Bellmore Girl Scouts Go for Gold

Six Bellmore scouts received the highest award in Girl Scouting last night at the Girl Scouts of Nassau County.

The six recipients included Lauren Condy, Jahniece Hall and Beth Zink from Troop 911, Sarah Gochez from Troop 942, Allison Monastero and Michelle Monastero from Troop 942.

The Gold Award symbolizes accomplishments in the area of leadership, community service, career planning and personal development. To attain this award, each girl must first earn her Leadership Award, Gold Career Award and Challenge Award. She can then begin her Gold Award project.

Condy's project, Think Before You Act, dealt with the pressures for teens to become sexually active. 

"Through my Gold Award, I wanted to make teens and preteens aware of the many pitfalls of being sexually active," Condy wrote in her award profile. "I educated them about different STDs and the risks of pregnancy as a teen."

Gonchez' Gold Award project was called Princess for a Day. She put together a party for girls ages 3 to 5 from underprivileged neighborhoods and created a day where "they could enjoy making crowns, cupcakes, crafts and play games."

"I believe that every little girl should be able to feel like a princess, and a lot of times, the girls are not able to because of their home situation...," Gonchez said in her award profile.

Hall took lessons she learned from her high school Women's Health class and created a presentation on breast cancer awareness and self-image.

"Every time I would perform the presentation, the biggest thought I would want the girls walking out with is just to be aware and take control of their bodies...," Hall added.

Sisters Michelle and Allison Monastero held a week-long cooking workshop for six girls for their Gold Award project. Tasty Treats and Tea, as they named their project, was designed to highlight the girls' strengths as an aspiring social worker (Allison) and pastry chef (Michelle).

"After the...workshop, the girls brought their baked goods to the Bellmore Senior Center for the senior citizens to enjoy," Allison said.

Michelle added, "We...helped them earn the Creative Cooking Interest Project [badge]."

An especially meaningful presentation, Zink donned her grandmother's Girl Scout leader uniform as a tribute to her leadership skills and dedication to scouting. She honed in on her creativity to teach girls different arts skills for her Gold Award project.

"I decided I would teach younger kids the basics of art and show them how to harness their creativity to make a meaningful piece of art," she added.