Girl Scouts in Westborough

Rachel Van Heest, Westborough Girl Scout troop 30596, read about the Ecotarium's call for help in carving pumpkins for their annual Great Pumpkin Fest. The  idea was brought to her Girl Scout troop about helping out. Together the troop  came up with the idea to open it up to the thirty Girl Scout troops in town. Each of the 315 girls was invited to bring a parent with them, for safety reasons, and their own carving utensils.  The event was planned for a Sunday afternoon at the walkway at Fales School. Due to the storm that day girls and parents came and picked up pumpkin. They brought them home to carve and returned them for delivery.  With each pumpkin that was carved the girl  received a free ticket into the Ecotarium’s event. If the girls did not take their tickets then they were donated  to the Westborough’s YWCA. Special thanks to the parents that helped with the carving, picking up, and dropping off pumpkins. Without their help this event would not have been possible.

Westborough resident Elizabeth Anderson has earned the Girl Scout Silver Award and will be honored at a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Worcester on May 3.  The Silver Award is the second highest award granted to a Girl Scout in grades 7-9.  Elizabeth has been a Girl Scout for 10 years and is a current member of Troop 30195.

The Girl Scout Gold Award, highest award in Girl Scouts, will be given to Leah Garber at a council wide ceremony on May 3rd at the Crowne Plaza in Worcester.  Leah is a member of Westborough Girl Scout troop 30633 led by Charlene Aldrich and Judy Wilchynski.  Leah will graduate from Westborough High School on June 6. She is a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the rollerblading club. Her interests at school involve being a member of the Environmental Club, and a member of the indoor and outdoor Track and Field team. . Leah has been a member of Girl Scouts for 10 years, and will continue as a lifetime member. This summer she will be working as a lifeguard and swim instructor. She plans to study business a Northeastern University in the fall.

 

Her project consisted of two parts. The first piece was educational. For this she recreated the town recycling brochure that explains dump rules and has recycling statistics. In addition, she held a seminar at a local church for kids and adults. For adults, she presented a Power Point on how to recycle, why to recycle, and what to recycle. At the seminar, informational pamphlets from the Board of Health and the Mass DEP in Worcester on recycling, composting and energy savings  were distributed. The pamphlets remaining were donated to the Board of Health  for use within Westborough. Mr. Ben Harvey, of E. L Harvey’s and Sons, and Mr. Paul McNulty, Director of Public Health, attended the seminar and served as Leah's advisors during the project.  At the children’s seminar, they were taught about recycling and then made bird feeders out of recyclable materials. The second part of the project involves the implementation of recycling receptacles in town at playing fields. Leah has worked with the John Walden, manager of the Department of Public Works,  and Ben Harvey of E. L. Harvey and Sons to obtain them, have graphics placed on them, and have the receptacles placed at fields around town so attendees at sports events can use them rather than just throw water bottles away. Leah has worked with John Walden to arrange for placement and continued emptying of the receptacles over the spring to fall months.  These will be picked up regularly by the DPW. During the project Leah worked very closely with town officials and private business to implement her Gold Award project.  Since then, she has been asked to participate in a recycling information program at Solomon Pond Mall and participated in an educational program at the Harvey Farm. 

Last year, approximately 5,500 girls across the country received the Girl Scout Gold Award. That was around 5.4% of the eligible registered Girl Scouts in grades 10-12.  If the project is a service, it should be something that creates change or action with long-term possibilities, empowering others besides just the girl; if it is something tangible, it should come with a plan for use and maintenance within the community. The project is more than a good service project—it encompasses organizational, leadership, and networking skills. Requirements for the Girl Scout Gold Award are several and must be completed and approved prior to the start of the project.  Each girl must earn the Girl Scout Gold Leadership award, earn the Girl Scout Career award by having a paying job or to do a total of 40 hours related to career exploration. In earning the Girl Scout 4B's Challenge award the girls have an opportunity to assess their skill set and achieve two goals related to self improvement, create a community profile to find out the community needs and assets, create a vision for change within the community and to focus on developing a specific network of people who will help with the vision.  Each Girl Scout then makes an application for her project to the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts Gold Award committee and is assigned an advisor from the committee.  Tammy Breen, GSCWM Teen Program Specialist, oversees the volunteer committee advisors and is responsible for all Gold and Silver award applications and the council ceremony.

 

 

Leah is the daughter of Dr. Larry Garber, Southboro and Leslie Garber of Westborough.