Girl Scouts earn Bronze Awards

When the middle schoolers in Warwick’s Girl Scout Troop 758 noticed there wasn’t much to do during their school recess period, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Working together as a troop, the 11 fifth-grade students devised a plan to gather donations and raise funds to provide nearly $1,000 worth of new recess equipment to the Warwick Valley Middle School. Along the way, the troop members earned their Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor available to a Junior-level Girl Scout.

“I wanted to take on this project because I noticed there was a problem at recess,” troop member Alyssa Balsamo said. “There was not enough equipment to share with all of the kids who wanted it. I thought of the idea during recess and thought it would be a good project for our troop to help with. Recess is more fun when there are activities for everyone.”

The troop began planning for the project last December, and met with Warwick Valley Middle School Principal Georgianna Diopoulos to discuss their plans and create a budget. Over the following months, the scouts worked together to organize a sports-equipment drive, gathering donations of new and gently used items from the local community.

The donation drive was followed by a Girl Scout cookie booth sale on Main Street, where the troop raised enough to purchase large storage containers for all the new sports equipment, as well as dozens of board games and art supplies for students to use during rainy indoor-recess days.

“The girls wanted to work on the bronze award as a troop and felt it was important to give back to their school,” Diopoulos wrote in a post on the school district’s Facebook page. “The end result of all of their efforts was an incredible donation of recess equipment.”

Troop 758 presented the new equipment to the middle school this May, and have been thrilled to see their peers enjoying the results of all their hard work. “I’m proud of how many donations we got and that our hard work paid off,” troop member Angelina McKnight said. “Kids are more excited about recess now, and not as many kids are going inside.”

The Bronze Award honorees include Alyssa Balsamo, Aubrey Cordero, Isabella Cordova, Madison DeWitt, Baylee LaConti, Sabrina Loeffler, Angelina McKnight, Lila Monti, Ellie Schlichting, Emma Stazzone, and Mikayla Wensley. The troop members received their awards at the Warwick Girl Scouts’ Award and Bridging Ceremony earlier this month at Mountain Lake Park.