Nov 14, 2016 4 min read

The Tingoocqua Service Unit of the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania recently honored girls who have earned the Bronze Award during the 2015-16 school year at First Christian Church in Washington.

As the third highest award of Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest award earned by Junior Girl Scouts, who are in fourth and fifth grades.

To earn the award, Scouts can work as individuals or as a group to fulfill requirements, which are to go on a Junior Girl Scout journey; build a Junior Girl Scout team; explore the community; choose a Girl Scout Bronze Award project; make a plan; put the plan in motion; and spread the word.

Award winners were:

Troop 51276, which collected supplies for wrapping Christmas presents for children at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. In addition, they published a book, “What Makes a Superhero?” The girls created artwork, poetry and stories to include in the book, which was distributed to patients at Children’s Hospital.

The girls attend Trinity East Elementary School and Trinity Middle School. They are Johanna Asplin, Riley Dunn, Lauren Falvo, Ava Hotrum, Morgan Murphy, Mirranda Rinehart and Hailey Thomas.

Juniors from Troop 52020, who assembled 50 bags of goodies for area foster children. The bags give foster children items to help with the transition to a foster home. Scouts who earned the award are Willow Anderson, Zoe Dinch, Sydney Gardner, Annemarie Kisner, Anna Mack and Chelsea Patrick.

Juniors from Troop 51945, who partnered with Angel Ridge Animal Rescue in Meadow Lands to plan a pet fair. In addition to providing tours of the shelter to visitors, they created a display explaining the best way to adopt and care for pets as well as helping people to choose a pet. The girls provided children’s activities, including making toys for the animals at the shelter.

Through their efforts, several animals were adopted, and the shelter gained new volunteers. The girls involved in the project are Sydney Avant, Lillian Chadwick, Addison Paul and Julia Sandoval, all students in the Trinity School District.

Elizabeth Brison of Troop 51945, a student at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, who set up a Facebook page, “One Small Change Makes a Difference,” to raise awareness of global warming and encourage others to make small changes in their daily life that, when combined, will create a big change and maybe even reverse the effects of global warming.

Each week, Brison would post articles and suggestions on how to make small changes, including “Meatless Mondays,” not using plastic water bottles and creating a backyard habitat for bees.

“My goal is to make one small change every week to make a difference in reversing global warming,” she said.

Anna MacTaggart of Troop 51945, who created a Facebook page, “Anna’s Veteran Appreciation Page,” for people to talk about veterans in their lives and for the veterans to know how they are appreciated.

She also made cards for people to fill out to share with veterans through the Veterans Administration. She earned the award as a student at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School and now attends Trinity Middle School.

“America was built by the courageous men and women who have served our country valiantly since the American Revolution,” MacTaggart said. “We can never do enough for our veterans.”

Sara Setto of Troop 51945, who organized a group of girls from her troop to go to the Canonsburg Senior Center to gather advice from senior citizens to pass on to the younger generation.

The advice was attached to dreamcatchers the girls designed with the seniors that were to be given to the youngest Scouts: Daisy and Brownies. Pictures were taken with each girl and their dreamcatcher and were given to the seniors.

Setto earned the award as a student at Trinity East Elementary School and now attends Trinity Middle School.

The Tingoocqua Service Unit serves Girl Scouts primarily from Washington and Trinity school districts.