How a Northwest suburban Girl Scout troop earned Silver Award for work in Crabtree Nature Center
Five girls from a Northwest suburban Girl Scout troop were honored with a Silver Award by Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
Laasya Gadiraju, Hazel Gibbs, Paige Timpe, Tanvi Pulikesi and Hazel Varghese, who reside in the Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove area and are members of Girl Scout Troop 45105, received the award for projects they completed in Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington.
The troop members, who were eighth-graders at the time, split into two groups each tackling a different project but both for Crabtree Nature Center. Laasya, Hazel G. and Hazel V. embarked on conservation work to assist the bird population.
Birds are key to the ecosystem in that they help with insect control, pollination and seed dispersal. Additionally, birds can be an early indicator of how healthy an environment is. Bird populations have been on the decline in recent years and the girls sought to find ways to help restore them.
To complete the project, they learned key woodworking skills and put them to good use by building 24 birdhouses that will benefit house wrens and tree swallows at the forest preserve.
Tanvi and Paige went down a different route to help educate the public about some key native trees found at Crabtree Nature Center.
Native trees also play an important role in local ecosystems. They are vital for providing essential food and shelter for native wildlife and enhancing biodiversity.
By educating the public on native trees found locally, the girls hope to plant a seed in others about their beauty and importance. For the trail signs, they researched different species and key identification factors, also learned necessary woodworking skills, then built and installed trail signs to help the public learn more about the trees and how to identify them.
Altogether, the girls invested over 275 hours into the projects and sold over 800 boxes of cookies to fund them. They found the work to be challenging but fun and thought it was “so cool” to see something they created on display and being used.
The Silver Award is the second highest award in Girl Scouts and the highest award a Cadette can earn. It requires girls in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade to identify a community issue, research its root cause, and implement a plan for a sustainable solution.
It also includes developing leadership skills through creating an initiative, setting goals, establishing a budget, implementing time management skills, working with community partners, and communicating their project's impact.