Timmons Elementary School in Bainbridge Township was chock full of excited girls in vests of different colors Feb. 24 — blue for Daisies, brown for Brownies, green for Juniors, and khaki for Cadets and Ambassadors.
Timmons Elementary School in Bainbridge Township was chock full of excited girls in vests of different colors Feb. 24 — blue for Daisies, brown for Brownies, green for Juniors, and khaki for Cadettes and Ambassadors.
All were members of the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio Kenston Service Unit, which serves Auburn and Bainbridge townships and all were there to celebrate.
A total of 33 awards were given, three from the rare Gold category, for which only Cadettes and Ambassadors are eligible. Recipients must have already earned a Silver Award and completed one Senior or Ambassador-level Girl Scout Journey Awards or completed two Senior or Ambassador-level Girl Scout Journey Awards.
Ambassador Journeys involve helping another to live her dream; Senior Journeys create a vision of a perfect world for girls through art.
Two of the Gold Award Girl Scouts were in attendance to receive their commendations.
Jessica Sunderhaft joined the Girl Scouts in second grade. To earn the Gold Award, she undertook a project to update the art at Camp Ho Mita Koda, a camp for diabetic kids on Aquilla Road in Claridon Township.
With paint donations from Sherwin Williams and help from both her grandfathers, she cleaned and repainted the pool area benches and after researching the camp’s history, created a banner depicting its past.
“It was very rewarding and enriching to complete this project. I remember sitting in the audience thinking, ‘One day, I’ll be up there’ and here I am,” Sunderhaft said. “It was nice to look out at all the (Girl Scouts) in the audience and hope they carry on.”
Emily Cronin was the day’s other Gold Award recipient. Her project involved updating the children’s safe room at the Bainbridge Police Station. Her inspiration came from a long ago tour of the station, during which she observed what she later described as “a small, dark, claustrophobic room right inside the main door.”
Five years later, after winning approval from Police Chief Jon Bokovitz, she set to work improving the space. Painting the walls a soothing green, installing a whiteboard for self-expression and adding a bookcase with age appropriate reading material donated by United Way Services of Geauga County, Emily vastly improved what was meant to be a place of peace.
“It’s kind of surreal to have earned a Gold Award,” Cronin said at the ceremony. “I can’t believe I finished it. I worked for so long.”
Both Gold Award recipients have mothers who oversaw the troop to which they belong.
“I am so proud of her for following through,” said Jessica’s mother, Karen Sunderhaft. “She learned so much about leadership while working on her project at Camp Ho Mita Koda. And I’m most proud of her for following her heart and choosing an art project.”
Emily’s mother, Karen Cronin, added, “This project was all her idea. I am just so proud of her level of compassion and her commitment to her community.”
While most Gold Awards are earned by seniors in high school, Emily completed hers a year early, out of concern she’d be too busy to do her best work once the college application process began.
In addition to Girl Scouts of various ages and their parents and siblings, a slew of area officials also attended the event, including Geauga County Juvenile/Probate Court Judge Tim Grendell and retired Judge Diane Grendell; Bokovitz; Emily Fein, chief operating officer and director of Girl Experience for the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio; newly-elected Geauga County Commissioner Jim Dvorak; Kenston Schools Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Poe; Fred May, Auburn Township fiscal officer, and Mike Troyan, Auburn Township trustee.
“I never see Girl Scouts in my courtroom and that’s a good thing,” Grendell said.
Dvorak added, “The future is looking very bright thanks to all of you girls.”
Troyan created proclamations for all the day’s award winners and thanked the parents of the Girl Scouts.
