Valley Stream Girl Scouts hold bridging ceremony

The Valley Stream Association of Girl Scouts held its first annual bridging ceremony on May 28 at the Wheeler Avenue School, where several hundred girls and their family members gathered to celebrate their graduations to the next levels in the organization.

Jessica Prashad, 18, received the organization’s highest honor, the Gold Award, for her project working with special education children. She helped foster relationships between them and their peers, with the goal being to build trust and understanding.

“It was inspired by my high school friend who had a disability,” said Prashad, who graduated from Central High School last year. She is a freshman at Stony Brook University now, studying biology and psychology. “I saw how people were treating her and I wanted to help her, and I’m trying to start early and foster a sense of community between these students.”

Prashad joined the Girl Scouts when she was in the sixth grade. She said her experiences with the group taught her how to work with people and how to be a leader, and built her confidence and instilled in her some lifelong skills.

Several officials spoke at the ceremony, including Deputy Mayor Dermond Thomas, who has a daughter in Troop 2495. “What I’ve learned as sort of an outsider, just as a father, is that there’s so many attributes you learn as a Girl Scout, and they can be applied to make the world a better place.”

He mentioned a troop in Iowa who came together to build a prosthetic limb for a girl who lost her hand. He said that exemplified how teamwork could do amazing things to contribute to society and help others.