Young Women of Distinction honors high-achieving Girl Scouts

BEDFORD — Girl Scouts from New Hampshire and Vermont were recognized for their achievements at the Young Women of Distinction ceremonies held by Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains on Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Bedford Event Center.

Eight of the 13 Girl Scouts who earned the Gold Award this past year received their pins and certificates and spoke about their projects, which included overcoming disabilities, book bans, staying active, mental health, pollinator gardens, social isolation, preserving history, and inclusion.

Patricia K. Mellor, CEO of the Girl Scout council, noted that these Girl Scouts have demonstrated leadership skills by tackling an issue in their community, state, the nation, or the world.

“These remarkable young women are a result of what Girl Scouts offers – programming that develops girls of the utmost courage, confidence, and character, that make the world a better place,” she said.

The following Girl Scouts were honored at two ceremonies:

Gold Award

The highest honor for a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador in Grades 9-12. It requires a minimum of 80 hours of service, with a sustainable impact on world. Most spend one to two years on their project. The average age of a Gold Award Girl Scout is 17.

Megan Katsirebas — Preserving History

Epsom has long valued its historic buildings, but the old one-room school house owned by New Rye Church was falling into disrepair. Megan organized a team to replace the roof, build a new ramp, and inform the residents of Epsom about her work and the history and significance of the building. Megan is from Epsom.

Allison Whitesell – Bees and Pollinator Helping Project

The Great Bay Discovery Center now has a new pollinator garden meant to help the survival of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds around this delicate estuary. Allison has long had an interest in conservation and had previously helped build owl boxes for her Silver Award. Along with building her pollinator garden, which includes a bee and butterfly house, she spoke to students at Great Bay Charter School and Epping Elementary School to educate them on the importance of pollinators. Allison is from Epping.

Johanna Stone – Hobby Horse and Stalls

Giving children a way to experience horse care and enjoyment even when they don’t have access to a real horse was important to Johanna, an accomplished horsewoman. She decided to do that through the sport of hobby horses, building stalls for the stick horses and their tack, exhibiting her work at a local state fair and working with 4-H to continue her work. Johanna is from West Rutland, Vermont.

Ella Duchette – Bringing People Together While Creating a New Welcoming Look

In an effort combat loneliness and encourage community engagement, Ella promoted the town of Plymouth, NH’s, events, educational opportunities, and other programs. She also replaced two of the town’s welcome signs, including replacing the landscaping around them. She helped the Plymouth Beautification Committee, the Senior Center, and the Parks and Recreation department with ideas for getting more people out of their homes and ways to enhance their advertisements. Ella is from Plymouth.

Katherine Thorner – Central Crochet Club

Katherine gave high school students a safe space and a way to help others through her crochet club. She taught participants how to crochet so they could make items like blankets and hats to donate to her school’s coat closet. She also encouraged her club members to use crocheting as a way to reduce stress. Members were free to express themselves both creatively and emotionally. Katherine is from Manchester.

Tava Nicoll – Educational and Interactive Forest Trails

The town of Freedom was in danger of losing its agreement with the state as stewards of its town forest, so Tava helped out by adding an educational component to the forest trails by installing signs on four trails, as well as creating information on the signs and a map of the forest to the town’s website. Tava is from Freedom.

Alanna Bonneau – Overcoming Hidden Disabilities: Supporting Student Success

Helping others understand the issues of hidden disabilities is very personal to Alanna as she has had to educate her own teachers and others about accommodations she needs. She created a website to document common hidden disabilities like dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety/depression, vision problems, language processing, sensory processing, hearing impairments, memory issues, and autism; created a tip sheet to be used by educators; and started a YouTube channel to promote ways to help. Alanna is from Dover.

Liliane Gordon – Get Active!

With child obesity on the rise, Liliane decided to encourage kids to “Get Active!” She created a video of teenagers discussing sports in a way she hopes will inspire children to participate in sports, put together a resource list for kids and parents to learn what is available to them, and coached track for kids from 5-14 years old to help them get active and feel good about learning a new sport. Liliane is from Hinesburg, Vermont.

Niko Galus – Kids Who Devour Books

When a group of people in Raymond wanted to censor reading materials they deemed inappropriate for the youth section of their town library, Niko decided to fight back and educate the community on the issue of book bans, having First Amendment rights, and the freedom to choose their reading material no matter their age. Niko started a book club and library advocacy group called Kids Who Devour Books, attended library trustee and town meetings, wrote letters to bring attention to library censorship, started an Instagram account that provides book recommendations and information about censorship, and created a guide for librarians to start similar groups. Niko lives in Raymond.

Silver Award

The highest honor for a Girl Scout Cadette in Grades 6-8. This honor is earned by individual or teams of Girl Scouts who spend at least 40 hours on their effort to improve their community.

Hampstead Academy Library Renovation – Catherine Nenart of Atkinson

Heedful Horses – Noelle Prince of Bedford

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Math Makers – Ryleigh Covey of Epsom

Project Pollinator – Bella Strob and Lexi Riccardi of Salem

Women Supporting Women: Mailbox Replacement Project – Shelby Goldstein and Livia Ward of Hollis and Olivia Nichols of Brookline

Women Supporting Women: Organizing Inventory – Deliah Haskell, Bridget Jones, Olivia Langfield and Rose Lovering, all of Hollis

Hampstead Academy Library Renovation – Lyla Hall of Atkinson

Becoming an InMocean Recycling Ambassador – Bailey Everett and Charley Everett of Barrington

Friends by a Bench – Elise Tribou of Merrimack

Bronze Award

The highest honor for a Girl Scout Junior in Grades 4 and 5. This honor is earned by individual or teams of Girl Scouts who spend at least 20 hours on their effort to make a difference in their community.

Blazing a Trail at Carlton Pond – Rian Billow, Mckayla Brown, Katherine Call, Austin Colaizzi, Emma Ferrentino, Reilly Hogan, Amelia Hopcraft, Abigail Reed, Adelyn Rockafellow, Nora Santana and Natalie Slosek, all of Mont Vernon

Bracelet Care – Jailynn Caron of Nashua

Helping Local Shelters – Hailey Campley and Charlotte Erickson of Boscawen

Inclusion – Haylin Hennessey and Isabella Severance of Hopkinton

Kids Rave Reviews – Beatrice Cartier of Center Harbor

Little Free Library Bring Books to Manchester – Choe Devlin of Manchester Center, Vermont

Marguerite’s Place: Welcome Home Kits – Rylan Curran, Molly Gilmore, Caroline Jones, Elizabeth Jones, Paige Langfield, Sofia Lorden, Maggie Orr and Samantha Ward, all of Hollis

Project Helping Hands – Mikayla Cann of Northfield and Aspyn Parent of Tilton

Sonshine Bags – Olivia Dodson and Taylor Murray of Derry

Troop 59514 Pollinator Gardens – Leah Thomas of Fremont

Global Warming – Lorene Fisher, Ava Levesque, Quinn Moore, Emma Pippenger and Kathryn Pippenger, all of Merrimack

River Walk Garden – Charlott Anderson, Teaghan Pominville, Emily Simek and Bridie Bean, all of Nashua

Leadership Torch Award

This award is given to a Girl Scout who is a leader in her community and requires that she complete one Leadership Journey and serve a full term in a leadership position at her school, place of worship, library, community center or other organization that is important to her.

Liliane Gordon of Hinesburg, Vermont

Zoie Duverger of Bow

To learn more about opportunities in Girl Scouts, visit girlscoutsgwm.org.

— Staff report, Nashua Telegraph

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