Samantha Krautheim and Melissa Comune earn Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award
West Milford. The girls persevered through the many obstacles that COVID threw at them to complete their journey.
| 28 Jan 2021 | 12:13
Samantha Krautheim and Melissa Comune of Cadette Troop 94899 of West Milford were recently awarded the Silver Award.
The Silver Award is the highest award that a Cadette Girl Scout can achieve and the second highest award in Girl Scouting. Only 10 percent of Girl Scouts earn the Silver Award.
In order to achieve this award, both girls had to first complete a “journey.” which included a Take Action Project.
Samantha Krautheim’s journey
Samantha chose to complete the Outdoor Journey. This required her to first earn the Night Owl, Trailblazing and Primitive Camper badges.
She then chose for her Take Action Project something related to the outdoors.
Samantha realized that many younger scouts do not have the opportunity to learn some of the basic outdoor skills such as orienteering. So she then mapped out and created an orienteering course for the Wallisch Homestead.
She shared this via email and Facebook during COVID to the West Milford Girl Scouts.
Melissa Comune’s journey
Melissa worked on a different journey that involved a different set of Life Skills- the aMAZE! Journey.
This journey required Melissa to work with other girls in the troop to find out how to develop true friendships, navigate cliques and move beyond stereotypes with the ultimate goal of peace in their interpersonal relationships.
For their Take Action project, Melissa and the other girls held a Zoom meeting in the Spring where they taught younger scouts through self-made videos and demonstrations how to recognize and respond to bullying, how “words hurt” with a Sally Scout activity, how to make friendship bracelets and how to brighten someone’s day with something as simple as a picture.
Younger girls shared their own experiences with bullying and being an “upstander.”
The Silver Award Project
For their Silver Award Project, Samantha and Melissa chose to replace parts and refurbish the gazebo and picnic area of the High Crest Lake Community.
They first approached the High Crest Board, then presented their plan, gathered donations of materials and worked over the summer to complete the project.
They even enlisted the help of a few younger Girl Scouts.
Grills were painted, benches painted or replaced, landscaping completed and the gazebo was scrubbed and stained.
The girls persevered through the many obstacles that COVID threw at them.