HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.a. Commendation of Girl Scout Gold Award winnersAGENDA ITEM: Commendation of Girl Scout Gold Award
winners
AGENDA SECTION:
Department Head Reports
PREPARED BY: William H. Droste, Mayor
AGENDA NO. J •Cf-
ATTACHMENTS:
APPROVED BY: V
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Presentation of commendations
ROSEMOUNT
CITY COUNCIL
City Council Regular Meeting: June 3, 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Rosemount City Council seeks to recognize accomplishments of the City's young people. At the
forefront of this group are the members of the Girl and Boy Scouts who reach their organizations' highest
level of achievement.
For Girl Scouts, the highest level is the Gold Award. The Award entails a project that requires a minimum
of 65 hours of community service over four months. The recognition, however, is intended to be more
than a service project. It encompasses organizational, leadership, and networking skills, while fulfilling a
need within the recipient's community. For many Scouts, the sense of community and commitment that
comes from "going for the Gold" sets the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship.
Last year nationwide, approximately 5,500 girls received the Girl Scout Gold Award. That was around 5.4
percent of the eligible registered Girl Scouts in grades 10 -12. In the River Valleys Girl Scouts unit that
covers the Twin Cities metro area, southern Minnesota, and western Wisconsin, Scouts have collectively
contributed more than 13,000 hours to make the world a better place working on Gold Award projects.
Four recipients from Rosemount formally received the Gold Award in ceremonies last month. The River
Valleys unit has provided an account of their projects.
Alexandra Fletcher, along with sister Girl Scout Norma Benson of Eagan, saw that Agape Acres
needed more disciplined horses and some new supplies in order to better provide therapeutic
riding lessons to people with disabilities in the community. The girls worked with the owner and
volunteers at Agape Acres to develop a program to desensitize the horses, as well as raised money
to buy new supplies. This project enabled Norma and Ali put their leadership skills into practice to
successfully develop a program to work with and desensitize horses so they are calmer and able to
serve people of all abilities. Ali is a student at the School of Environmental Studies. She will be
working this summer at a Girl Scout Camp in Northern Wisconsin, and will be attending the
University of Minnesota Crookston in the fall.
Taylor Jobin, Samantha Massey, and Lindsey Weisensel acknowledged their Rosemount High
School friend who was grieving from the shock of losing her father in the tragic I -35W bridge
collapse. They helped the family by coordinating a pancake breakfast benefit.for more than 300
family and community members to honor their father /husband. In addition, they collected almost
500 T -shirts to help kids in Kenya, a location where their friend's father performed missionary
work and his wife grew up. The girls presented a tree as a living memorial to honor their friend's
father. Taylor, Samantha, and Lindsey are completing their sophomore years at RHS.
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