Local Manhasset Teens Earn Prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award

Girl Scouts of Nassau County recently celebrated 55 local Girl Scouts who are members of the 2023 Girl Scout Gold Award class who made a sustainable impact, addressing causes they care about in their communities. Manhasset residents Cailey Held, Catherine Broderick, Joana (Bella) Rontiris and Noelle Bartul were among 55 Girl Scouts throughout Nassau County who reached this milestone.

“Each of the Girl Scouts who earned their Gold Award this year showed fortitude, diligence and enthusiasm in creating and executing a plan to act on a societal issue. We are very proud and impressed by each of them for reaching their goals and leaving a legacy with their communities,” said Randell Bynum, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Nassau County. “Their dedication is evident and their hard work has touched countless lives. This year, we had Girl Scouts addressing real-life issues such as environmental justice and sustainability, mental and emotional wellness, gender equality in sports, and more. We commend each of them for their important work.”

Girls in grades 9-12 begin their Gold Award journeys by identifying a civic or social issue that holds importance to them. Next, a Girl Scout builds a team to support her project with a mission to create a positive impact in her community. Gold Award projects are coordinated so that they can continue long after girls earn their award by establishing nonprofit organizations, publishing books to be added to school library collections, implementing classroom lessons to be taught for years to come or other initiatives to create lasting change. Through the process, Gold Award Girl Scouts become innovative problem-solvers, empathetic leaders, confident public speakers, and focused project managers, while educating and inspiring others. They learn resourcefulness, tenacity, and decision-making skills, giving them an edge personally and professionally. As they take action to transform their communities, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they’re the leaders our world needs.

Through her project, “Fostering an Entrepreneurial Mindset,” Cailey educated elementary school children on the value of formulating novel business ideas. She presented lesson plans on basic business concepts to children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Her goal was to expose children to the meaning of business-related ideas and to show that entrepreneurship exists in their daily lives. Cailey explored topics on supply and demand, production, competition, costs, money, community need, marketing, logos, and profit. Cailey shared her curriculum with teachers and the administration so that it can continue to be a part of classroom discussions in the future.

Catherine’s project, “Swim Safety For Life,” helped the children at Project Head Start improve their water fluency and taught the skills needed to swim safely. Catherine partnered with Adventures in Learning and recruited lifeguards, running a twice-a-week clinic at the Whitney Pond Park Pool to teach and reinforce the necessary skills. Catherine created a swim program and YouTube video explaining her process that Head Start and other schools and camps can use to create clinics to help children learn the necessary skills to avoid drowning, the highest cause of death in children.

Bella addressed the negative influence of social media on teenagers through her project, “Social Media Wellness.” She partnered with the Manhasset Secondary School Counseling Department and the Manhasset Coalition Against Substance Abuse to create a project that would prevent middle school students from becoming hyper-obsessed with social media. Bella taught seventh-grade students how to combat screen addiction, self-comparison and cyberbullying that arise from constant phone use. She distributed a pamphlet of mental health resources to students that will remain available in the wellness center. She also tracked changes in participants’ social media habits and measured the difference in social media-related counselor referrals. To continue her project, a social media wellness lesson will be implemented at the school next year.

For her project, “COVID-19’s Impact: An Electronical Timestamp,” Noelle aimed to address the lack of a place where people could express how COVID-19 has impacted them. To create an accessible space where this could be accomplished, she learned to use a website-creator and establish her own website. This website permitted individuals to anonymously submit artwork or literature that expressed how COVID-19 has impacted them. Noelle shared the website in her community and globally, educating about its purpose and advocating for the website’s use. She partnered with Manhasset High School’s Art Honor Society, where the website has been published on the group’s Canvas page.

Girls in grades K-12 can begin their Girl Scout journey at any age. As girls grow with Girl Scouts, they learn hands-on leadership skills they’ll use to make their mark through the Gold Award and beyond. To join or volunteer, visit www.gsnc.org/join.

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We Are Girl Scouts: Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs in Nassau County, across Long Island and from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alumni, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.