Katy Zicker, Parsippany and Priyanka Yalamanchili, Morris Plains recently completed their Girl Scout Gold Awards by completing their own leadership projects benefiting the community.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn and requires the completion of a leadership project of at least 80 hours. Each girl must discover an issue in the community, connect with experts and community members, and take action to effect positive change.
For her leadership project, Priyanka focused on helping children who are experiencing major difficulties, including illness, neglect, abuse, or homelessness, or who are displaced due to fires or weather emergencies. She set up a program at Sri Venkateswara Temple for children and families to record audio books for children in need. More than 50 CD recordings were made. She also collected more than 140 items of children’s clothing, books, and stuffed animals to provide comfort for the children. She spread the word about her project through her Web site (click here).
“I really enjoy anything that has to do with helping children,” Priyanka said. “I love babysitting and hope to someday work in pediatrics. I am also an avid reader so this project incorporated my passions and interests.”
For her own leadership project, Katy created a Web site (click here) for adopted teens ages 12-18 so they could share their experiences with adoption. She hoped to create a safe environment for teens to share their stories. As an adopted child herself, Katy shared her own story on the Web site as well. She’s had more than 300 visitors to the Web site since its creation.
“When I was 18 months old, I was adopted from an orphanage in Wanzai, China. I was fortunate enough to be adopted by my two amazing parents who have always supported me no matter what. They are also the most caring, loving, and understanding parents anyone could ask for and I was lucky enough to become a part of their family,” Katy said. “Although I never struggled with my adoption, I know other kids who do. I want adolescents to read stories from kids their age and learn more about themselves in the process.”
Both Priyanka and Katy have been Girl Scouts in Troop No. 2185 since the first grade. They say their years in the program have taught them valuable leadership skills and prepared them for the future.
“Girl Scouting has taught me so many important values, such as being considerate and respecting others,” Priyanka said. “My 12 years in Girl Scouts have taught me how to lead others with my passion and my voice in making the world a better place for all. I am lucky to have been in such a supportive and welcoming troop all these years.”
Katy says earning her Girl Scout Gold Award in particular has been a great experience.
“In completing my Girl Scout Gold Award, I learned that a lot of people are willing to help if you just ask,” Katy said.
Katy is a senior at Parsippany Hills High School, where she is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and National Society of High School Scholars. She also participates in pit band and soccer. She plans to major in marine biology in college so that she can work with marine mammal rescue and rehab. She would also like to continue her love of photography.
Priyanka is a senior at the Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway. She is co-captain of the varsity tennis team, member of the National Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Science Honor Society, History Honor Society, English Honor Society, and World Language Honor Society, and was a 2014 semi-finalist for the Coca-Cola Scholars. This fall she will be attending Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She hopes to have a career in pediatric pharmacology so she can continue helping children.
The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, combines leadership development, career exploration and community service. It culminates in an 80-hour leadership project that each girl plans and executes according to her own interests and passions. Within Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey, 12 percent of eligible girls earn their Girl Scout Gold Award, compared to the national average of six percent.
Girl Scouts is the premier leadership development program for girls. In Girl Scouts, girls discover themselves, connect with others, and take action to create positive change in their own communities. For more information about Girl Scouts, call Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey at (973) 248-8200. Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey serves 20.5 percent of girls ages 5-18 in 160 municipalities including all of Bergen, Morris, Passaic, and Sussex counties and the northern half of Warren County. There are currently 30,150 members and 16,293 adult members.
