Three Medfield Girl Scouts Earn Gold Award

This year, three Medfield Girls Scouts earned their Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. 

Anna Krah, Jen Lifsitz and Amelia Steeger received their award at a Gold Award Banquet in March and were recognized Thursday night at the Medfield Girl Scouts end-of-the-year Bridging and Awards Ceremony. 

To earn the Gold Award, which is similar in ranking to the Boy Scout Eagle Award, each girl had to choose a challenging project that would leave a lasting impact on the community, then spend at least 80 hours planning and implementing the project. 

Here is a synopsis of those projects as described in the awards program. 

Anna Krah, "Coexisting Cultures"

Coexisting Cultures addressed the issue of recognizing and appreciating different cultures while living in Medfield. My project raised awareness of the need to expand our understanding of the cultures of China and Nicaragua. It cultivated a relationship between members of a small town to members of a larger, global word. It created long-lasting friendships that extend across continents. Through events, arts and crafts, games, and other activities, we became more familiar with the customs and culture in China. Though our backgrounds are vastly different, we share many of the same passions and interests. With the help of dedicated volunteers and my support friends, we gathered eyeglasses and shoes to share with the people of Nicaragua. Through these collections, we were able to increase awareness of the different struggles in other cultures while benefitting families in need. Ultimately, we fostered hope, empowered relationships, and expanded people's visions of different cultures.

Jen Lifsitz, "Abundant Table"

The Abundant Table is a place where dinner and dessert are served to homeless and impoverished people in a restaurant style twice a week. I noticed between dinner and dessert some guests had friends who they socialized with, but others did not. I knew if I was there, I would want someone to talk to or something to do during the lull between dinner and dessert. I decided to plan games for all the guests to play together. Each month, I prepared for my evening at the Abundant Table. I planned a game, came up with prizes and decided upon a homemade dessert to serve. I would recruit people to help make the prizes, make the desserts, and to attend the night of the dinner to help run the games and serve the meal. Some games I planned for the guests included: Jeopardy, Family Feud, trivia, and charades. Prizes were handed out during the games. For example, we handed out pumpkins in October, homemade snow globes in December, and tissue paper covered jars filled with candy hearts in February. In addition, I found recipes for cheesecake, trifle, strawberry shortcake, and apple crisp and asked for volunteers to bake. I also created a resource book. The Abundant Table was in need of a resource book which would give people information on who they could contact for help. I created a manual that contains information regarding substance abuse hotlines, medical assistance, financial aid, alternate food sources, shelters, and other resources. It includes pamphlets, descriptions of the organization, phone numbers and additional information. I searched the web, contacted various town halls, contacted Council on Aging, and other organizations for this information. 

Amelia Steeger, "Cranes for Change"

My Girl Scout Gold Award project established an environmental awareness and action group for kids. Through expanding kids' knowledge of environmental issues we face today, using games, skits, projects and crafts, my hope was to inspire them to make small, incremental changes like turning off lights when leaving a room, turning off the water when brushing their teeth, or changing light bulbs to more energy-efficient ones, etc. These small changes made in lifestyle in their homes, schools and community, I hoped, would add up to a big shift in what we all need to do to help slow climate change. I ran several programs in conjunction with the Medfield Afterschool Programs for various age groups as well as held monthly information and educational events. At every gathering, kids learned how to make paper cranes out of used magazine pages. Each crane represented a change each kid committed to make in his or her own life that would hopefully lessen their carbon footprint. We made 1,000 cranes and, according to Japanese lore, when you make 1,000 paper cranes, you are granted a wish. Ultimately, my personal wish was to enable kids to become environmental activists.