Medfield Girl Scouts Hold International Tea for Seniors on Quest for Bronze Award

Medfield Girl Scout Troop 72188 held an International tea party for residents of as the community service requirement for their Bronze Award, the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can receive.

The troop of four girls – Jenna Woodard, Rory McNaughton, Maddy Holm and Katy Enos – spent many hours over the past several months planning the tea that approximately 20 residents attended last week. 

Attendees were able to sample tea and homemade desserts made by each girl from a country of their heritage including Scotland, Ireland, Sweden and Germany. 

“I thought it was fun and it was great to see the smiles on their faces,” said Rory, whose table had an Ireland theme. “They loved it. They were laughing and having fun.”

Rory’s table included bread and butter, a plate of Irish Roses (Irish chocolates), and Irish soda bread, which she made for the party.

Jenna’s Scotland-themed table included chocolate scones and pound cake that she baked for the party.

“I think the seniors liked the tea because they made new friends,” she said.

The basis of the Bronze Award project is to find a need in the community and find a way to fill it. 

This group of fifth graders voted to share their friendship with senior citizens in town and met with Council on Aging Director Roberta Lynch to see how to best implement their plan.

Each scout did a great deal of research and planning for the party. On each table were placemats that reflected something about their country, balloons that reflected the country’s national colors, and a flag from the selected country as well as the United States. 

Each girl served tea and desserts to their guests and, when needed, asked questions to initiate conversation.

The girls all agreed that the event was a success.

“I thought that it was a fun event that we got to make seniors happy,” said Maddy. “I think they liked the party because they looked pleased when they left.”

Maddy’s table had a Sweden theme and included several baskets of Swedish cinnamon buns she made for the party.

Maddy said her favorite part of the day was when she played her clarinet for the group. Her selections included the theme song to “Beauty and the Beast” and her own original piece called “Two Tides.” The seniors clapped loudly after each song.

Katy said her favorite part was bringing joy to the seniors and getting to sample all the desserts that she and her friends made.

“I learned where a lot of foods came from … I didn’t know pretzels were from Germany, I thought they were from the United States,” said Katy, whose German-themed table included pretzels, doughnuts and German chocolate cake served on Pfaltzgraff stoneware (made in the United States by the Pfaltzgraff family, which emigrated from Germany).

“It was interesting to find out where people were from and how they ended up in Medfield,” she said.