Earning one of the Girl Scouts’ highest awards challenges girls to be their best and develop, plan, and implement a Take Action project.  Silver Award Girl Scouts are making the world a better place.  The Silver Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Cadette (6th-8th grade) can earn and requires a minimum of 50 hours to complete.  Nationwide, approximately 10% of registered Girl Scouts in grades 6-8 earn the Girl Scout Silver Award. In membership year 2023, nine Sandy Run Girl Scouts earned the Silver Award.  All of the Silver Award Girl Scouts will be honored at an upcoming council-wide ceremony this spring.  

Annie Lordi, a 2023 graduate of Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 2105, earned the Gold Award by completing a project aimed at increasing awareness in her community about STEM careers. Annie planned and hosted a STEM Symposium for local high school students to learn about different STEM careers. Annie was first interested in exploring different careers while researching different possible STEM majors for college. As many high schoolers might have been, Annie was overwhelmed by the college application process and choosing a major. Annie decided that it would be beneficial to hear from some people who are successful in their current STEM careers and learn how they arrived at their current positions. Annie contacted a multitude of different STEM professionals to participate in the Symposium and planned dates with Pennsbury High School to work around the school schedule. After having some unexpected snow, moving the symposium to the inclement weather date, the STEM Symposium was a great success. At the event, students had the opportunity to ask personal questions about each of the speakers' careers and learn how the speakers got to where they are today. Annie and her team also prepared questions in advance for students to ask. Additionally, Annie conducted interviews with a select few STEM professionals, which she recorded and edited. Annie posted these interviews online to a public YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCub_T17fGvj0XlZtmVjnwFQ) for more students to be able to learn about the STEM careers available. Annie hopes that the interviews can teach other students about the many different careers that are available in the STEM fields. Annie now attends the University of Pittsburgh, where she is pursuing a major in chemistry. In earning the Gold Award, Annie completed the Trifecta, earning all three of Girl Scout’s highest awards – Bronze, Silver, and Gold!

Paige Gould, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 2035, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefitting Family Promise of Lower Bucks, whose mission is to mobilize collaboration within the local community in addressing the needs of homeless families with children.  Paige built a vegetable garden at the Manse House in Langhorne, PA. Paige organized donations from local businesses, researched garden beds, and met with a local Yardley gardener for information and seed sharing opportunities. Paige checked sun patterns at the Manse House to determine the best placement for her garden. Paige constructed garden beds and then transferred them to the garden site. She included an enclosure to keep unwanted critters out. Paige started plants from seeds, and then tended to the seeds by watering and ensuring they received the proper daily sunlight. Once the vegetable plants were established, Paige transferred and planted them in the garden. Paige visited the garden weekly to water and ensure proper growth patterns. Families picked the vegetables when they were ripe. The final stage of her project was to complete an instruction manual and recipe book that will remain at the Manse House for the families to use. Paige hopes that her garden will provide the patrons of Manse House with fresh vegetables to harvest every year.

Ora Weinstein, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 266, earned the Silver Award by completing a project supporting students at the Christina Seix Academy. Christina Seix Academy is a school that provides an environment for children from low income communities to academically thrive in. Ora designed and built a gaga pit for the middle school students, who had very little outdoor play equipment. After talking with people from the community to ensure that the gaga pit was going to meet their expectations, the next step was to gather materials. Home Depot, Lowe’s and multiple people made Ora’s project possible by donating the needed materials. Ora and her team cut and stained eight wood panels, which she took to the Christina Seix Academy. Ora and her team then cleared the site and used a variety of power tools to assemble the wood panels into the gaga pit. The floor of the gaga pit was filled with mulch. It is Ora’s hope that the older students at Christina Seix Academy will use the gaga pit to play for years to come.   

Anastasia (Ana) Cheeseman, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project supporting Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center. Ana, who is an animal lover wanted to help wild animals. Ana worked very closely with Mr. Brewster, an education director at Aark, and identified a need for cozy hammocks, houses, and tunnels for rehabilitation of flying squirrels. Ana learned that many native flying squirrels are displaced during cold seasons and have to be brought to Aark for rehabilitation or they will not survive on their own. Ana thought making cozy hammocks, houses, and tunnels would provide her with an opportunity to help many squirrels feel safe and comfortable. With appropriate materials and fabric, Ana and her teammates made 11 hammocks, 14 houses, and 12 tunnels for native flying squirrels' rehabilitation. It is Ana’s hope that the cozy hammocks, houses, and tunnels that she made will be used and reused by Aark for years to come.

Aleksandra (Sasha) Cheeseman, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefiting the William Penn Middle School in Lower Makefield Township. Sasha built a pollinator rain garden for the courtyard of her middle school. A lot of planning went into preparing the best rain garden for the location, including research and soil testing. With the help of the Sustainability Coordinator at Pennsbury School District, Mr. Garry Sanderson, Sasha and her team collected materials and supplies and edged around the planned gardening space. Sasha and her team removed rocks, roots, excess dirt, and debris from the planting area. They tilled the soil and added new soil, fertilizer, and minerals that were best for the garden. With the help of the master gardener, Ms. Annie Milionis, Sasha planted native plants in the pollinator garden. Sasha and her team topped off the garden with an even layer of mulch and painted river rocks with encouraging words and placed them around the garden. Sasha revisited the garden to fix up damage that was caused by the weather and gave the garden a beautiful finishing touch. Sasha hopes that the pollinator rain garden will attract wildlife and be used as an educational open classroom at William Penn Middle School Courtyard.

Clare Jordan, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefiting Impact Services. Impact Services is an organization that helps homeless veterans find a place to live and also provides them with services and items to live a better life. Clare taught her team members how to make t-shirt tote bags and no-sew blankets. Clare and her team tie-died thirty large t-shirts and made twenty of the t-shirts into no-sew t-shirt bags. Clare also purchased fleece material and made twenty 2-yard by 2-yard no-sew blankets. Clare made cards for all of the people receiving a blanket and put them in the t-shirt bags with the blankets. Clare delivered them all to Impact Services in Philadelphia to hand out to the veterans. Clare was able to see Impact Services' employees thanks and gratitude with her project. Clare hopes that the employees at Impact Services are able to enjoy the smiles on veterans' faces when they receive her blankets. Clare donated the other tie-dyed shirts as gifts to her team and to people who donated supplies to her project. Additionally, Clare made a flyer with details on how to make blankets, which was handed out in several places. Further, Team RWB hosted an event called "Sarge's 22 Challenge- Saving Lives One Paw At A Time" to raise awareness for veteran PTSD and suicide. Sarge is a service dog for a veteran. Team RWB asked Clare to provide copies of her flyer and a tutorial on how to make blankets. Clare also prepared twenty small dog blankets, and the veterans tied them together after the ruck event. 

Anna Chiang, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefiting children at HomeFront. HomeFront is an organization dedicated to ending homelessness in the area. Anna created guided writing journals for children in the "Joys, Hopes, and Dreams" program at HomeFront. With assistance from writers in her community, Anne created writing prompts for the journals. In addition, Anna collected writing implements and created fabric book covers for each of the journals. It is Anna’s hope that through using the journals, the children in the program will be more confident and comfortable with writing in the future.

Julia Fugowski, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefitting the Morrisville Senior Center. Julia, who has always wanted to be a teacher, combined her passion for teaching and art and selected two pictures, created lesson plans, made prototypes, and taught seniors at Morrisville Senior Center how to paint. Julia taught the seniors to paint a portrait of a flower and a landscape scene over two weeks. Julia helped her community grow closer together while individuals discovered new talents., While carrying out the project, Julia met a number of wonderful women who convinced her to return and teach another painting session. Julia hopes that she shared her passion for her with the seniors and that they will continue to paint.

Amelie Pugliese, a ninth grader at Pennsbury High School and a member of Troop 21648, earned the Silver Award by completing a project benefiting her town, Yardley Borough. Amelie created a website, yardleyhistory.com. Amelie researched historic locations in Yardley Borough, including Lake Afton, The Old Library, and Saint Andrews Cemetery. The website contains information about these historic locales so that others in the community can learn about Yardley Borough. Amelia continues to research other historic places in Yardley Borough and is updating the website as more information is obtained. Additionally, Amelie created a sign with QR codes that she installed at a store, Krysset, centrally located in Yardley Borough so that those who enter the store can scan the QR code and learn about Yardley Borough. Amelie hopes that others in the community and from outside the community use her QR codes and website to learn about Yardley Borough’s history.