Four local Girl Scouts lend their help to their elementary school while earning their Silver Award.

By Mary O’KEEFE

Earning a Silver Award in Girl Scouts is not a simple procedure. There are several steps that need to be taken as Girl Scouts move toward completing the process. These include deciding what they want to do for their project and how they can accomplish it. The current pandemic has made it even more challenging as the girls are limited on the types of projects they can undertake and how many helpers they can have.

A Silver Award project can be worked on by a small group of Girl Scouts or by a solo girl. Prior to even deciding on the project there are steps and outreach efforts that must be followed.

“The planning started last year with a presentation to the [Crescenta Valley Girl Scout] Council,” said Molly Necus, an eighth grader and a member of Girl Scout Troop 4511.

Four members of Troop 4511 – Ariah Armen, Valen Aznavourian, Sabrina Ordubegian and Molly – decided they wanted their Silver Award project to “give back” to the elementary school they attended, Mountain Avenue Elementary School. The girls met with Principal Jaclyn Scott to discuss various ideas.

“We had quite a few meetings with the principal and she had quite a few ideas,” Molly said.

The girls discussed with Principal Scott the possibilities of what they could do to help the school. They met virtually and in person in a park where they followed strict COVID-19 guidelines.

The four girls, all Rosemont Middle School eighth graders, are now working together to paint the storage bins on the upper and lower fields at their former elementary school. The bins are storage for several items including the students’ earthquake emergency bags.

“[The bins] were pretty rusty,” Valen said.

Once the project for the Silver Award was decided upon the girls split into smaller groups and then moved forward. They had several planning sessions to decide what design they would like to paint on the bins. They came up with a few designs and worked together to combine the artwork. The storage bin in the lower field will have the silhouette of children playing and the upper field bin will have a mountain scape to reflect the geography that surrounds the school.

“The weather has been a [bit] of a hardship,” Sabrina said. “Last time we worked it was very hot.”

And they did have to change some of their meetings due to the smoke from the Bobcat Fire.

In addition to earning the Silver Award, the girls said they were just happy to be volunteering and being with each other, even though they had to maintain social distancing and wear face coverings.

“We are all friends. All of our meetings are super fun,” Ariah said. “We have all known each other since [elementary] school.”

Molly added that having friends from Girl Scouts has helped them transition from elementary to middle school and will continue to help when they move on to Crescenta Valley High School.

While they finish their Mountain Avenue project they have an eye on the future as they begin to think about the next level: their Gold Award.

  Mary Okeefe