Girl Scouts Go For the Gold …And Get It!

by Pat Allen

(June 11, 2008) The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn and is given to only about five percent of Senior Girl Scouts in grades 10 – 12. Yet on Tuesday, June 3, in a ceremony at Mamaroneck High School, four members of Senior Girl Scout Troop 1838 received Gold Awards.

Sheri Aronowitz, Katie Howard, Devon Serrano and Elise Sjostedt, all MHS seniors, were honored by a host of distinguished guests, including Schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried, County Legislator Judy Meyers, Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe, Mamaroneck Village Mayor Kathleen Savolt, Larchmont Village Mayor Liz Feld, and Annette Alve from the Westchester County Office for Women. Representing Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson were Field Manager Jean Lewis and CEO Carmela Raiti, who presented the girls with their Gold Award pins. From the local scout community, the girls received lifetime membership pins and a plaque bearing their names to be hung at the Larchmont Girl Scout House.

Gold Award recipients (l-r): Elise Sjostedt, Sheri Aronowitz, Katie Howard, Devon Serrano.

Earning the Gold Award takes years of hard work as well as the creativity, passion and dedication to create and complete a Gold Award project. Most of the girls started working towards the award in ninth grade. The requirements included demonstrating their skills through at least 30 hours in a leadership role as well as 40 hours of career exploration. That was in addition to numerous hours fulfilling other requirements aimed at helping them learn about themselves, explore community issues and demonstrate their understanding of Girl Scout values.

Each of the girls then developed her own project, focusing on an issue that was both personally meaningful and had the potential to make a lasting impact on the community. While the girls were required to spend at least 65 hours planning and carrying out their projects, most of them invested even more time than that. Devon Serrano estimated she spent at least 100 hours on her project. She commented, “I would never ask for a better way to spend my time.”

Brownie Troop 1825 joined World War II veteran Tony Marsella in singing "America the Beautiful".

Diane Sjostedt, who has led the troop since the girls were in first grade, guided them along the way. “Working on their projects brought out their people and organizational skills to a level I do not think they knew they could achieve in the beginning,” she said. “The selection of a project idea made them seriously examine their personal interests and how they could apply them to their research of community needs. The feeling of giving back to the community is in the best traditions of Girl Scouting and has been an empowering one for each of my girls.”

Sheri Aronowitz built upon her love of music and established a free choral program at a Bronx Creative Arts Center called Mind Builders. By teaching disadvantaged elementary school children vocal skills, she was able to foster a greater understanding and love of music in these children.

Katie Howard tackled the issue of alcohol and drug abuse in our own community by instituting a Teen Movie Night at the Mamaroneck Library, which serves as a healthy recreational alternative for area teens. The program has now been incorporated as a regular part of the Mamaroneck Library programming.

Devon Serrano leveraged her exceptional softball skills to coach, manage and sponsor a softball team for second and third grade girls in Larchmont and Mamaroneck. She offered a skills development program to prepare them for participation in higher level softball teams. The program, that included a curriculum and play book for future coaches, has become a regular part of softball preparation for younger children.

Elise Sjostedt is a poetry lover who conducted “slam” performance poetry workshops for students at Mamaroneck High School. Her program offered teens a positive way to express their feelings and experiences instead of turning to alcohol and drugs. Her project also promoted literacy, self confidence and positive self-esteem. She also established a “slam” poetry club to continue workshops in future years and to maintain annual “slam” poetry events at MHS.

The girls noted the tremendous amount they had learned from the Gold Award experience. Elise, who considered herself a shy person, realized she could take command of a group and be a successful leader, while Katie discovered that she is really committed to finding ways to teach and foster the values of self-esteem, respect and healthy life choices.

“My Gold Award project is something that I can look back on in the future and know that I have made a difference,” said Sheri, probably reflecting the feelings of all of the girls. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Diane Sjostedt and the girls would like to thank their families and project mentors as well as all of the troops and individuals who participated in their Gold Award Ceremony.

Pat Allen is the Volunteer Community Chair for Girl Scouts of Larchmont – Mamaroneck.

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