East Goshen sisters aspire to second-highest award in Girl Scouts
A couple of sisters from East Goshen will share more than a sibling bond this fall.
The two teens are on their way to earning the Silver Award, Girl Scouts’ second-highest honor, for their individual community service projects.
The girls, Melanie Watson, 14, a ninth-grader at Bayard Rustin High School, and Gabby Watson, 13, an eighth-grader at Stetson Middle School have been in scouting for eight years and are members of Troop 41067 led by their mother Stacey Watson. “I am definitely very proud of their commitment. It’s a lot of work to do step-by-step. It was hard at times, but the actual project was a lot of fun for them,” Stacey Watson said.
The award, which aims to teach leadership skills to young women, took about a year-and-a-half of training and planning. The award requires Scouts to earn nine merit badges, attend leadership-training sessions through the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania council, spend about 15 hours in a leadership role before planning a service project, and then spend 40 hours completing the pre-approved service project.
Both girls recently completed their projects, and Stacey Watson estimates they will receive the award in the early fall, after their work is reviewed.
Melanie, a lover of theater, orchestrated a weeklong drama camp at the West Chester Public Library for local children in grades two through four as her service project. About ten children from the area attended the camp from July 20 to 24.
Throughout the week, Melanie helped children make masks, sock and paper bag puppets, construct scenery and pick costumes. She taught them to act out stories, while she read fairy tales and fables aloud.
In addition, she helped the children write a short play that they put on for their parents at the end of the camp.
The play, titled “The Good, the Bad and the Magical,” was written by the students and chronicled the tale of a princess locked away in a tower by an evil queen stepmother who is set free by a fairy, a lighting bug and a lady bug.
“I think they really liked putting on the play, and I think they were excited to learn about acting. It seemed like a lot of the kids liked theater at the start, but by the end of the camp they loved theater,” she said.
Melanie has been acting for ten years in school plays and community theater productions at Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia and in West Chester School District.
Melanie, who has been on the teen advisory board at the West Chester Public Library for about a year, decided to complete the project as a way to combine her love of theater and her involvement with the library.
Melanie got involved with Girl Scouts to have fun, go camping and spend time with friends. She said that her decision to earn the Silver Award was a way to serve her community.
“Earning the award is helpful on college applications, and when you are a Girl Scout, you do things you wouldn’t normally get to do, such as volunteer activities,” she said. Gabby completed her service project in July at a Girl Scout day camp, where she ran an outdoor sports and safety station. There, she taught hiking, kickball, softball, basketball, volleyball, sports equipment and the history of Girl Scouts.
The camp took place July 13 to 17 at Oakbourne Park in West Chester, and was intended for Girl Scouts in second through fifth grade.
Gabby, a volleyball and softball player, taught the campers about sports equipment for each activity by dressing a life size cutout of a girl with the appropriate protective attire. She also taught campers about poison ivy, oak and sumac while on a hiking excursion and brought in a fitness instructor from a local YMCA to teach yoga and Tai Chi.
By the end of the week, the girls who attended the camp had earned five merit badges through attending her station.
“I really like sports, so I decided that if I was going to earn a Silver Award I would do something I enjoy,” she said. “I just thought the award was a fun thing to do, and my mom did it when she was younger.”
Gabby is happy to be on her way to receiving her Silver Award.
“Before I did my service project, I did a lot of paperwork and badges, so it will be nice to earn my award. It feels really great because all that hard work will pay off,” she said.
The girls, Melanie Watson, 14, a ninth-grader at Bayard Rustin High School, and Gabby Watson, 13, an eighth-grader at Stetson Middle School have been in scouting for eight years and are members of Troop 41067 led by their mother Stacey Watson. “I am definitely very proud of their commitment. It’s a lot of work to do step-by-step. It was hard at times, but the actual project was a lot of fun for them,” Stacey Watson said.
The award, which aims to teach leadership skills to young women, took about a year-and-a-half of training and planning. The award requires Scouts to earn nine merit badges, attend leadership-training sessions through the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania council, spend about 15 hours in a leadership role before planning a service project, and then spend 40 hours completing the pre-approved service project.
Both girls recently completed their projects, and Stacey Watson estimates they will receive the award in the early fall, after their work is reviewed.
Melanie, a lover of theater, orchestrated a weeklong drama camp at the West Chester Public Library for local children in grades two through four as her service project. About ten children from the area attended the camp from July 20 to 24.
Throughout the week, Melanie helped children make masks, sock and paper bag puppets, construct scenery and pick costumes. She taught them to act out stories, while she read fairy tales and fables aloud.
In addition, she helped the children write a short play that they put on for their parents at the end of the camp.
The play, titled “The Good, the Bad and the Magical,” was written by the students and chronicled the tale of a princess locked away in a tower by an evil queen stepmother who is set free by a fairy, a lighting bug and a lady bug.
“I think they really liked putting on the play, and I think they were excited to learn about acting. It seemed like a lot of the kids liked theater at the start, but by the end of the camp they loved theater,” she said.
Melanie has been acting for ten years in school plays and community theater productions at Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia and in West Chester School District.
Melanie, who has been on the teen advisory board at the West Chester Public Library for about a year, decided to complete the project as a way to combine her love of theater and her involvement with the library.
Melanie got involved with Girl Scouts to have fun, go camping and spend time with friends. She said that her decision to earn the Silver Award was a way to serve her community.
“Earning the award is helpful on college applications, and when you are a Girl Scout, you do things you wouldn’t normally get to do, such as volunteer activities,” she said. Gabby completed her service project in July at a Girl Scout day camp, where she ran an outdoor sports and safety station. There, she taught hiking, kickball, softball, basketball, volleyball, sports equipment and the history of Girl Scouts.
The camp took place July 13 to 17 at Oakbourne Park in West Chester, and was intended for Girl Scouts in second through fifth grade.
Gabby, a volleyball and softball player, taught the campers about sports equipment for each activity by dressing a life size cutout of a girl with the appropriate protective attire. She also taught campers about poison ivy, oak and sumac while on a hiking excursion and brought in a fitness instructor from a local YMCA to teach yoga and Tai Chi.
By the end of the week, the girls who attended the camp had earned five merit badges through attending her station.
“I really like sports, so I decided that if I was going to earn a Silver Award I would do something I enjoy,” she said. “I just thought the award was a fun thing to do, and my mom did it when she was younger.”
Gabby is happy to be on her way to receiving her Silver Award.
“Before I did my service project, I did a lot of paperwork and badges, so it will be nice to earn my award. It feels really great because all that hard work will pay off,” she said.
