Submitted by Mary Callis.
On August 28, 2019, seniors Shelby Whitehead, Julia Callis, and Julia Sacchi of Killingworth’s Girl Scout troop 63350, earned the honor of their Gold Award. This is the highest achievement earned in Girl scouting. These girls have been very active in scouting for 12 years and met the national standards of the GS of the USA. They each put in a minimum of 80 hours researching an issue, discussing it with community mentors, assembling a team, and leading this team to complete a sustainable project addressing a community need.
Shelby created a gluten free curriculum for the HKMS’s foods class including videos showing how easy it is to cook gluten free meals. She purchased new pots and pans for the school that are safe for the students with Celiac disease. She also created a pamphlet to educate the students and the entire community about living with, and ways to cope with having Celiac disease at school, home, and even on class trips. Not only will this gluten free section be taught annually in the foods class to our students at HKMS, but her pamphlets are also available at the Youth and Family Services department for all individuals in our community.
Julia Callis made a mobile recipe board with 54 pockets filled with recipes for the Clinton Shoreline Soup Kitchen and Pantries. She had an opening day event in August with food samples for all to try. The recipes included all the produce and herbs that are available at the pantry which primarily have been grown at the Clinton Food For All Garden. These recipes are available to help teach the people receiving the fresh produce, ways to cook and eat the unique options available at the pantry. Now each week all their produce will be chosen instead of just the familiar ones. The recipe book as well as a downloaded copy are available on the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries’ website.
The goal of Julia Sacchi ‘s project was to plant the seeds for positive self-esteem and acceptance of others for kindergarteners through games, art, and literature. Aided by a team of friends, Julia developed lesson plans using books and activities designed to help the youngsters embrace their uniqueness and accept others for theirs in Mrs Sullivan’s kindergarten class. Julia’s project culminated in her leading a workshop for all the kindergarten classes at KES during the school’s day-long Festival of Arts and Sciences. Inspired by the book Only One You by Linda Kranz, the kindergarteners painted their own rocks and implemented them in a rock garden located at the school.
All three of these girls are also very active at HKHS in various sports and clubs, and each already earned hundreds of community service hours. They all are looking forward to attend college next fall and will soon be having their GS Gold pinning ceremony to celebrate this prestigious achievement.
