of beauty brands that eagerly try to increase profits by using animal testing, unethical production methods, and environmentally harmful chemicals. To diminish the bandwagon effect and present better alternatives to consumers, for Shailee’s Gold Award, she created a small business called Pristine by Shay where she sold lip scrubs, lip balms, hair/lash oils, and more. She also raised awareness about the inadequacies of the beauty industry by hosting informational webinars and sharing educational posts and videos on various social media platforms.

Vonesha Shaik STEAM on Wheels STEAM on Wheels: bridging the gender and diversity gap in technology to make STEAM education more inclusive. Raising $45.5K from NCWIT and various non-profit organizations’ funding, Vonesha hosted bilingual workshops for thousands of students from rural villages in her homeland of India and underserved communities in the US. Working with schools and training teachers, Vonesha was able to provide sustainable STEAM learning resources and empower girls through technology!

Anushya Shankar Empowering Girls Through Programming Anushya’s Gold Award project, Empowering Girls Through Programming, focused on bridging the gap in representation in STEM fields. She identified a lack of exposure and encouragement for girls at a younger age as one of the root causes of this gap. To address this issue, she ran 85+ programming workshops for over 1800 girls ages 8-15 across the country and in underserved areas in India. In the process, she started a nonprofit called Girl Leaders in STEM (GLSTEM), where she works with a team of volunteers to continue her mission of motivating girls to explore STEM. 32

Anika Sharma Enriching the Needy Anika’s Gold Award increased awareness around the topic of homelessness by hosting an informative workshop about the root causes for the community. Then she addressed the lack of resources in these communities by collecting donations for the shelter and holding public speaking classes for the children in the shelter.

Shreya Shivakumar Allergies for Kids As the rate of food allergies in children increases, it is imperative that children learn how to keep themselves and their peers with allergies safe. Realizing this, Shreya decided to found Allergies For Kids for her Girl Scout Gold Award initiative to teach children about food allergy safety. Shreya hosted food allergy webinars for over 400 children in 16 U.S. states and uploaded her educational resources to www.allergies4kids.com so that her project could positively impact young children around the globe.

Sophie Smith Bat Boxes The issue that Sophie wanted to address for her Gold Award was the lack of protection that bats have in the wild from both predators and weather. To combat this she made bat boxes for YMCA Camp of the Pines by constructing and staining boxes then raising awareness with an educational hike through the camp.

Yeeling Tai Lost, Bound & Found: Human Trafficking in New Jersey Yeeling’s Gold Award project, Lost, Bound & Found: Human Trafficking in New Jersey, aimed to raise consciousness to the reality of human trafficking in the US through an educational program. Human trafficking is an international issue that receives little attention from the public and media, allowing it to continue with few repercussions for traffickers. Many factors play into how trafficking occurs, from avarice to society not teaching children how to love themselves and their low self-confidence making them vulnerable to manipulation. Yeeling hosted discussions to teach community members how to identify the red flags of human trafficking, what to do when they see it happening, and how to help. This equipped the community with the knowledge they need to protect themselves and their loved ones and to make their community a safer place for everyone.

Ishita Taparia Project Engineering Often, engineering is not taught until high school due to the level of expertise needed, the cost of the activities, and the difficulty of managing them. Because of this, younger students do not develop an interest in the fun and interesting aspects of engineering preventing them from pursuing the field when it is offered in high school. Ishita addressed this by running 10 virtual engineering workshops over the course of 5 weeks for 7-10 year olds in the RISE program in Hightstown. She implemented engineering projects that were engaging and exciting so they received the hands-on experience, and the students were successfully able to apply the engineering design process to real-life practical scenarios. The children also learned about resilience from the engineering design philosophy which taught them about embracing failure and learning from it.

Olivia Grace Terry Blessing Bags for the Homeless For Olivia’s Gold Award project she made Blessings Bags for those experiencing homelessness in her community. There was nowhere where these individuals could get personal care items so the Blessing Bags included items such as socks, first aid kits, soap, toothpaste and nonperishable snacks. She organized and donated 75 blessing bags along with 75 sleeping bags!

Brielle Tiger Trap Neuter Release Awareness Brielle’s Gold Award - Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR)- focused on spreading awareness about the process of TNR and the organizations that use it. TNR is a humane way to control the overpopulation of undomesticated outdoor cats, also known as feral cats. She created a PSA, sold cat calendars, and helped bring awareness to different TNR organizations.

Tecora Tisdale Sew On and Sew Forth As society becomes more reliant on technology, knowledge of basic life skills, such as sewing, is slowly declining. For Tecora’s Gold Award project, she organized a virtual sewing camp, Sew On and Sew Forth, to teach young girls in her community the basics of sewing through guided projects and encouraging them to advance their abilities. The goal for her project was not only to prevent the decline of this rewarding life skill, but to promote positivity and enhance the wellbeing of others with the creativity, confidence, and tranquility that can be gained from sewing.

Aluen Serena Tomat-Kelly Leaf it for Nature People are spending more time indoors leading them to become disconnected from nature. To address this issue, Aluen taught the public about the health benefits of spending time outdoors by creating programs that motivated people to engage with nature and encouraged them to become stewards of the earth. The programs included poetry walks, forest bathing, rock painting with geotags, nature painting, geocaching, fairy house construction, pollinator observation, and a bioblitz using iNaturalist. She created geomaps through iNaturalist for the parks in Lawrenceville that allow people to add their own observations to help keep track of biodiversity. Aluen also constructed pollinator bug hotels to teach the public about the importance of pollinators which she donated to Slackwood Elementary school and the Lawrence Nature Center.

Nina Anne Trousdale Enlightening Edison Within Nina’s neighborhood, there was an area of historical significance that was not highlighted as it deserved to be— the location of the house where Thomas Edison lived while perfecting the lightbulb and creating the phonograph. To increase her community’s awareness of this historical site, Nina built and installed an information kiosk at the corner of Christie Street and Monmouth Avenue in Edison, NJ which provides information about Edison’s home and life at Menlo Park. Nina also led a team to clear the trail leading up to Edison’s house, thereby encouraging visitors to walk the path to this historic area.

Radhika Vyas The Healing Mind Project After analyzing the mental health issues surrounding her community, Radhika realized that many of her peers were ashamed to ask or were unaware of how to get help. The shame and stigma surrounding mental health is caused by the lack of accurate information being provided to the public in a digestible way. To combat this, Radhika founded The Healing Mind’s Project, an outreach program that’s goal is to connect young adults to mental health resources and educate communities on mental wellness to reduce the stigma and foster healthy mindsets. In addition to providing information and support lines, The Healing Minds Project also offers information pertaining to affordable care and insurance.

Sydney Whalen Positivity in Prayer For Sydney’s Gold Award she created a prayer garden at John Paul II Regional School and created and taught religious education programs for younger Girl Scouts in the Five Star Service Unit. She saw that there was a problem with the absence of religious education in America, so she decided to spark the change. The work that Sydney has done will encourage discussion on the topic of religion amongst youth and spark a connection to the Lord.

Chara Williams Creatively in Common Chara noticed that a lot of creatives didn’t know how to protect their work online, and found that there was also a lack of resources to clearly explain intellectual property for young adults. In order to address this, for her Gold Award project, Chara created a website and wrote a book for teens to explain intellectual property law.

Aasha Yeluri Together We Code, Together We Create Many micro-businesses, primarily minority women owned and operated from their homes, have been struggling with accessibility to customers due to the impacts on communication because of COVID-19. Aasha’s Gold Award Project “Together We Code, Together We Create” was created to support these small business owners as they create a digital presence by developing their own customized websites. Websites for the micro businesses were developed using HTML, CSS, Java scripting, google forms and PHP, and then digital marketing was enabled. Aasha’s project supported the following companies’ websites: storytantra.com, dimpusdhaba.net, sunrise-yoga.net, cuscode.org. Additionally, to help with reducing the gender gap in technology and maintain sustainability for the project, Aasha mentored girls in the above web development technologies, enabling them to develop interest and pursue careers in technology.

Lillian Zullow STEM Carnival: Making Science Fun Lillian’s Gold Award addressed the lack of STEM education in Middlesex County. She hosted a STEM booth at the Middlesex County 4H Fair where she created, prepared, and ran STEM-related crafts and activities for attendees. By designing crafts and activities, with informational flyers containing instructions on how to do these crafts at home, children were able to both try out STEM concepts and continue their education on these topics in the future. During the fair where Lillian held a booth, she met with over 100 people every day, where she was able to deepen their interests and knowledge in STEM.

Thank You! A very special thank you to the volunteers that serve on the following Gold Award Review Committees:

Cherry Hill

East Brunswick

Princeton

Shore Area

West Windsor

Virtual Committee 39

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