2016 Gold Award Ceremony Program

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Agenda 8:30 – 9:00 a.m.

Registration, Shopping and Photography 9:00 a.m.

Presentation of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance and Girl Scout Promise Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America performed by the South Florida Jubilee Chorus

Flag Ceremony

conducted by Troop 20441

Welcome Breakfast

9:50 a.m.

Opening Remarks Recognition of the Gold Award Advisors Presentation of the Gold Awards Announcement of the Barbara Ann Turner Scholarship Recipient Announcement of the Kathryn C. Vecellio Scholarship Recipient 100 Years of Gold Special Thanks Closing Remarks 11:00 a.m.

Group photos

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About the Gold Award

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout in grades 9-12 may earn. Someone once described the Gold Award as being “what you really want to be remembered for” in Girl Scouting. For many, the leadership skills, organizational skills and sense of community and commitment that come from “going for the Gold” set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship.

The Gold Award Project

The Gold Award project is something that a girl can be passionate about—in thought, deed and action. The project fulfills a need within a girl’s community (whether local or global), creates change and will become sustainable. If it is an event, the event should be something that people will continue for the next year; if it is a service, it should be something that creates change or action with long-term possibilities; if it is something tangible, it should come with a plan for use and maintenance within the community.

The project is more than a good service project — it demands the highest level of organizational, leadership and project management skills.

Our Gold Award Recipients

Samantha Gaynor Elise Howard Hannah Liebowitz Hannah Lindgren Sophia Meloro

Alexandria Milidantri Alexandra Reccasina Sara Recht Rebecca Shipman Nicole Smith

Emily Tomchin Alexis Vantrees Kate Weiksnar Isabel Winn

Our Gold Award Advisors Julia Angle Karyl Bertram Raeann Brewer Debra Byrne-Mathews Sandra Clutter Paula Fontaine Shayne Gutierrez

Sophie Gutierrez Jayme Harrington Deborah Lewis Merribeth Manning Nazly Nardi Kim Schnitzius Elena Schultz

Rebecca Schultz Joyce Shraim Sandra Stoddard Lisa Wadley Emily Zarzycki

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Gold Award Recipients Class of 2016 Projects completed by April 1, 2016

Samantha Gaynor - Troop 10717 Get Spotted Gold Award Advisor: Shayne Gutierrez Blazing Star Service Unit Like many other Girl Scouts, Samantha was raised to be kind, considerate and incredibly helpful. As a result of her upbringing, she tends to notice similar actions of others and how people perform altruistic acts all the time without any expectation of recognition. That’s when a lightbulb turned on! Get Spotted is all about recognizing and acknowledging people for doing the right thing. Samantha created Get Spotted cards that could be distributed to people when they performed these random acts of kindness and to inspire a person to continue helping others. The response to this project has been phenomenal and Samantha has even been able to share this project while visiting other states during the duration of her Gold Award. Additionally, her website and Facebook page have the potential to reach every country in the world! By simply recognizing a person’s random benevolent act and encouraging others to emulate that behavior, she’s started a project that will hopefully grow to where the whole world can ‘get spotted’.

Elise Howard - Troop 20651 River Center Mobile Gold Award Advisor: Emily Zarzycki Jupiter Service Unit

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The River Center in Jupiter is a popular environmental area filled with beautiful scenery and wildlife, but unfortunately, some of their exhibits were not as engaging as they could be and lacked additional information that could be acquired during a guided tour. Additionally, the outdoor trail system had no map that showed the layout of the trail and the plants along it. Elise decided that the River Center needed a little help so she did what any other tech-savvy teen would do—she developed a mobile Android app.

The app had all the bells and whistles to bring a new sense of discovery to the center. She was able to include additional information on each of the exhibits, an audio tour she recorded that visitors could follow, an interactive scavenger hunt and a trail map with details about the plants. This technology update brings a new interactive experience for visitors to the River Center.

Hannah Liebowitz - Troop 10728 Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Gold Award Advisors: Elena and Rebecca Schultz Everglades Service Unit Cats—they’re adorable, cuddly, and their presence alone often brings a sense of calm to anyone. But when feral cats are left to roam the streets, their health quickly declines and they begin to reproduce at a rapid rate because of the lack of veterinary services. Hannah teamed up with Cause for Paws to develop an educational program about the importance of spaying and neutering furry family members. She found out that, among her peers, there was very little knowledge about why the overpopulation could be so detrimental and even result in the euthanizing of countless cats. Her program is now available online and is being shared throughout her community to continue to educate future pet owners.

Hannah Lindgren - Troop 10087 Project AIR: Art Inspires Recovery Gold Award Advisor: Sophie Gutierrez Sandy Beaches Service Unit Homelessness is a global issue and seems to be getting bigger. Hannah wanted to address this issue and come up with ideas to help those living in shelters or transitional housing to persevere through these challenges. After meeting with staff at the Broward Outreach Center, Hannah realized that the atmosphere within the center felt a bit ‘down’. She decided that an art therapy program may be just what the doctor ordered; this is where Project AIR: Art Inspires Recovery began to take shape. By giving the residents the opportunity to transform their space with paint and inspiring ceiling tiles, it almost immediately brought a change in everyone—they felt encouraged to get up and seek a future for themselves. Project AIR will allow incoming residents of Broward Outreach to contribute their creativity to their living space and empower them to reach for the stars.

Sophia Meloro - Troop 10409 Liquidate Lionfish!

Gold Award Advisor: Julia Angle Kowechobe Service Unit Florida coral reefs are becoming damaged and overpopulated by a source that many have no idea about—lionfish. Sophia worked with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Biscayne National Park to create a lionfish awareness campaign, which she shared through weekly sessions to educate the public. Lionfish are not only a problem in Florida but also the Bahamas, North Carolina, and even Massachusetts. Sophia’s efforts have been recognized worldwide and she was invited to participate in the first ever youth conference for the National Marine Educators Association to expand her campaign indefinitely.

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Alexandria Milidantri - Troop 30420 Invasive Species Awareness Gold Award Advisor: Paula Fontaine Sea Star Service Unit Each day, the Hobe Sound Nature Center receives visitors from all continents interested in what South Florida wildlife has to offer. Alexandria quickly found out that people were introducing invasive species into their communities, which causes huge ecosystem problems. Working with the Hobe Sound Nature Center, she was able to develop an education program about native and non-native wildlife and raise awareness about the importance of reporting areas of invasive species for safe removal.

Alexandra Reccasina - Troop 10892 Wetland Bird Relief Tiles Gold Award Advisors: Elena and Rebecca Schultz Everglades Service Unit South Florida is home to so many varieties of wildlife—especially wetland birds. Through Alexandra’s Gold Award project, she created relief tiles for the Sawgrass Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital. A relief tile is a tile with a raised pattern that one would be able to ‘rub’ an image onto it. With this, Alexandra was able to create a kit that includes the project itself, as well as a full educational program about why wetland preservation is so important to our friends in flight.

Sara Recht - Troop 20987 Grow Up! Gold Award Advisor: Paula Fontaine Luna Service Unit The Youth Activity Center (YAC) is a non-profit organization promoting an affordable and nurturing aftercare and summer camp program for children. Unfortunately, the YAC had very little maintained green space for children to play, learn outdoor skills, or even relax for a few minutes. Sara wanted to bring her love of the outdoors and gardening to the youth at YAC, so she decided to revitalize the outdoor area and develop a gardening and outdoor program. Using her resources from product sales and programs she developed, she was able to clean up the space to include a flower and butterfly garden, as well as purchase a bench and update the on-site gazebo. In addition to her gardening program, she included a military project as well—she tied yellow, weather-resistant nautical rope to the trees to represent deployed soldiers as the community awaits their return from serving our country.

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Rebecca Shipman - Troop 10955 Tie It Back Gold Award Advisor: Debra Byrne-Mathews Magnolia Service Unit Affected a family diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, Rebecca sought to create a program to aid children whose parents or grandparents are in similar situations. She wanted to help them develop coping skills to manage the stress and anxiety associated with a diagnosis that ultimately affects everyone. Her project included presentations to peers describing techniques which included journaling and craft projects. Tie It Back seeks to foster a sense of community and support among children and families of people living with MS and offer them a safe place for expression. Her project is being implemented at the South Florida chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s annual Kid’s Camp.

Nicole Smith - Troop 10728 The Magic of Butterflies Gold Award Advisor: Sandra Stoddard Everglades Service Unit Our ecosystem is so incredibly precious, and often, in an effort to bring in new plant life to our environment, people sometimes plant exotic or intrusive plants that can do more harm than good. Nicole wanted to educate the community on how to transform green spaces into safe and enjoyable areas.

She encouraged the installation of plants and trees that attract butterflies and hummingbirds while ensuring that the green spaces are taken care of for years to come. Nicole held gardening workshops and developed educational pamphlets for youth to gain skills that will help them continue to impact our green spaces for the future.

Emily Tomchin - Troop 10717 Empowering Students Around the World Gold Award Advisor: Lisa Wadley Blazing Star Service Unit Emily is passionate about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and has been for years.

She also is aware of the lack of resources for STEM education, both locally and globally. Because of this, Emily was determined to make changes that count. Her goal was to empower students through STEM education, which was achieved through various events to help inspire girls and young students to become involved in the subject area. With the help of grant funders, her community and her school, she was able to create exciting STEM software programs which were uploaded onto tablets which were shared with local Title I Schools as well as the Three Little Flowers School in Haiti. So far, her project has reached 950 students through events, STEM kits, tablet donations and even more through her website.

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Alexis Vantrees - Troop 10944 Play It Forward: Happiness Helps Healing Gold Award Advisor: Julia Angle Wildflower Service Unit Modern medicine is great, but sometimes we need a healthy distraction to keep our mind sharp. Alexis knows this all too well. After spending countless hours in the hospital with an ill sibling, Alexis decided that she wanted her Gold Award project to focus around the emotional and psychological healing for someone recovering from an illness. Alexis, with the help of her project team and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, created card games to be distributed to families to play during hospital stays to ensure healthy family interactions and happy healing of mind, body and soul.

Kate Weiksnar - Troop 30363 Libraries for Lovin’ Literacy Gold Award Advisor: Paula Fontaine Sea Star Service Unit From an early age, Kate loved books for many different reasons- the colors, pictures, story lines and characters. Because of this, she wanted to share her love of books with communities that have high rates of illiteracy. Low literacy rates are linked to poverty in many parts of the country and many families don’t always have the resources needed to strengthen their family’s reading capabilities. With Kate’s library honor system of ‘take a book, leave a book’, she was able to bring more resources to povertystricken areas that may not even have access to public libraries. Through this Take Action project, Kate hopes to inspire others to perhaps build their own mini lending libraries in their communities!

Isabel Winn House for the Howlers Gold Award Advisor: Joseph Landmichl Girl Scouts of Northern California Council* When Isabel saw, first-hand, the dilapidated condition of the Howler Monkey exhibit at the Palm Beach Zoo, she knew immediately that something had to be done. After chatting with the zoo staff and with the help of some pretty talented adults, Isabel redesigned and reconstructed a stimulating enclosure that the Howler Monkeys would enjoy. The easy-to-maintain, adventurous habitat for the monkeys allows for them to move freely throughout the exhibit as well as encourage healthy eating and moving habits for the Howlers. *Although Isabel partnered with a local organization for her Gold Award project, she completed it while a member of Troop 31468 in the Girl Scouts of Northern California. She has since moved to Florida and is now a member of Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida.

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Barbara Ann Turner Scholarship Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida is honored to award the “Service From the Heart” Scholarship in memory of Barbara Ann Turner, a dedicated volunteer. Barbara had many interests in her life, but nothing was as dear to her as Girl Scouts. She served as a leader, council trainer, service unit manager and women’s history committee member. She shared her enthusiasm and commitment to the Girl Scout volunteer spirit in the many service projects she organized. Her wish was that an ongoing scholarship be established to recognize exceptional community service. This dream was realized when the first scholarship was awarded in 2008 to one Girl Scout in the amount of $500.

Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida has been extremely pleased that, thanks to the generosity of ongoing donations, the scholarship has been increased to $1000. In this spirit, the “Service From the Heart” Scholarship will continue to be awarded annually to a high school age Girl Scout, who is currently registered in our Council who has given exceptional service to her community.

Elise Howard

2016 Barbara Ann Turner Scholarship Recipient Elise is a senior in the Computer Science program at Suncoast High School. She has been a Girl Scout for twelve years, and previously served as both Girl Adviser to the GSSEF Board of Directors and a Delegate to the Triennium National Meeting. For her Gold Project, Elise worked on using her programming skills to build an Android app that increases the interactivity of the Loxahatchee River Center. Elise will be attending the University of Central Florida and will dual major in Chemical Engineering/Biochemistry and Computer Science for her bachelor’s degrees, and then continue with a PhD in Bioengineering with a Computer Science focus. As a career, Elise hopes to go into the biomolecular engineering field and invent technology that uses microbiology to augment electronic and computer systems.

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Kathryn C. Vecellio Scholarship In 2016, Kathryn C. Vecellio endowed a Scholarship Fund that would annually recognize the outstanding efforts of a local Girl Scout who has earned the Gold Award and who exemplifies the values of the Girl Scout Mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.

In order to be considered for this scholarship, a Girl Scout must: • Have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award (Current year recipients will also be considered) • Be a senior in high school who has already been accepted to a college or university, or is a currently enrolled undergraduate student • Have a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) • Exemplify the Girl Scout values of courage, confidence and character.

Proceeds from the endowment will be awarded each year to one recipient. The amount of the scholarship may vary from year to year. In 2016, the recipient of the Kathryn C. Vecellio Scholarship will receive $1,500 toward her studies at the college or university she is attending.

Alexis Joy Rizzolo

2016 Kathryn C. Vecellio Scholarship Recipient Alexis Joy Rizzolo is a junior at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she is pursuing a quadruple major in Music, Anthropology, Sociology and Criminal Justice. Her future plans include pursuing Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Forensic Anthropology and working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A lifetime member of Girl Scouts, Alexis earned both a Bronze and Silver Award before earning her Gold Award in 2014. Her project involved creating rolling scrapbook stations that would allow pediatric oncology patients to harness their creativity and express their emotions during treatment.

A self-proclaimed former introvert, Alexis credits the leadership skills she gained through Girl Scouts for her strong sense of self, positive core values, practical life skills and critical thinking ability—values that continue to set her apart from her peers.

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Special Thanks to...

Waterstone Resort & Marina South Florida Jubilee Chorus Sandra Clutter for creating the Gold Award and Companion Pin sashes 11

The Girl Scout Promise On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The Girl Scout Law I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.

The Girl Scout Mission Girl Scouts builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.

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www.gssef.org

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