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Mostly Cloudy Girl Scouts spruce up Lenox landmark
Local Girl Scout troops use Lenox Elementary School as a place to meet to discuss things like badges, cookies and ways to make their community better. The girls who comprise troops 2036 and 2331 either currently attend Lenox or did in recent years, and they each wanted a way to improve their school.
Laleine Gutierrez, whose daughter is part of Troop 2331 and whose three children each graduated from Lenox, has done several artistic projects at the school over the years, including designing sets for plays and wall murals.
Her daughter’s troop was looking into a community service project and wanted to do something that would last for years. Troop 2331 reached out to Principal Bernice Acevedo in search of ideas around the same time Troop 2036 asked Acevedo if there was a project it could donate money toward. It just so happened that Acevedo had a match for both troops.
There is an old building on Lenox’s campus that once served as a ticket booth for football games. As of late, the building has been boarded up and hasn’t done much else besides age. So the idea of Troop 2036 doing something artistic with the building and Troop 2331 donating some of its profits from cookie sales came to be.
Mary Combs, who heads up the Lenox Beautification Committee, spoke to the girls of Troop 2036 in May to explain the project. The girls then voted unanimously to contribute $75.
Cynthia Baker, a Troop 2036 leader, said her troop is always looking to build character, courage and confidence. “We like to do community service projects that have a lasting effect on the school,” she said. “It makes the girls proud.”
Gutierrez and the girls of Troop 2331 painted wooden panels in May. Each panel has its own design and color scheme, and feature a positive message. Gutierrez sketched designs for the panels and the troop members did the painting. “We thought it would be good to make it more colorful,” Gutierrez said of the ticket booth. The panels, which cover up three windows and a door, are currently painted white.
According to Acevedo, district maintenance workers will install the new panels in August so they’re on display when students come back to school in September. Acevedo added that it will be a nice way to greet students and welcome them back for another school year, adding that Girl Scout troops of Lenox “continue to amaze.” “The Girl Scouts and the Beautification Committee continue to think outside the box,” she said.
“I’m extremely proud of them because they overwhelmingly wanted to do this for the school,” Baker said of her troop. “[It’s] something that will be a lasting memory for them.”
Gutierrez said she’s looking forward to her troop’s work being installed. “It’s nice to make the school look good and have a lasting impression,” she said.
