From left, Emily Purcell, Amanda Fuhrmann, Kalyn Schneider and Jessica D’Ambrosio are shown at the ceremony where they received the Girl Scout Gold Award for their community service projects.
Four local teenagers, Emily Purcell, Amanda Fuhrmann, Kalyn Schneider and Jessica D'Ambrosio, were recently acknowledged for substantial community service projects completed in the area. At a ceremony at the Davidsonville United Methodist Church, the girls each took home the Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting.
Gwen Purcell, the troop's leader watched as the girls dreamed up their projects, selected outside advisers and shepherded their ideas from conception to completion. She has been the troop leader for 14 years.
"We started out as Daisies, most from Edgewater Elementary," Gwen said.
She said that completion of a Gold Award project is a real learning experience, and that all of the girls gained valuable leadership skills.
"They learn a lot about the real world because the work requires them to go outside of Scouting and into the community. One of them had to work with a school principal, one with the Boys and Girls Club, one with veterinarians," Gwen said.
Each of the girls came up with a project proposal and then went through the local Girl Scout Council to have the project approved. Gwen said that she liked seeing how the girls learned to organize themselves and manage their time.
Emily is Gwen's daughter and currently a college freshman. Emily's project was a Pet Health and Safety Expo that was held at South Arundel Veterinary Hospital in Edgewater. Emily estimated that about 150 people attended.
At the expo, information was distributed about what to do with a pet in an emergency situation, such as a natural disaster and basic pet first aid. In addition, there was a Rita's Italian Ice stand for dogs, a moon bounce for children, and a staff member from the veterinary office on site to insert microchips into dogs.
Emily decided on the pet theme for her project because she has a long family relationship with South Arundel Veterinary. Emily said that she wanted her project to be about helping people in the community and their pets.
South Arundel was thrilled that they had someone to plan and carry out the event.
"What made it special for me was knowing that I was helping these local families to know how to take the best care of their pets in the event of a disaster. I had heard countless stories about families and pets that were split up from Hurricane Katrina, and if something like that ever happened here I now know that those families will be reunited," Emily said.
Jessica made seven podiums for the new Sunday School classrooms at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Davidsonville. Jessica has been with Gwen's troop for three years.
"I wanted to do something for the church. I wasn't sure what, but I met with Father Barr, and we discussed some of the things that the funding for the new construction couldn't cover," Jessica said.
Father Barr and Jessica decided on the podiums, and from there Jessica set to work on finding funding and acquiring materials. She enlisted the help of her grandfather, Adam Jentilet, who is an accomplished woodworker.
"I've been helping him build things since I was 10," Jessica said.
A parishioner provided funding for the project. Jessica said that she learned a lot about woodworking.
"I learned to appreciate what people make. It is a lot of work, and I didn't realize all this work that went into one little podium," Jessica said.
Amanda has been in the troop for six years. She built a mobile storage unit for Davidsonville Elementary School. The unit will store gym and recess equipment.
Amanda had to find funding for her project, and she found help by way of the Davidsonville Ruritan Club. The club's only stipulation was that Amanda's project be local and helpful to the Davidsonville community.
Amanda reached out to the school principal, Jean Marie Hofstetter, who said that she would be happy to have Amanda build something for the school.
"I feel really good that I was able to create something that the school will be able to use for a really long time. We delivered it and there were kids in the hallway saying, 'wow,' and it gave me a really proud feeling," Amanda said.
Kalyn has been with Gwen's troop since she was a Girl Scout Daisy. Kalyn held a one-day event at the Boys and Girls Club at Bates in Annapolis.
"The project was held to help build self-esteem," Kalyn said.
Gwen said that she felt Kalyn's project had additional challenges because it took a long time for the council to grant approval. Once the project was approved, with somemodifications to the original plan, there was a time crunch to get everything completed.
"I was impressed with Kalyn's project because of the resources she was able to pull together quickly." Gwen said.
"We had Whole Foods come in to do a healthy foods demonstration, we had arts and crafts, safety information, games and Betty Hepler came and performed music for the children," Kalyn said.
The event was held over a six-hour period for about 150 children, ages 4 to 12. "I always like helping others. Seeing the impact on them," Kalyn said.
Kalyn is carrying on the lessons Gwen instilled by having her own Girl Scout troop. Although she has attained the highest level of Scouting in her own Girl Scout career, she has taken on a group of Girl Scout Daisies to lead.
"I'm showing them, going through the Daisy petals, talking about helping others and doing a service project. The Daisy level is about responsibility and making the world a better place," Kalyn said.
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