Wexford, Gibsonia Girl Scouts earn Gold Award

Four local Girl Scouts recently earned their Gold Awards.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is one of the highest achievements in Girl Scouting. Western Pennsylvania Gold Award Girl Scouts cumulatively logged more than 5,000 hours of service while designing and implementing projects to benefit their communities and create an impact that will continue to last beyond their involvement.

They were recognized during a celebration on May 22 at the Chadwick in Wexford.

Ariella Avigad of Wexford completed a mentoring project. After observing that many children were struggling during the pandemic, Avigad focused her Gold Award project on designing a mentoring program for third to fifth graders at two local elementary schools. She paired elementary school kids with high school students, who met virtually throughout the school year. Mentors assisted with homework, played games and served as additional support for the young students. At the end of the year, she sent out a survey to the mentees’ parents, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. As a result, they are continuing the program this year.

Lauren Elizabeth Hudecek’s project was called More than an Outfit (Remembering the Littlest Angels). She addressed the significant pain felt by mothers and families when they lose a baby. Hudecek, of Gibsonia, held open discussions on the topic and created packages for grieving families that included handmade white gowns, diapers, white hats and sympathy cards, carefully wrapped and packaged for hand-delivery. She delivered approximately 65 packages to Magee Women’s Hospital.

Wexford’s Sydney Komoroski refreshed an activity space at the local Boys and Girls Club of America. She revamped the area by setting up a reading tent and supplying books, games and crafts. Komoroski researched and made educational videos on the issue of pollution. She also provided the Boy and Girls Club access to the videos and ideas on how to make crafts using recycled bottle caps. She collected bottle caps and made up craft bags for the children at the organization.

Lakshmi Valli Natesan of Gibsonia addressed the lack of female representation in history by creating educational videos and lesson plans for students at a local elementary school. She worked with a teacher to highlight impactful women in history based on the time period the students were studying. Natesan led discussions that encouraged students to draw parallels between the past and the present while introducing them to strong female role models.