Thursday, October 1, 2026
On Sunday afternoon, May 20, families gathered to honor 110 Girl Scouts who earned awards for their community service. Since this is the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, it seemed only fitting that Rockville Centre would set a record with the highest number of awards earned by Girl Scouts in all of Nassau County.
The event took place at Central Synagogue, which supports and sponsors Girl Scout Ambassador Troop 834. The co-chairs of Association volunteers, Kathi Collins and Rebecca Horowitz, opened the program. Cantor Rachel Kohlbrenner sang the invocation, followed by remarks and congratulations from Mayor Francis Murray, former Mayor Eugene Murray, Director of Parks and Recreation Anthony Brunetta, and the Executive Director of Girl Scouts of Nassau County, Donna Ceravolo. The benediction was given by Rabbi Marc Gruber at the close of the hour.
During the ceremony, each troop came up to have their projects highlighted and to receive congratulations. There were seven Junior Troops with a total of 74 Girl Scouts who earned their Bronze Awards for community service. Junior Troop 803 (St. Agnes Cathedral School) conducted a creative recycling drive for used crayons. Junior Troop 815 (Hewitt Elementary School) undertook jewelry sales, bake sales and food drives to support low-income families at the Hi-Hello Center in Freeport. Junior Troop 818 (Covert Elementary School) organized an educational “Bug Day” to teach younger children to understand and respect insects. Junior Troop 828 (St. Agnes Cathedral School) spent time landscaping and improving the grounds of the Rosa Lee Young Childhood Center. Junior Troop 832 (Watson School) restored the playground at Watson Elementary School by re-painting the blacktop’s gameboards and map of the United States, and also taught younger students how to play those games. Junior Troop 843 (Wilson Elementary School) organized different charitable events to help local families deal with pediatric cancer, including helping throughout the day at St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer fundraising event that followed the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade. And Junior Troop 850 (from both Riverside and Watson elementary schools) raised funds and volunteered for Life’s WORC, an organization that provides activities and services for special needs adults.
Silver Awards were earned by 34 Girl Scout Cadettes. Three troops worked on projects, while others worked independently. Cadette Troop 816 (St. Agnes Cathedral School) developed a recycling project they called, ”Go Green, Keep It Clean!” They raised funds to purchase large recycling containers for athletic fields and school grounds. Their efforts in researching different products may help our village introduce new recycling programs. Cadette Troop 849 (SSMS) raised funds through baked goods and candy sales, garage sales and a car wash to purchase and plant a row of saplings at Wilson to provide shade for the athletic fields. Cadette Troop 860 (SSMS) conducted a literacy campaign at the RVC Public Library. They shared books and crafts with young children to encourage them to read
Silver Awards were earned by five Girl Scout Cadettes in Troop 836 (SSMS). Cadette Deandra Denton helped an animal shelter by raising funds and organizing people to sponsor and donate necessary supplies. In addition, she presented a program to younger Girl Scouts about responsible pet care. As part of her presentation, Deandra organized a craft lesson where the children learned to make sock rice heating pads to provide warmth and comfort to injured animals.
Another Girl Scout from Troop 836, Cadette Dominicki Kurz, wanted to share her passion for science for her Silver Project. She planned a Girl Scout Science Day for younger scouts to fulfill the requirements of the Home Scientist Badge. Younger Girl Scouts attending this event completed experiments in chemistry, static electricity, density, bubble dynamics and more. These different experiments encouraged Girl Scouts to pursue science in many areas.
Cadette Elizabeth Napolitano sought to share her love of music by planning a Music Fair for younger Girl Scouts. While girls went from station to station, they learned various music topics such as rhythm, different styles of music, and ways in which we express ourselves through music. The Music Fair concluded with a live performance. All of the Girl Scouts participating in that event earned a badge and received a CD of all the songs they had heard that day.
Cadette Carolyn O’Brien chose a Silver Project to help pediatric cancer patients deal with their hair loss from chemotherapy. Carolyn requested and collected donations of yarn from the community, and then used a special loom to knit soft, light-weight hats with unique design and colors.
A fifth Cadette from Troop 836, Kyra Wills-Umdenstock, enjoyed participating in summer programs at the RVC Public Library and chose her Silver Award project to coordinate with last summer’s world theme. Kyra created a program called “A Summer Around The World” where she introduced children to China, Greece, France, Mexico and Egypt. Through crafts, books, songs and games from these countries, children learned about other cultures. After the summer program ended, Kyra donated her “traveling suitcase” to Girl Scouts of Nassau County to allow other children to “travel to other countries” and explore the world.
The Girl Scouts’ highest honors are its Gold Awards — and three young women earned them for community service. One of the recipients was Jasmine Ruiz of Ambassador Troop 834. Jasmine chose her project from her concern for recycling of natural resources. As a serious science student, Jasmine researched how rubber and plastic products are recycled into new surfaces for playgrounds and running tracks. She planned and organized a shoe collection, publicized it throughout the village, then gathered more than 500 pairs of shoes for recycling. She educated younger students about the different ways that products can be successfully manufactured with post-consumer recycled resources. Since Jasmine is co-captain of the Girls’ Track & Field Team, recycling sneakers and shoes was tied to her athletic interests as well. In addition to running track, Jasmine has run every year with the Varsity Cross Country Team. She will graduate this month from South Side High School as an IB Diploma candidate and intends to continue pursuing her interest in science at SUNY Pottsdam.
Girl Scout Ambassador Hannah Slavin of Troop 834 chose to promote the sharing and recycling of bicycles. She advertised “Recycle-A-Bicycle” with posters explaining how bikes are environmentally friendly. Hannah offered to pick up bicycles from all over the South Shore, collecting over 175 donated bikes. During Christmas, she brought dozens of bicycles for the children at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,Center and the EOC. She arranged for many low-income adults to receive bicycles for transportation. Hannah focused on teaching children the benefits of riding bicycles demonstrating how to adjust seats and handlebars for a better fit. She taught them how to fix flat tires by changing inner tubes. Because of the positive response from the community, she plans to continue recycling bicycles this summer. At the end of June, Hannah will also graduate from SSHS as an IB Diploma candidate. Her interests include serving as co-captain of the Girls’ Track & Field Team and running the Varsity Cross Country Team for all four years of high school. In addition to Girl Scouts, Hannah is president of Venture Crew #1 (Eisenhower Park) which is a co-ed troop that enjoys camping, hiking, rock climbing, ice climbing, spelunking and other wilderness activities. Hannah plans to enjoy more outdoor activities and continue her academic studies in Chemistry, Math and Music at the University of Rochester in the fall.
Girl Scout Ambassador Melanie Kramer of Troop 805 spent time teaching an introduction to French to elementary school children. With the recent implementation of Spanish in Rockville Centre’s elementary schools, Melanie was concerned that students not exposed to French might not choose this option at the middle school. Because Melanie believes learning a foreign language is important, she prepared two weeks of French lessons for fourth and fifth graders. In those two weeks she taught students who became very interested in learning more. Melanie hopes that the school district will consider introducing French at the elementary school level to provide more foreign language choices for students. She has continued to pursue her passion for languages with a major in French and minor studies in Education and Spanish at the University of Richmond. This past academic year she was also involved in the French Film Festival in Richmond, Va., and she is planning to study abroad to learn additional languages.
