Troop 60777 Completes Bronze Award with Community Beach Project
Written By: Charlotte Nicklous, Carolina Ramos, and Victoria Ramos
Girl Scout Troop 60777, comprised of 5th-grade students from Old Saybrook Middle School, recently completed their Bronze Award. The Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can achieve! The Bronze Award involves multiple steps, including completing a Girl Scout Journey, earning the Take Action Award badge, completing a project and “spreading the word” about what we did. We had to build our team, explore the community, choose and plan our project, and put the plan in motion. It took our troop two years to complete these steps.
The first step to our Bronze Award was building our team. Our team consisted of our troop leaders, parent volunteers, and the Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation. The next step was to explore our community. Our Troop made observations around town and brainstormed ideas that would help our community and make a lasting difference. After some discussion, we decided to build a Beach Toy Borrow Bin to keep toys off the beach and out of the ocean to prevent pollution and waste. The Beach Toy Borrow Bin is also good for families that are visiting Old Saybrook and might not have toys to play with.
Over the course of two meetings, we met to design the Beach Toy Borrow Bin and presented our ideas to Ray Allen at Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation. We asked Ray for his support and permission to put a Beach Toy Borrow Bin at Old Saybrook Town Beach. Ray approved our plan and Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation funded the supplies.
Then, we put our plan into motion! We identified who would do each task and created a timeline to complete our project. Our troop volunteers purchased the supplies, cut and primed the wood, and taught us about tool safety. We then took turns assembling different portions of the Beach Toy Borrow Bin with oversight and support from our parent volunteers. Lastly, we painted and decorated the Beach Toy Borrow Bin to look like a treasure chest and delivered it to Old Saybrook Town Beach. We had a great time getting creative and working as a team! The last part of our project involved letting our town know what we did through flyers at Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation and school, a presentation to the Old Saybrook Girl Scout Daisies and Brownie troops, and articles in our town’s press.
Make sure to check out the Beach Toy Borrow Bin at Old Saybrook Town Beach this summer! Donations are welcome if you would like to help or have extra toys lying around.
Photo: Ray Allen of Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation, Anna Goddard and Allison Nicklous Troop 60777 Troop Leaders, Sophia Shumway, Charlotte Nicklous, Mae Carroll, Abigail Goddard, Lila Hartshorn, and Mya Roig. (Not pictured: Merial Heffernan, Lucienne Martino, Carolina Ramos and Victoria Ramos).
Photo: Abigail Goddard, Sophia Shumway, Ray Allen of Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation, Mya Roig, Lila Hartshorn, Lucienne Martino, and Charlotte Nicklous.
